Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

122 reviews

pobi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

Loved the style and storytelling!! I think it was just slightly too young for me, or maybe I just read it when I was in the wrong mood. The world building and mystery was FABULOUS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

The magical realism involving ghosts lent a dreamy quality to this book.  I’d love to read more about this world.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Stalking, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, Murder, Xenophobia, Animal death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Body horror, Trafficking, Medical content, Abandonment, Classism, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Car accident, Deadnaming, Gore, Grief, and Hate crime

sammysammsam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

The mix of Native lore with an alternate United States where magic and the supernatural are even part of the court systems and law enforcement was intriguing for me. Main character was very relatable as a teenager, and her friendship with her friend Jay was heartwarming. Descriptions of the supernatural scenes were great, and the more scary ones were bordering on horrific and scary.

Her entire interaction with the spirit of vengence was very unnerving- I loved it!

Kirby is the best ghost-boy. I loved so many things about this story, but Kirby is probably my favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Grief, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

cassielaj's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

Wow. What an incredible story. Ellie is a fierce protagonist, and the rest of her family and friends make up a great cast. I loved Kirby and the idea that pets continue to be companions after death 🥹 The mystery plot was super intriguing, and it was resolved well. I worried that the magic added to a familiar setting would be too much or confusing, but I think it was balanced well. And the art of the chapter headers…

it took me a second to catch on, but i loved how Six-Great’s story paralleled Ellie and Kirby’s.

SO COOL. 
P.S. Hooray for an explicitly asexual protagonist! Especially in a non-romance story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Car accident, Grief, Gore, Violence, Death, and Racism

Minor: Animal death and Kidnapping

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful reflective fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Animal death, Kidnapping, and Stalking

language_loving_amateur's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

 This book will stay with me for quite a while. There is a deep examination of grief and death that is 100% relevant and interwoven with the plot. Elatsoe has a good amount of suspense and I worried a lot for the characters. I could not put it down after the 65% mark. There were a few times when I wanted to yell "Stop Kids! You're making a bad decision!" but even though they made their own choices they came out alright in the end. The social commentary is both upfront and nuanced. I liked the asexual representation, and that it is clear while she plans on not having children Ellie is invested in her community and future generations. 
It is on the younger side of Young Adult, and some of that I think comes from the writing on a sentence level. Now I listened to the audiobook, so I cannot reexamine the sentences or give examples, but I think that most of them follow a similar pattern. This could make for easier reading, or make the narrator feel flat. One thing that irked me was when an action sequence was interrupted for a story about Six Great (Ellie's sixth Great-Grandmother). It pulled me out of the book and made me wonder about the author's choices and not Ellie's choices. I know that in the situation Ellie was facing, I might briefly recall an image from the Six Great story, but I definitely would not think through the whole story until everyone was safe. 
I read this for Book Riot's 2023 challenge #17: Read a YA book by an Indigenous author. I'm not sure if this is a book that I'll revisit, but I am very glad that I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Animal death and Death

Minor: Car accident

jjstoff's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

gothnailcare's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective fast-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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racism, Xenophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

river23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racism, Death, and Animal death

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Gore

cowardthedog18's review against another edition

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