I adored the premise of this story and loved Elatsoe and her dynamic with Jay and her family. The story featured a compelling mystery, a magic system rooted in Apache culture, and a deeper message about the greed and evil of colonizers. 

Also, Kirby is the goodest boy. 

I absolutely loved this! The plot was mysterious and faced-paced and kept me hooked to the book. The characters were loveable and fleshed-out. The message was powerful and important. The only thing that always threw me a little was the fact that Ellie was supposed to be seventeen - she (and also Jay, for that matter) always made me think they were at most twelve-year-olds. 

Elatsoe surprised me twice: First once I realized it bordered on juvenile fiction and was set in the summer (for some reason in my head it was specifically a winter read), and second when I enjoyed it anyway.

I was hooked by the mystery and even when I figured it out, I was still engaged by seeing how everything would resolve. Sounds silly, but I appreciate that there were no fade-to-blacks on the action scenes. I was on the edge of my seat bed! Ellie is a great character and this will be a great series. I learned about the Lipan Apache both while reading and afterward on my own time, and I applaud the author for sharing her heritage with young readers. 

& a mini applause to Rovina Cai, whose charming cover illustration urged me to pick the book up in the first place! The dogs! 🐕🥺

I adored this book. It had maybe the best worldbuilding of any contemporary fantasy I've ever read. I loved the characters. I loved the way that Darcie Little Badger integrated the many different lore/magic systems. The vampires were especially compelling, especially when put in contact with the indigenous people of the land they were occupying. Kirby is best ghost dog. I will be reading everything this author writes.

If I had read this book back in middle or high school, this very likely would have been my favorite book. The story features a teenage Lipan Apache girl, Elatsoe, living in an alternate U.S. where magic and mythical creatures exist. Elatsoe is the type of heroine I loved looking up to as a teen. She is smart, innovative, and passionate and is an all-around loveable character from the very beginning.

This is an Indigenous Futurism book that feels like a cross between Nancy Drew, Ghostbusters, and Netflix's Wednesday. The thoroughness of world-building made it very obvious to me why this book has made it onto Time's list of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. Every bit of lore revealed about this alternative U.S. society was interesting and believable when viewed with an imaginative lens. The magic system and the way it interweaves society as we know it feels plausible in the same way that the world's of Harry Potter did.

This book is incredibly heartwarming and interesting. It had a bit of a horror element to it, which I didn't expect, but it was done in a way that still didn't seem too intense. The plot and the lore hooked me from the very beginning and easily held my attention through the end.

My only critique of this is that there were some vampire parts that felt too cheesy for me, but I'm not letting it affect my rating because I have to remember that this was written for ages 12 through 18. Most of the book felt like it was good for teens and adults alike, but it was some of the vampire scenes towards the end that made it feel more middle-grades/YA.

All in all, this was a wonderful book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I read this as an audiobook I borrowed from my local library, but I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy for my personal collection because I anticipate reading this more throughout my lifetime and encouraging my friends and future kids to read it.

It comes up as an LGBTQIA+ read, and it is, just don’t expect coming out stories or romance talk or relationship stuff. This story is not that stuff. This is an LGBTQIA+ community member living life and handling business not related to that part of her identity. 

This was such a beautifully written story filled with so much Indigenous history!

Sadly, I didn't become as invested as I hoped to which impacted my overall enjoyment. I think this is a book I personally need to physically read at a slower pace to fully appreciate whereas I listed via audio rather quickly.

I definitely plan on picking this book up again when I'm in a different headspace to truly admire it!

I've been wanting to read Elatsoe since it came out in 2020 (a couple of weeks before my own ace book!), and now I finally got around to it thanks to my book club. Even after anticipating the read for so long, it delivered. I really hope this will become a new children's classic, because there is so much in this story that I feel is of great value. The way the prejudice against the Lipan Apache people is touched upon, the way the 17-year-old main character is actually believed by the adults in her life when she tells them she is asexual. Those aren't big elements in this story at all, but they are remarkably well done. And then there's the mystery itself, which maintains its tension throughout and yet doesn't leave you hanging at any point because you're discovering just enough new information at just the right times. It reminded me of some of my favourite (Dutch-language) books of my childhood, but with an extra sparkle of magic and so much more soul. And then there's all the cute animals! The way stories are used to transfer important cultural knowledge! The beautiful illustrations by Rovina Cai that add an entire little story of their own to each chapter!
I'm definitely going to read the prequel too.