Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

 

I first heard about Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger from a YouTube review. The reviewer absolutely loved it, and the fact that it was written by a Native American and included Native American folklore as part of the plot sealed the deal for me. I picked it up on a Barnes and Noble run and included it as part of my 22 in 2022 Challenge this year. 

Elatsoe is a young adult urban fantasy novel that follows a sixteen-year-old girl named Elatsoe (or Ellie). She is a Lipan Apache, and her family's heritage and cultural traditions are a big part of her life in Texas. The world she lives in is much like our own, except for the the fact that magic and monsters are commonplace. Many families have their own special powers that are passed down through the generations. Ellie has the ability to raise the ghosts of the dead. As the ghosts of people are vengeful and dangerous creatures, she limits the use of her powers to animals only. She has raised and trained her own dog, Kirby, and he is her constant, mostly invisible companion. 

As the story begins, tragedy strikes Ellie's family. Her cousin dies in a terrible car accident, leaving his young wife and baby behind. The circumstances surrounding his death are strange, however, and soon after, his ghost appears to Ellie in a dream. He tells her that he was actually murdered by a man named Abe Allerton and begs her to get to the bottom of what happened. Determined to find justice for her family, Ellie begins her own investigation. With the help of her friends and family, she stumbles onto a small town with a deadly secret that stretches far beyond the death of one man. She must use all of her talent to uncover what really happened to her cousin and protect everyone else caught in the middle of Abe Allerton's scheme.

Before I get into my thoughts on the actual text, I want to comment on the cover design and illustrations. This book is absolutely beautiful. The image on the front is stunning and the shiny lettering on the title really stands out. There are even some dogs printed on the cover itself, under the jacket, which is always a nice surprise. The pages are thick and have a nice weight to them--this is one of those books that's heavier than it looks and is nice to hold. Each new chapter is accompanied by a small illustration across the top of the page, and those are really pretty too. The overall design is really well done. This is definitely a good one to have a physical copy of.

The story itself was also a pleasure to read. The way magic worked in the world was interesting. I liked that it went beyond the usual types of powers we see in fantasy stories and was tied to families. The idea of passing down a "family secret" of how to perform different kinds of magic made it seem more special and unique. The inclusion of Ellie's heritage was also a great aspect of the story. This came across in little bits of folktales, descriptions of foods, and participation in different customs throughout the text. You could tell that Little Badger was honoring her own heritage through Ellie's family, and it gave the characters a warm, friendly feeling. She didn't shy away from mentioning the genocide of native peoples either when appropriate in the text, reminding readers of how this dark part of American history is always lurking in the background of these families. Native Americans are very underrepresented in young adult literature, so I thought it was nice to have that kind of diversity here. Other backgrounds and sexualities were also well represented throughout the story. For example, Ellie herself is asexual and her aunt is trans. It was a great blend of different characters and it felt reflective of the makeup of the real world.

The mystery itself was also very engaging. Anything goes in an urban fantasy, and I thought that Little Badger did a nice job of weaving the magic into the story in a way that added to the intricacy rather than just be used as an easy out to explain impossible things. I honestly didn't see where it was going once it moved beyond solving the death of Ellie's cousin--it took a bit of a weird turn. I'm not sure that I loved the final confrontation and ultimate twist (it was a little goofy), but I was never bored while reading it. It was a solid story from start to finish, and I do think will be engaging for its intended audience.

The one aspect of Elatsoe that I thought could have been improved on was the complexity of the characters. This is hard to explain, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I consistently felt like each character came across as much younger than they actually were. Ellie in particular felt like a middle grades character, and I kept having to remind myself when she was doing things like driving that she was supposed to be sixteen. Her inner dialogue, the way she spoke to her friends, and her overall happy-go-lucky nature just felt young, and this clashed quite a bit with the ultra-violent and fairly gruesome situations she runs into throughout the story. The same goes for most of the other characters, including the adults, who come across as if they are parenting slightly younger children than the ones they have. This was a subtle thing I noticed, and not something that significantly impacted my enjoyment of the story. I just kept feeling like this was written for a younger audience and then being surprised when things would take a violent turn.

Overall, however, I thought this was a great and unique story. I don't generally like urban fantasy that much, but I liked the way Little Badger included those elements here. I'll definitely be recommending this one to future students and checking out more work from this author in the future.

Challenge Tally

22 in 2022: 13/22

Total Books Read in 2022: 52