Reviews - Ellie dei cani eterni

4.56k reviews for:

Ellie dei cani eterni

Darcie Little Badger

4.07 AVERAGE

patty_pages's review against another edition

4.0

emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

Elatsoe "Ellie" is a Lipan Apache teen girl in Texas who comes from a line of women that can raise the ghosts of animals from the dead. When Ellie's cousin visits her in a dream and begs her to protect his family, Ellie must uncover his murderer and expose the Willowbee secrets before it's too late. I enjoyed the cast of characters including Ellie's ghost dog Kirby, her best friend Jay, and tales of her Six-Great grandmother. The magical realism setting and Ellie's frequent quips brought levity to the grim topic of Indigenous disappearances and murders. Ellie is asexual but this story didn't center that aspect of her character nor did it depict her as robotic or unusual because of it. Overall, I enjoyed this book enough to check out the sequel.

mbjrose99's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous inspiring mysterious 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

Thoroughly enjoyable!! Ace main character, But she's first and foremost a native American necromancy detective. Teriffic and a quick read!

zober's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous 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: No

Sometimes I read YA and I think "Have I just aged out of YA?/Why is this so popular?/Do I just not like YA any more?" Then a book like Elatsoe comes along and nope, it's not the genre! This is a fantastic work of YA fiction. Great protagonist - very clearly a teenager without seeming either too juvenile or overly mature. The tone of voice worked; her decisions worked; her social awkwardness worked. This was a great world, and I thought the themes were really on point.

I bought a copy of this soon after it came out and meant to read it then, but somehow only just got around to reading it years later. Now I'm excited to go read the prequel, and anything else Darcie Little Badger writes.

zombiejod's review against another edition

5.0

A hugely enjoyable "middle grade" book - interesting structure with a why-dunnit mystery interspersed with stories of our main character's legendary ancestor Great-Six, genuinely supportive platonic friendships, mutually respectful loving familial relationships and sensible attempts at risk mitigation in potentially hostile situations - so refreshing :-)
Plus ghost dogs and a ghost woolly mammoth!

slknight13's review against another edition

4.0

There is some fantastic elements about this novel. It is hard for a book with vampires and those who could bring ghosts from the dead not seem cheesy and ridiculous. However, Badger does an amazing job of putting it together seamlessly. It is about a young girl named Ellie who can call the ghosts of dead animals to life. Her cousin is brutally murdered and reveals the name of his killer in a dream. She makes it her goal to avenge his death and this involves an impressive cast of characters.

katiegrrrl's review against another edition

5.0

Elatsoe comes from a long line of Lipan Apaches who can raise ghost, but they only raise animal ghosts. When her cousin dies he visits her dream and asks her to bring his killer to justice. This begins an incredible fantasy novel with faeries, vampires, and wizards.

What I love about Darcie Little Badger’s books is that they are strong female characters that are not involved in romantic storyline, because they are Ace. It is about magic and building friendships and being true to themselves.

2022 YMA American Indian Youth Literature Young Adult Honor book