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sophia_sol) wrote2021-03-03 06:34 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2021-03-03 06:34 pm
Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger
I loved this book!
It's YA fantasy, and it's very much doing its own thing instead of following the usual YA fantasy tropes. It's a little urban fantasy, a little magical realism, a little horror (if you're a wuss like me), a little humour, and no romance whatsoever for the main character.
Ellie is a Lipan Apache teen, in a version of the world where various fantastical and magical things are real. Ellie's family has passed down a secret for raising the ghosts of dead animals, and she shares this ability.
When Ellie's cousin dies in what looks like a car accident, he tells her in a dream that he's been murdered by a man named Abe Allerton. Now it's up to Ellie, her best friend Jay, the ghost of her dead dog Kirby, and her family to find out what happened and bring justice to pass!
Some of the many things I love about this book:
1. The protagonist is explicitly asexual (and probably aromantic), but a big deal isn't made of it, it's just a fact about her and there's no ace 101 speeches by characters or narrative.
2. Ellie's family is deeply important to her, and a relevant part of all she does. So many books about young people (teen and child) are about separating the kids from the adults in caring roles in their lives, so that the kid has space to Make Big Decisions and Accomplish Things. Ellie does these things, but in the context of a family who love her and are doing their imperfect best.
3. Speaking of Ellie's family, her six-times-great grandmother is a major character in the book despite never showing up because she's been dead for generations, and I love her very much.
4. The way magic is integrated into the world as a totally normal and expected thing, and yet there are still these moments of the numinous with it. The prehistoric ghost ocean!!
5. Ellie and her family's indigenous identity informs so much about them, their lives, their priorities, and their experience of living in the USA, but the narrative is never didactic, instead it's "yup this is how things are"
6. Super compelling, I didn't want to put it down.
7. The background b-plot romance between Jay's sister Ronnie and a new young vampire, Al, was surprisingly great. Also the buff bridesmaids. They only show up briefly but they're a delight.
8. GHOST MAMMOTH
It's YA fantasy, and it's very much doing its own thing instead of following the usual YA fantasy tropes. It's a little urban fantasy, a little magical realism, a little horror (if you're a wuss like me), a little humour, and no romance whatsoever for the main character.
Ellie is a Lipan Apache teen, in a version of the world where various fantastical and magical things are real. Ellie's family has passed down a secret for raising the ghosts of dead animals, and she shares this ability.
When Ellie's cousin dies in what looks like a car accident, he tells her in a dream that he's been murdered by a man named Abe Allerton. Now it's up to Ellie, her best friend Jay, the ghost of her dead dog Kirby, and her family to find out what happened and bring justice to pass!
Some of the many things I love about this book:
1. The protagonist is explicitly asexual (and probably aromantic), but a big deal isn't made of it, it's just a fact about her and there's no ace 101 speeches by characters or narrative.
2. Ellie's family is deeply important to her, and a relevant part of all she does. So many books about young people (teen and child) are about separating the kids from the adults in caring roles in their lives, so that the kid has space to Make Big Decisions and Accomplish Things. Ellie does these things, but in the context of a family who love her and are doing their imperfect best.
3. Speaking of Ellie's family, her six-times-great grandmother is a major character in the book despite never showing up because she's been dead for generations, and I love her very much.
4. The way magic is integrated into the world as a totally normal and expected thing, and yet there are still these moments of the numinous with it. The prehistoric ghost ocean!!
5. Ellie and her family's indigenous identity informs so much about them, their lives, their priorities, and their experience of living in the USA, but the narrative is never didactic, instead it's "yup this is how things are"
6. Super compelling, I didn't want to put it down.
7. The background b-plot romance between Jay's sister Ronnie and a new young vampire, Al, was surprisingly great. Also the buff bridesmaids. They only show up briefly but they're a delight.
8. GHOST MAMMOTH
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I am also proud of myself by reading two entire books involving mammoths since the start of the year. Maybe I should go out of my way to make this a new reading goal.
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