Elatsoe

By Darcie Little Badger

Book Overview

One of TIME Magazine's Top 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time -- Now in Paperback

A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin's ghost and vows to unmask the murderer.

Elatsoe--Ellie for short--lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals--most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered.

Who killed him and how did he die? With the help of her family, her best friend Jay, and the memory great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Elatsoe, must track down the killer and unravel the mystery of this creepy town and its dark past. But will the nefarious townsfolk and a mysterious Doctor stop her before she gets started?

The breathtaking debut novel from Darcie Little Badger features an asexual, Apache teen protagonist--and combines mystery, horror, noir, ancestral knowledge, haunting illustrations, and fantasy elements, in one of the most-talked-about books in years.

W I N N E R

Locus Award Winner--Best First Novel

Nebula Award Finalist

Lodestar Award Finalist

Ignyte Award Finalist

American Indian Youth Literature Award Finalist

P R A I S E

"Groundbreaking." --TIME

"Deeply enjoyable from start to finish."--NPR

"Utterly magical." --SyFyWire

"Atmospheric and lyrical...a gorgeous work of art."--BuzzFeed

"One of the best YA debuts of 2020. Read it."--Marieke Nijkamp

★ "A fresh voice and perspective."--Booklist (starred)

★ "A unique and powerful Native American voice."-BookPage (starred)

★ "A brilliant, engaging debut."--Kirkus (starred)

★ "A fast-paced murder mystery."--Publishers Weekly (starred)

★ "A Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set." --Shelf-Awareness (starred)

BEST OF THE YEAR

NPR * Buzzfeed * BookPage * Chicago Public Library * Publishers Weekly * Kirkus * Shelf Awareness * Reactor * Booklist

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1646142764
• ISBN13: 9781646142767
• Release Date: October 2023
• Publisher: Lantern Paperbacks
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 12 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 7 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Entertaining

I've come to the realization that I just love plots points where a person with powers is just accepted as normal, not questioned or doubted, just accepted. It's a refreshing change from the tried and true method of everyone thinking the kid is imaginative or crazy. I enjoyed this book surprisingly, for a middle grade it kept me intrigued all the way through.

Beautiful

I loved this! It was a fascinating and heartbreaking mystery. I definitely need more!