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From Horn Book

May 1, 2024
Cryptids and Fae abound in the slightly off-kilter version of 1970s Texas that serves as the setting for this prequel to Elatsoe (rev. 9/20). Seventeen-year-old Shane and her mother, Lorenza, work with their bloodhounds (and one ghost hound) to track lost people. But when the search for missing brother and sister Bobby and Donnie results in Lorenza vanishing as well, Shane rushes to the site of the rogue "mimic" fairy ring that apparently took her mother, only to have a stray thought whisk her to Donnie's location. With Lorenza and Bobby still missing, Shane sets out to research the mimic. Her investigation raises new questions: if Bobby had wished to be reunited with his late parents, could the mimic have sent him Below, where the dead reside? Could Lorenza have followed him there? Shane's ability to call animals from Below, as well as folk wisdom from her Lipan Apache ancestry, guide her on her journey to rescue them, which is interwoven with flashbacks to Shane's own tragic family history. This inventive, well-constructed fantasy adventure with grayscale chapter-opening illustrations can be read independently of the first book but will likely send readers scurrying to the shelves to read (or re-read) that one next. Anita L. Burkam

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From School Library Journal

Starred review from April 1, 2024

Gr 8 Up-This prequel to Elatsoe features Ellie's grandmother Shane, a 17-year-old Lipan Apache, and further expands upon the strange and unique world. Shane and her mother track down missing persons using ghost dogs (familiar to those who've read Elatsoe), even when the families can't pay them. This means Shane is used to barely scraping by, her deep practicality almost at odds with her unique power to raise the dead. When her mother disappears after tangling with a fairy ring, Shane will journey across the south and the world Below to find her. The narrative emphasizes generational trauma and the power of community with flashbacks, finding ways to ground the fantastical worldbuilding elements of vampires, fae, and ghosts in the culture and relationships Shane finds important. Little Badger artfully navigates Shane's family history-from disasters to stolen land-and how they fight to reclaim their identity. While the novel stands alone, common elements from the first book reappear to add humor and tension. Part road trip, part classic quest, this novel manages to add fresh and exciting elements to the worldbuilding while retaining Elatsoe's slightly spooky atmosphere. The flashbacks and changes in point-of-view slightly hinder the pacing, but readers will likely be too invested in Shane's story to care. Shane and her family are Lipan Apache, with additional diversity in the supporting cast. VERDICT A wonderful addition to the Elatsoe universe with vital representation, worthy of any YA collection. Highly recommended.-Emmy Neal

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Booklist

March 15, 2024
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Little Badger returns to the world of her revelatory, award-winning debut, Elatsoe (2020). Seventeen-year-old Lipan Apache Shane and her mother, Lorenza, set out on a search-and-rescue mission to find two young siblings missing in Texas hill country. In this alternate 1970s America, fairy rings are transport centers. The missing seem to have stumbled on a group of dangerously unpredictable (and potentially world-destroying) mimic rings. They could be anywhere--and anytime. After Lorenza vanishes too, Shane undertakes her first solo rescue with the help of her ghost dog, Nellie. (Like all of the women in her family, going back to her four-greats-grandmother, Elatsoe, Shane is a ghostraiser, able to summon insects, birds, and animals to her aid.) The search takes them to a deserted lakeside town hiding a monster, to the site of a notorious Colorado mimic ring disaster, and, ultimately, Below--to the underworld. Shane's progress is interspersed with family history, stories, and flashbacks to the traumatic loss of their home eight years earlier. A slower pace allows readers to absorb each inventive twist, unexpected encounter, jolt of creepy menace, and dreamy illustration. It also gives them a chance to know the family and friends, old and new, past and present, who witness and support Shane's growing determination to not only survive and return home but also thrive and find justice.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Kirkus

Starred review from February 1, 2024
Two generations before the events of Elatsoe (2020), Shane, a 17-year-old Lipan Apache girl, helps her mother, Lorenza, perform volunteer search-and-rescue operations. Familiar both with tracking to survive in the wilderness and counting change to survive under capitalism, Shane possesses the resourcefulness of an irresistible protagonist. Her practicality also provides the perfect foil for her extraordinary ability--inherited from her four-great-grandmother--to summon dead creatures, adding texture to her supernatural world. What starts out as Lorenza's quest to locate two missing children becomes Shane's journey through Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, and the ghostly land Below to find her mother after she disappears. While faeries and vampires inhabit Shane's surroundings, the heart of her story is her family's endurance despite various tragedies, including climate devastation and rich settlers' betrayal and theft. Frequent flashbacks and late-breaking perspective changes add narrative complexity, alongside rich depictions of cultural identity, generational trauma, and community care. A secondary character's revelatory discovery offers an empowering narrative of reclaiming one's stolen ancestry. Shane's protectiveness toward her younger brother, complex love for her inconstant grandfather, and sturdy bond with her mathematically minded best friend add further relationship depth. Bug enthusiasts will also find kindred spirits in Shane and new acquaintance Dr. Richards, an older Black scholar of biology, magic, and comics. A classic fantasy adventure and a balm for any soul weary of oppression. (note on the title) (Speculative fiction. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From AudioFile Magazine

Darcie Little Badger and narrator Kinsale Drake revisit the fantastic world of Elatsoe in this prequel. This time, listeners meet Elatsoe's grandmother, Sheine Lende, known as Shane, as a teenager when she is learning to be a supernaturally skilled tracker from her mother. Drake's steady cadence creates a storytelling mood reflecting a narrative that details family history and the struggles of the Lipan. Fascinating scientific details and mythology are combined as fairy rings are explored. When Sheine Lende's mother and a boy named Lorenza disappear, Sheine Lende must venture to other worlds to find them. Drake's tone magnifies the youthful strength of the characters. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine