skygiants: Hazel, from the cover of Breadcrumbs, about to venture into the Snow Queen's forest (into the woods)
[personal profile] skygiants
I've had occasion to rec Elatsoe twice this weekend for different reasons, once for someone asking for ace protagonists and a second time in a discussion of interesting loopholes in vampire lore .... "if a Native person uninvites a vampire from their traditional lands they HAVE TO GO" is the best play on the invite-only nature of vampires I've seen in years.

The worldbuilding in Elatsoe overall is extremely good and one of the standout elements of the book imo. It's set in a version of the U.S. that is Like Our Own but seamlessly assumes the public and mainstream existence of vampires, fairies, coyote people, etc. -- there's very little background scene-setting exposition and supernatural elements simply show up when they become relevant to the story, which allows the book to move without getting bogged down in its own mythology, but as with the vampires, everything that does appear gets integrated into the story in really neat and interesting ways. Also, by now I as many others probably have read many variants on 'immigrants bring their magic backstories to America byyyy which I mean I want to talk about fairies mostly' and it is extremely pleasant to read a version that's written by a Native author who is able to center Native stories and then pick and choose whatever else she wants to throw in for fun.

The plot itself focuses on Apache high schooler Ellie (short for Elatsoe, the name of her Six-Great Grandmother, from whom she inherited her ability to raise the dead) who finds herself tasked by her cousin's ghost with bringing his murderer to justice after he dies in a suspicious car accident.

Throughout the story, Ellie receives help from: her ghost dog; her best friend, Jay, who has extremely minor magic powers inherited from a fairy ancestor; her parents, who occasionally institute a temporary necromancy ban until Ellie can talk to a mentor but are overall extremely supportive; Jay's sister and her best friends from the basketball team; Jay's sister's boyfriend, a friendly college vampire bro; the ghosts of many, many trilobites; and, potentially, her Six-Great Grandmother.

Less helpful: the police, who are useless; Ellie's cousin's grieving widow, whose justifiable anger and sorrow are starting to impact her judgment a little when it comes to things like 'are raising revenge spirits a good idea'; and the picture-perfect town of Willowbee, which seems MUCH too green -- and too white -- for the region of Texas it inhabits.

I read this for my book group, and this ended up being the first book in months if not years that absolutely everybody liked. The content of the story is frequently pretty dark, but the writing and tone are warm and matter-of-fact rather than sinister; the plot moves quickly and the narrative treats all the characters like people worthy of concern and consideration. (Although Ellie herself is 17, the book feels to me like it's written more on the 12-13-ish-year-old edge of YA rather than the 17-18-year-old edge, but I don't think that's a bug.) I zoomed through the book in a day and would gladly read more.

Date: 2021-07-19 05:11 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] jinian
The author used to work where I work now! I didn't know her well, but it was cool to have a little proximity :)

Date: 2021-07-19 07:15 am (UTC)
starlady: Raven on a MacBook (Default)
From: [personal profile] starlady
I really liked it, but it definitely felt like a MG to me. And I thought the dialogue sounded extremely stilted overall.

It's a very good book and I have her next one on preorder, but yeah, it's definitely a first novel too.

Date: 2021-07-19 12:27 pm (UTC)
kate_nepveu: sleeping cat carved in brown wood (Default)
From: [personal profile] kate_nepveu

Sold!

Date: 2021-07-19 01:15 pm (UTC)
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)
From: [personal profile] sophia_sol
oh yayyyy, I'm so glad you liked this one too! It was GREAT.

Date: 2021-07-19 03:05 pm (UTC)
troisoiseaux: (Default)
From: [personal profile] troisoiseaux
Ooh, this sounds great. I will have to check it out! ("Teen necromancers" seems to be a reoccurring theme in my reading this year; I might as well lean into it.)

Date: 2021-07-21 11:34 am (UTC)
troisoiseaux: (Default)
From: [personal profile] troisoiseaux
Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson also features a teen necromancer! And was an early forerunner for my favorite novel of 2021 before I read the Locked Tomb books.

Date: 2021-07-19 03:34 pm (UTC)
larryhammer: floral print origami penguin, facing left (Default)
From: [personal profile] larryhammer
Sold. I've been tracking down Native YA lately, with a focus on especially on Apache but perforce also Navajo.

BTW, do you have recs for ace but not aro protagonists, YA or adult?

Date: 2021-07-21 03:02 pm (UTC)
larryhammer: floral print origami penguin, facing left (Default)
From: [personal profile] larryhammer
Thanks -- I'll look for it.

Date: 2021-07-19 04:35 pm (UTC)
lirazel: A close up shot of a woman's hands as she writes with a quill pen ([film] scribbling)
From: [personal profile] lirazel
Oh you've made me so excited to read this one!

Date: 2021-07-19 05:32 pm (UTC)
osprey_archer: (Default)
From: [personal profile] osprey_archer
TRILOBITE GHOSTS oh my god, I mean everything else sounds great too, but I'm not sure I've ever read ANYTHING with trilobite ghosts. Plus, a book I can zoom through in a day sounds very appealing right now, AND this one is available at the library as we speak...

Date: 2021-07-19 10:17 pm (UTC)
larryhammer: floral print origami penguin, facing left (Default)
From: [personal profile] larryhammer
It would take me way too long to figure out even where I came across it, let alone find it again, but I once read a 19th century poem that included a conversation with a trilobite ghost. It was probably in an anthology of poetry about science, and I want to say that the poet was a woman but it's possible the character talking with the trilobite ghost was a female paleontologist.

Yeah, not much help, is that ...

Date: 2021-07-22 11:49 pm (UTC)
bloodygranuaile: (Default)
From: [personal profile] bloodygranuaile
We read this for ace book club and it was so fun and delightful! I also thought it read young but figured that was me outgrowing YA; interesting to hear that someone else got MG vibes off it, maybe it's not entirely that my vibes are too old lol.

Date: 2022-01-03 06:31 pm (UTC)
hermionesviolin: a build-a-bear, facing the viewer, with a white t-shirt and a rainbow stitched tattoo bicep tattoo (pride)
From: [personal profile] hermionesviolin
I'm delighted that there are enough ace books that there can be an ace book club. (I'm not ace myself, but still yay.)

And yeah, concur that it felt more MG than YA to me.

Date: 2022-01-03 06:13 pm (UTC)
hermionesviolin: image of Buffy in the desert in "Restless" with text "small girl in a big girl world" (small girl in big world [_extraflamey_])
From: [personal profile] hermionesviolin
I forgot you had read this book until I saw it on your 2021 list.

> there's very little background scene-setting exposition and supernatural elements simply show up when they become relevant to the story, which allows the book to move without getting bogged down in its own mythology

I read this book recently and yes, this is the thing I was trying to articulate. (I said in my GR writeup, "The fantasy elements are nicely woven into the fabric of the book. They're definitely important to the book, but it also doesn't feel like A Fantasy Book.")

> Also, by now I as many others probably have read many variants on 'immigrants bring their magic backstories to America byyyy which I mean I want to talk about fairies mostly' and it is extremely pleasant to read a version that's written by a Native author who is able to center Native stories and then pick and choose whatever else she wants to throw in for fun.

Ooh, such a good point.

> "if a Native person uninvites a vampire from their traditional lands they HAVE TO GO" is the best play on the invite-only nature of vampires I've seen in years.

SO GOOD!

> Throughout the story, Ellie receives help from: [...] her parents, who occasionally institute a temporary necromancy ban until Ellie can talk to a mentor but are overall extremely supportive [...]

I really appreciated that her parents believe and support her -- and that Ellie mostly communicates with them and with other people. In ways that felt realistic, but so grateful to avoid the, "People don't talk to each other and/or believe people they're close to -- because the plot demands it..."

And yeah, I agree with other commenters that it felt more MG than YA to me.

Profile

skygiants: Princess Tutu, facing darkness with a green light in the distance (Default)
skygiants

May 2025

S M T W T F S
    123
456789 10
11121314 151617
18192021222324
2526 2728293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated May. 30th, 2025 12:23 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios