Reviews

This is a fun story that has a great concept. I love the magical elements built in, and the mystery is exciting. I liked that all magical cultures were woven in: European vampires and fairies alongside Native coyote people and ghost walkers.

However, the writing is clunky and it feels much more like an elementary or middle grades novel. There are some very forced preachy moments to add in some history and social justice lessons, and some random quirky details that remind me of how my teenage students write.

Ellie felt more like a 10 year old, not 17, and the swear words and mentions of college just didn't age it up enough. For those excited that she's asexual, it's literally mentioned in passing once and has nothing to do with anything.

Overall, great idea, not great execution.

ethan_js's review against another edition

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4.0

More books for young adults (or any age really don’t limit yourself) like this please. A delight, and the illustrations were wonderful!

alaurenc's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

caseythebookwitch's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

bioniclib's review against another edition

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4.0

I am seeing more Sci-Fi/Fantasy books by BIPOC authors. I love the genre but have always been uncomfortable with how white and male it is. It's a bigger issue that I want to get into here, but it was great to read about a minority group, in this case the Lipan Apache from a member of the tribe instead of a well-meaning but problem-fraught white dude. And it's a well-written book to boot!

Here are some of my takeaways:

The breaking down of boundaries, specifically between the living and the dead, is a major trickster trope; and the reason the book was recommended to me.

I wonder if the story about Coyote person in the Bat person's cave was a real Apache story.

Not really a spoiler, but I'm going to cover it up because it is tangentially related to the ending.

Spoiler

Another trickster trope is Coyote always being on the move. When Elatsoe and her fam pic up a coyote on their way home, the coyote doesn't have a destination in mind, she's just looking to travel.

Is Vivian's storytelling style, the deliberate pace and intentionally including many details, a Native American storytelling style?

The author's take on vampires is that they're cursed men. They still have the same inability to enter someone's home.

Spoiler

Which is marvelously used when Vivian says one is unwelcome in her home and since the entire land in the ancestral home of her people, he's forced to flee not just the city but the state, many states, because the original spread of the Apache covered more than one.

There's a ghost doggo!

I highly recommend this book.

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