Elatsoe

middle and upper grades – a little swearing third-person POV standalone own voices contemporary / fantasy Ellie is a member of the Lipan Apache tribe living in north Texas. When her cousin Trevor dies in an \”accident\” he gives her a message as he\’s on his way to the underworld – Abe Allerton murdered him! – so Ellie\’s family heads to the Rio Grande to help out his widow Lenore and baby Gregory. Willowbee seems like a perfect town – too perfect – and Dr Abe Allerton is known for his \”miraculous\” cures. Together with her family and friends Ellie set out to discover how Trevor really died. In this world Ellie\’s family knows the secret to speaking with and calling up ghosts. Her friend Jay\’s family is descended from Oberon and can create a will o\’ wisp in his palm. Oberon\’s descendants can travel through fairy rings, and another friend is a vampire. It\’s an interesting concept to see how native myths are mingled with the myths that colonizers brought with them. Respect is a major theme. I particularly liked the stories about Six Great Grandmother! And the soft pencil sketches at the beginning of each chapter are beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed this and will be looking for more books from this author. Elatsoe (el-at-so-ay) is Ellie\’s full name and Lipan Apache for hummingbird Be sure to read the author\’s note at the end for a wonderful story about her dad!

I enjoyed this book so much. I was worried it might be too young in the YA genre but the author treats the reader well. The stories is complex and rich in depth. I greatly enjoyed the pieces of Lipan Apache information and looked forward to the occasional break to google a word or creature. Also it was so refreshing to have a YA novel that did not center on a romance. Yet the book is full of intimacy being modeled in relationships. I am a huge fan now and I will be eagerly following this author for more titles.

So I will not review this book based on the political or cultural trends. I will review this book based only on whether is was a good read or not. It was not. The main character was a spoiled teen that spent a lot of time talking about how much smarter she was then everyone around her and how much she \”respected her elders\” Then she spent the entire book making eye rolling bad decisions. She goes off half cocked, does not bother to think things through, over looks the most obvious clues cannot put two and two together to save her life and does not follow direction from her elders worth a good gosh darn and causes most of her own problems. The story itself has holes in it big enough to drive a monster truck. Magic appears and disappears when ever it is convenient. A great example is the way time travel suddenly becomes a thing when the writer has written herself into a corner. All in all sloppy world building. I could go on but I think you get the point. Do not believe the good reviews and do not waste your money. But if you still have to read this dumpster fire of a book chck it out from the library.

I so loved the family dynamic in this – it was great to see a warm & loving family. I also enjoyed that friendship was such a big part of the story, and that it never tipped over into romance. The voice is easy to fall into and read along at a good clip that reflects the snappy plot. Touches on grief with depth and compassion. I read this all in one day when I didn\’t feel well, and it was a comfort.

Slate of is a bit of perfection, very well crafted, a story in which to immerse yourself. Reading this is like walking into another world, more real in some ways than ours. As if someone flipped our world like a coin, and this was the other side. The book is related to urban fantasy, grounded in Native American culture and experience. Parts of it remind me of Neil Gaiman\’s AMERICAN GODS, but more accessible and suitable for a young adult audience. There are ghosts and monsters, magic and mysteries. There are many many layers to be discovered in the story. I plan to read it many times.

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