Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

69 reviews

cowardthedog18's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

There had to be more; And boy the drawing at the end of the book is the best part. The best parting gift knowing your grandparents will always watch over you. I’m reading A Snake Falls To Earth now. Hope it meets my expectations just as this one did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Genocide, and Gore

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, and Violence

Minor: Murder

cj13's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Violence

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Gore, Blood, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, and Genocide

katrinky's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.5

good mystery, but got a little muddled sometimes (are they leeches? or vampires? or just magic evil humans?) and I didn't find the characters to be very deeply-drawn. I recommend it for YA fans, mystery fans, thriller fans, and anyone into vampire/mythical lore. and HIGHLY recommend for anyone looking to read more Native authors and see more Native protagonists.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Car accident, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Grief, and Violence

stubsofun's review

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Elatsoe is a novel brimming with potential, and in some aspects, meets that potential. However, hand-in-hand with exciting action scenes, great world building, and a good mystery, are poorly done lore-dumps, a pov change for one chapter that stops the action in its tracks, and clunky dialogue at times.
I think with a few more rounds of edits to trim unnecessary parts and find more natural ways to convey the world building, Elatsoe would have greatly benefited.
Overall, I will be interested in what the author writes in the future, and I don't regret reading this book, but I would be hesitant before recommending Elatsoe to another reader.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, and Car accident

Minor: Racism

throwback682's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A murder mystery + ghosts and wizards, with a Lipan Apache protagonist who is canon asexual (and I suspect aromantic) and a boy cheerleader sidekick who is shown having both a(n ex) girlfriend, and a YouTube channel where he teaches tumbling and dance moves. 

There are also passing references to other queer characters that feel normalizing, not tokenizing.

(One of the characters, whose life has been irreparably altered, ends the book by moving in with friends - a married couple of women.)

The first half of the book is much slower, the second half is much more action packed. If you’re struggling with the slower start, I’d encourage you to hang in there. 

This book blends together a little bit of everything.

The good guys: an indigenous girl with a strong talent for ancestral magic, a fae boy who travels through fairy rings and his psychic aunt, a vampire who is disliked by his future in-laws, a ghost dog, and a ghost mammoth, among others. The bad guys? A rich “miracle working” doctor (actually an evil wizard), an indigenous vampire, colonizers, and… Teddy Roosevelt?! I love it.

 

I could tell that J had a crush on Ellie the entire book, and she was oblivious. I kept waiting for that to be a plot point, that he was going to confess his love to her despite knowing she’s asexual (and probably aromantic?).   But he never did!! It was so refreshing.

I feel like I could ramble on about this book forever. It has so much good stuff about it and it was exciting and enjoyable. I would especially recommend for young girls (who are old enough for monsters and violence). Ellie is a great role model. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Classism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Gaslighting, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Sexual violence

ariiw's review

adventurous fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death, and Racism

some_random_person_hi's review against another edition

emotional sad

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

I feel like one of the plotlines just never got resolved and I disagree with the main character on 

how Abe Allerton should've just died like it does make sense for dying ppl to be extremely desperate

. Besides those, the pace is slow until it becomes fast in the final 100ish pages and there are emotional scenes towards the end, just like a milder version of Record of a Spaceborn Few.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Death of parent, Gore, Car accident, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, and Hate crime

Minor: Animal death, Ableism, and Blood

Ableism is specifically use of unchallenged ableist language: the word "h*ndicap"

vercopaanir's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Amazing world-building and a really neat story!  The ending felt a little rushed and there were a couple plot holes in the last 100 or so pages that didn’t seem to get answered/resolved, but overall really good writing and a unique story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Animal death, Racism, Colonisation, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Kidnapping, Blood, and Hate crime

Minor: Cursing and Injury/Injury detail

The racism in this book is experienced by the main character and her ancestors and called out by the main character. It’s not a racist book, it’s simply sharing the lived experience of Native Americans in an urban fantasy setting.

vanesst's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Death, Racism, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Blood, Animal death, and Alcohol