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psocopteraElatsoe, Darcie Little Badger, 2020 YA. I've enjoyed her short fiction and was excited to read her debut novel and was not disappointed. In broadest outline this is A Teen Solves A Mystery but that does not capture how good the character work and worldbuilding details are. I don't want to spoil anything but there is one thing in particular that was so brilliant it made the book for me right there. I enjoyed reading a YA protag who had a good relationship with their parents, and I liked the handling of her asexuality (and, hey, as a bonus, if you get annoyed by YA romance plots, guess what there isn't). I guess it's premature to claim it will win at least one of the Lodestar and Norton without having read much other 2020 YA, but it's going to be on all the ballots. BTW if you find yourself needing to talk about it out loud, Elatsoe is "eh-lat-so-ay" (eh-LAT-so-ay, specifically, I found a video, although the text makes sure to tell us it's four syllables, which I always appreciate.)
Spoilers about details: The idea that Native people on their ancestral land can disinvite vampires from their whole region is just glorious. And I know the creepiness of towns with lush lawns in the middle of the desert and I loved that being used for horror ambience.
(Animal harm content: there's a ghost dog, which has already died by the start of the story.)
Spoilers about details: The idea that Native people on their ancestral land can disinvite vampires from their whole region is just glorious. And I know the creepiness of towns with lush lawns in the middle of the desert and I loved that being used for horror ambience.
(Animal harm content: there's a ghost dog, which has already died by the start of the story.)
