Reviews with content warning for Death - Elatsoe

I loved this story! Elatsoe is a beautiful story about the family, stories and friendship. The book tells a story about finding your own strenght and your own roots and respect the ones before you. This book is magical and mysterious.

Great representation! Asexual main character, many native american characters!

Pure magic!

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earlgreyjedi's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

First of all Ace rep <3 thank you!
Second: READ THIS BOOK IT IS AMAZING. I actually got it as a library ebook and at chapter 35 the app crashed and I NEEDED to know how it ended so yes I did go buy myself a copy. What a page adore this book and I can’t wait to read the rest of Darcie Little Badger’s books!

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ren_the_hobbit's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this! Really interesting take on a mystery where you know who does it pretty early on and then the character's goal is figuring out how to prove it! Also, really enjoyed the stories within the story and the relationships between the characters.

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lauren_shilling's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This book definitely surprised me! I had heard of it once or twice, but it didn't really catch my eye until I saw it in a bookstore and decided to give it a try. I'm really glad I did, because I enjoyed it a lot. I loved the world it created, and I loved learning about the main character's ability to raise the dead. It was so interesting. I also thought the mystery in this book was really well crafted, and the unnerving vibes you get from it until you find out what is actually happening was really well done. It's such a great exploration of native cultures and how they have been impacted throughout history. I learned a lot reading this book, and I would love to read more like it. It was a great way to bring parts of history to life and to the forefront of discussions. The characters were all great, and I loved following them all.

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linblythe_pub22's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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kfmcf's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This is more magical realism than fantasy - which is absolutely fine, but for folks going into this expecting pure fantasy, they may feel a bit unsatisfied.

Elatsoe is a great POV character. She's spunky and funny and caring and her relationship with her family is entertaining and charming. She was absolutely my favorite part of the book along with the descriptions of her magic and the world around her.

Her world is the same as ours but with magic and magic-folk being known entities. I think I was hoping for a little bit more magic and less murder mystery, but that's from going in mostly blind. I think the mystery itself was still handled-well, there were some twists and turns without it being a shock or jump scare

(you know who it is from pretty early on along with Elatsoe's suspicions. But the reveal of the Doctor's secret was interesting without it being a major twist. Not even mystery needs to be mind blowing, just believable and fascinating)

There were a few pacing issues where I think things could have moved with a bit more agency, and maybe a few questions that never really got answered, but the last half of the book was quite speedy. I hope to see more from this author and more works of fiction from indigenous authors!

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luly_sc's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I have been waiting to read this book since before it came out. I've been a fan of Darcie Little Badger's short stories, especially Nkásht íí, and knowing she was releasing a full novel with an aroace lead was a gift.

The world of Elatsoe is a very interesting urban fantasy type of setting which, much like other stories from her, are rooted in Lipan Apache culture. This story is a murder mystery of sorts, a coming-of-age, a fantasy adventure and a ghost story, all rolled into one and done marvelously.

One thing I LOVED about it was the absolute trust and support Ellie's parents give to her. It's so frequent to find stories with young characters (and older ones too) where parents don't believe, don't listen or look away, but Ellie's parents weren't only supporting from the start, they also take part on the adventure and are far from bystanders.

The friendship between Ellie and Jay is so refreshing to read, they have great platonic chemistry and all the side characters are so well constructed that they have a set personality very clearly, no matter how long they've been around for or how little.

Ellie being aroace is treated so well throughout the story and is stated in the text in a way in which I am incredibly grateful for.

Cultural aspects, folklore and the stifling presence of colonization and systematic exploitation are very present in the crafting of the narrative. I particularly loved the way it introduced the relationship of original peoples - outsiders in a way that is a core part of the identity of the story and moves (pun intended, if you get there you'll know) the mystery along. It isn't an accessory, it's ingrained in the development of the plot and in the situation of the characters in more ways than one.

I particularly loved the illustration aspect of the book because it's less like an illustrated novel and more like a picture book: the illustrations tell a parallel story, another character's story, snippets of which we get here and there in text but which we can only fully grasp through the illustrations, and the ending illustration made me pretty much tear up, absolute stunning work by Rovina Cai.

The only thing I can criticize is the dialogue, in some places. I feel like it sometimes felt a bit forced and didn't quite fit the mood of the scene. It was somewhat disruptive at times because the prose is very well crafted. It didn't take me out from it entirely but there were segments in which the things they said, especially between Ellie and Jay in the middle of Complicated Situations, felt not as natural as I would have wanted.

All in all, this book was 100% worth the wait (for me) and I'm so happy I could finally read it. Absolute gem from Dracie Little Badger, as expected.

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simplykatherina's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The version of our world that this book takes place in is one of magic and mystery, and I loved getting to experience it.

I didn’t know much about this book going into it so while I was expecting a mystery I wasn’t expecting the ending (not that I’m upset).

This is a wonderful story of finding the truth and discovering who we are and the power we hold.

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