Elatsoe
One of TIME Magazine's Top 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time -- Now in Paperback! Locus Award Winner--Best First Novel A National Indie Bestseller Nebula Award Finalist Lodestar Award Finalist Ignyte Award Finalist TIME's Best 100 Fantasy Books of All Time NPR Best of the Year Booklist's Top 10 First Novels for Youth A BookPage Best of the Year Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best" PNBA Bestseller Publishers Weekly Best of the Year Buzzfeed's Best YA SFF of the Year Shelf-Awareness Best of the Year AICL Best YA of the Year NECBA Windows & Mirrors Selection NEIBA Award Finalist Tor Best of the Year Kirkus Best YA of the Year Publishers Weekly Flying Start American Indian Youth Literature Award Finalist
"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 review ★ "A unique and powerful Native American voice."-BookPage, starred review ★ "A brilliant, engaging debut."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review ★ "A fast-paced murder mystery."--Publishers Weekly, starred review ★ "A Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set." --Shelf-Awareness, starred review 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 it's 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.
"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 review ★ "A unique and powerful Native American voice."-BookPage, starred review ★ "A brilliant, engaging debut."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review ★ "A fast-paced murder mystery."--Publishers Weekly, starred review ★ "A Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set." --Shelf-Awareness, starred review 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 it's 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.
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Community Reviews
What an imaginative story. Ellie has a pet ghost dog and can raise animal spirits from the dead. She is an Apache descendant who has special gifts. Her cousin is killed and he calls to her in a dream, telling who his killer was. Ellie begins a search for proof and vengeance. Lots of twists and turns!!
One of the most phenomenal books I’ve ever read!!! I could hardly put it down. The story was captivating, exciting! I loved every second of this novel! Can’t wait for more from Darcie Little Badger
A contemporary setting with supernatural elements. A murder mystery with a satisfying and thrilling conclusion. Lovable characters and a protagonist you can really root for! Also, asexual representation! This is an amazing book.
The villain is so sinister. Ellie is an excellent protagonist. I love Jay. And I love the theme that keeps popping up where she’ll talk about like, Greek mythology and how pervasive it is in American culture, somehow everyone knows the tale of Icarus flying too close to the sun, but stories of native people are forgotten and never told in school settings, unless it’s in a strictly historical, marked-by-tragedy and white guilt type of way.
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