Sheine Lende A Prequel to Elatsoe

When a young girl goes missing, Shane, her mother Lorenza and their trained dogs are called for a search and rescue mission. One of these dogs called Nellie however, has died years ago. For generations, Shane’s family has passed down the ability to raise ghosts, allowing Nellie to continue these missions even after his death. After the girl is safely returned home, another family asks Shane’s mother for her assistance in the search of two missing siblings. Mere hours after the search began, Shane gets a phone call, telling her that her mother has also gone missing. Now it is up to her to discover the mysterious circumstances under which the sibings and her mother have seemingly vanished into thin air, with her ghost dog Nellie on her side at all times I’m a huge fan of Darcie Little Badgers writing. Her stories feel very organic and all seemingly loose ends tie into each other in the end. Almost every interaction and friendship forged serve the plot. Shane’s Lipan Apache heritage is beautifully described, and present in every part of this book. The memories of Shane’s childhood make the reader feel almost nostalgic and do a great job at describing Shane’s motivations and personality. The short detours into stories of Shane’s ancestors are always refreshing and well thought out. They give us very real snippets of a culture and its people, and how it translates into a fantasy setting. As the story progresses, we get to see more of Shane’s powers, which are unlike anything I’ve read in Fantasy. Usually in literature, the raising of ghosts isn’t seen as the serene and helpful power it is in this book, but it definitely works. The chapter heading illustrations by Rovina Cai accompany the story well, visually tying the book together with their unique, slightly sketch-like appearance. Sheine Lende is a fantasy book unlike any I’ve read. Anything by Darcie Little Badger is automatically on my tbr list and so far, all of her stories have captivated me, which i expect they will continue to do.