A review by hmatt
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I really, really liked the world this novel is set in, but I don't feel like the book did it or the story itself justice. A lot of the narrative seemed rushed, to me, as if it tried to pack too many details into too short of a story. At times, especially in the second half of the book, I wondered whether I had accidentally skipped a sentence or two of exposition.

The world seems so rich with magic and slight differences to "ours", and I can see why the author wanted to explain it all, but maybe some of the inclusions were unnecessary and distracted from the plot.
For instance, I don't think the repeated inclusion/descriptions of the fae and fairy rings is fundamental to the story besides as a convenient tool for Jay et al to use for getting around fast. Similarly, I don't think the fake-psychic plot point really furthered the narrative.
Instead, I wish the author had used this space to expand on Ellie's reactions and feelings during the climactic scenes. This part of the book really lost me
, because you had a teenage girl witnessing mass death and destruction happening around her and she's like... cracking cheerleading jokes with her best friend? Sorry, that doesn't seem plausible
.

I have some mixed feelings about the teeny tiny ace rep happening. I want to be happy that it's in there at all, but once again I feel like it was a rushed inclusion. It's not delved into in any detail, which is almost worse (to me) than not having named representation at all. Further, because the book doesn't go into any detail, an uneducated reader could be forgiven for equating asexuality with aromanticism - because the small inclusion appears to conflate the two. This frustrated me.

Beyond this, I did really enjoy the story. I liked how it wove it Lipin Apache culture and didn't shy away from confronting the ongoing effects of colonization. The characters' behaviours mostly aligned with their age, which is something that, if untrue, can really turn me off a YA read. However, I felt that the dialogue was a bit stilted and some of the exposition read as more middle-grade than YA. This made for a bit of a mixed-experience read.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings