#55: Darcie Little Badger, Elatsoe

[kareila]

The outline of this book shares an astonishing amount of similarity with Cemetery Boys - both are about queer teens with supernatural powers teaming up with their best friend to solve the mystery of their murdered cousin, a quest that leads them to confront a sinister foe. But where Yadriel quickly gets sidetracked in an unconventional love story, Elatsoe focuses on communing with her ancestors, with her spirit allies, and most of all with her beloved dog Kirby, devoted to her even beyond death.

The worldbuilding is a bit bonkers: Ellie is a Lipan Apache living in Texas, which doesn't seem that weird, until she starts talking about legally registered vampires and government regulated fairy rings as if they're everyday facts of life. The pleasant upside of all this commonplace strangeness is that Ellie doesn't have to waste any story time trying to get people to believe her when she talks about her eerie experiences. She also doesn't struggle to have her sexual identity respected; her friends acknowledge her asexuality without making a big deal out of it. The absence of these conventional sources of YA tension give Elatsoe so much more space to be absolutely amazing.