Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, illustrated by Rovina Cai

Elatsoe stars Ellie, a Lipan Apache teenager who has learned from her family how to raise the ghosts of dead animals. In this world, different religions and belief systems coincide, with the distant descendants of Greek gods inheriting minor powers and fairy rings of mushrooms providing instantaneous travel around the world.

When Ellie’s cousin dies in an apparent car accident, he visits her in her dreams. He tells Ellie that he was murdered and that he’s relying on her to bring the perpetrator to justice.

The queer content in this one isn’t the main focus: Ellie mentions in passing that she’s aro/ace, and she’s a little puzzled by her friends’ intensity around their romantic lives. It was nice to read about a teen character who’s already firm in her queer identity and feels accepted for it.

What enjoyed most about this story, though, was how it plays with familiar horror and YA tropes, including avoiding things that usually make me roll my eyes. For example: Ellie’s parents are present in this story. Her mother acts like a capable parent, both taking her concerns seriously and shielding her as best she can from danger. It turns out, you can have parents in these kinds of stories and still have stakes! When her mother is in danger, Ellie has to rush in after to save her.

I also liked how technology is incorporated. While many horror stories seem to find cellphones antithetical to the genre, they are instead written into the narrative of Elatsoe in ways that make sense. When Ellie is investigating somewhere that might be dangerous, she livestreams it to a friend so there will be a witness if something goes wrong. Cell phones don’t need to hinder the plot of a horror story. In fact, in a particularly frightening moment, they add to it: everyone’s phone start playing sounds uniquely horrifying to them, like their loved ones screaming.

From the worldbuilding to the plot reveals to the details, Elatsoe just kept surprising me.

One of my favourite parts of the book was the story of Six-Great (Ellie’s great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother) which are woven throughout. Ellie was clearly raised on stories about her, and they provide guidance when she’s unsure about what to do. I also thought the different interpretation of vampire mythology was interesting: Ellie’s mother is able to banish a vampire by claiming the land their on as her home as a Lipan Apache person.

Of course, I loved her ghost dog, Kirby, and the stories of the other dogs in her family. Oh, and I can’t forget the illustrations! I love the little illustrations at the beginning of every chapter. More of those outside of middle grade, please.

I’m so glad that I didn’t DNF this: it was a really rewarding reading experience, and I immediately checked out the prequel from the library, Sheine Lende. I highly recommend this one.

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