I didn’t encounter Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger’s debut novel, when it came out in 2020, but I greatly enjoyed her next book, A Snake Falls to Earth (2021). So I was pretty excited when I got a chance to review her upcoming Sheine Lende: A prequel to Elatsoe (scheduled for publication April 16, 2024). Good news: Reading the prequel first, on its own, is perfectly satisfying! When I had fulfilled enough other reading commitments to move this to the top of my queue, I happily devoured the nearly 400-page novel within one day, although I had to stay up a few hours late to finish it. I just couldn’t put it down.
Sheine Lende is the name (although missing some diacriticals) of a Lipan Apache girl known as Shane to most people; the reader isn’t explicitly told her real name for quite a while, but it’s the title of the book, so I figured it out fairly early. Shane is a teenager who works at a pizzeria after school, but she has also been helping her mother with tracking and finding missing persons.
Shane works to fit into society, as shown by her name shift, but she also has been taught by her relatives about their heritage, and cares about it. Shane and her mother have the ability to call up ghosts of animals – they could call people’s ghosts too, but never do, as it’s unsafe and forbidden; however, the ghost of one of their tracking dogs, Nellie, is a constant companion. In this fantastic version of our world, magic also exists in the form of infrequent contacts with the fae, and fairy rings that can transport people instantaneously.
Shane had lost her home and most of her family in the aftermath of a hurricane, so when her mother goes missing herself while trying to find two missing children, it’s up to Shane to find out what happened. (The authorities don’t act until it becomes clear that something bigger is going on, and even then, their response is far more focused on control than help.) She brings along her little brother because there’s nobody else to watch him, until their somewhat unreliable Grandpa Louis shows up. However, she does get help from friends, who she’s pleasantly surprised to discover are closer and more supportive than she’d dared to think before all this.
I really enjoy Shane’s personal journey throughout this book. She’s not a stellar student, but she’s clever and resourceful, and unafraid to tackle problems. She figures out how to research problems, and how to find various people to ask for information and help. She doesn’t talk much to outsiders about herself, but does open up enough to provide relevant information to the people assisting her in her quest, in a timely manner (which was a relief to me, since I’ve read too many books lately that were unnecessarily complicated by secret-hoarders). She’s surprised to find out that some of her friends not only like her a lot, but look up to her.
There are some hints of unrequited (or just oblivious) romantic interest in the book, and some expressions of LGBTQ+ relationships, but almost all of the book focuses on Shane’s quest and her family heritage, along with the worldbuilding. I’m not sure whether this book qualifies as Middle Grade or Young Adult; the absence of romantic relationship drama makes me lean more toward MG than most of the YA I’ve encountered, but Shane’s activities, and the fact that most adults are willing to deal with her on at least a semi-adult basis, feels more YA. Anyway, the publisher, Levine Querido, classifies it as Young Adult.
As a fairly privileged Caucasian, I appreciate being able to learn more about the Lipan Apache experience (the author herself is Lipan Apache). The scattering of Shane’s people, their oppression and exploitation by rich white people, and an oblique reference to the boarding schools that removed many Native American children from their families, are painful parts of Shane’s heritage and history, some of which are integral elements of the plot; however, this is the opposite of a depressing story. Shane perseveres through uncertainty and adversity, and ultimately achieves most of what she wants.
I greatly enjoyed reading Sheine Lende, and I strongly recommend it, for anyone to whom any aspects of it look appealing. It will not disappoint you. I intend to follow up by reading Elatsoe, about Shane’s granddaughter, as soon as I can.
Content warnings: Historically accurate race-based exploitation; child endangerment.
Disclaimer: I know the author very slightly; I won this book in a lottery while watching Darcie Little Badger’s Twitch stream, and I moderate another Twitch channel where she has participated in a role-playing game.
