Elatsoe | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Review

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Elatsoe

Written by Darcie Little Badger

Published August 2020 by Levine Querido

#YoungAdult. #Asexual, #LGBTIQIA+, #Supernatural, #Mystery, #Middlegrade, #IndigenousRep, #OwnVoices

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Reading this book was one of the rare experiences where I started it late at night ... and couldn't put it down until I finished it (at approximately 5AM). If the five star rating didn't convince you that this is worth picking up, then hopefully the rest of this review can push you over the edge, though the gorgeous cover by Rovina Cai was enough to capture my attention and the rest is just icing on the cake.

Recently, I have been attempting to rectify the fact that I have read very few books by indigenous authors in my lifetime. I claim to be a reader who strives to read widely in all areas of representation and yet the only indigenous books I could pull out of my history were read for school. I saw this being recommended as a new book by an indigenous author while doing some research into new books to read and marked it on Goodreads. The cover was beautiful I heard that it had asexual representation (something I personally identify as and see very little representation for in literature) and was ready to dive in. I picked it up the week it was released and flew through reading it the next chance I had. Would I have picked up this book if I hadn't been looking for Indigenous Rep? If I saw it, most definitely. Would I have seen it if I hadn't been looking for it? I hope so, Kayla from booksandlala mentioned it and I'm sure folks picked it up from her recommendation but outside of that I have seen very little buzz. This book deserves all of the buzz, so here I am to make some noise.

This book felt like a great transition book out of middlegrade. While so much of the YA genre focuses around romance, relationships are a major defining part of the teenage experience for MOST teens, it was nice to read about older teens who are friends working on a task, in this case solving a weird supernatural murder, and not stopping to kiss and hold hands. They had a genuine friendly relationship with each other, and helped each other whenever they could. If you have a teen who is nervous about stepping into YA because they identify as ace then hand them this so that they have a character to identify with, but this would also be great for the younger teens who aren't necessarily ready for relationships as well. The only content warning I would give to younger teens is a bit of violence but nothing excruciatingly gorey (I've seen worse in some video games rated T).

I will say that her sexuality only comes up in a single comment made toward her by a tertiary character. The tone of the comment was a bit weird, but it was so nice to see the representation put down definitively, rather than just implied. It wasn't simply that this books was attempting to be relationship free, which is an entirely reasonable thing for a book to be, it was stating the characters sexuality and validating the experiences of a largely ignored minority: that it is perfectly okay to not want a relationship. It normalized having other interests or simply choosing to invest your emotional energy in meaningful friendships. There are kids who aren't asexual who will identify with this and that's important as well. This isn't a book just for the ace kids who sit in the background, but for any number of kids who may not be in a place to experiment with their sexuality. I appreciated the representation, it made my heart happy, and by in large it was done well.

While I could speak about my own experience as an asexual human on the planet I have no insight into what life is like as an indigenous youth, I would ask that you seek out indigenous (especially Lipan Apache where possible) reviews of this one. I can however, speak to the cultural elements that I really enjoyed as a human who wants to learn and understand others. It touches on racism especially toward indigenous folks both in the overarching theme and in small situational moments, and brings up a few historical figures that white history has painted as unproblematic saviors, even though they have done some rather harsh things to people of color publicly (which could be a great way to introduce the topic of history being written BY certain people). I know a lot of the time indigenous cultures are spoken of in the past tense in historical texts and this is a great way to show that indigenous folks very much still exist and are marginalized in similar ways to other people of culture in America. In a young adult text I find this incredibly important especially in the current political climate where our country is being torn apart and a large portion of the country are proving that racism is alive and well.

Overall I loved the experience of this. It definitely has urban fantasy vibes, which is a genre that I tend to enjoy, with the added bonus of less gratuitous sex and no relationship stuff to muck through the mystery for. If you are an adult reader who maybe wants a softer, lighter urban fantasy book this could be something for you. It is also a great choice to hand to a younger reader who is transitioning out of the kids section and not quite ready or not interested in the heavy romance elements of the young adult section at large. It is a great read if you want to read and learn a bit about Lipan Apache folklore or customs. It had enough suspense, action, and friendship to keep me reading it all in one sitting and could definitely be worth a read for personal or academic reasons.

I would love if folks could give me some recommendations for more indigenous literature. Again, its an area that I find myself lacking and want to read more of so any and all that you can send my way are worthwhile titles to look into. I also would love recommendations on asexual books as that is another area of queer literature that I have not had the pleasure of reading very much of despite my personal ties to it.