As an Okie, I was intrigued when I read this book is set in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. This is a crazy fantasy about witches, a daemon, metal horses ( which look awesome on the cover), and goddesses using the town as a game. I found myself having an easy time believing in all the fantasy and supernatural but had questions about the day to day life in the dust bowl town such as how did they grow their food and raise livestock and where did the character acquire makeup and new clothes to wear. It was an exciting page turner but I would have liked more info on how the people survived during the 10 year long dust storm.

Loved this book. The storyline was original and fascinating.. The idea of an alternative world in the United States was brilliant. I could not put this book down. A great read for middle school readers.

Red Dead Redemption meets Good Omens in this fantastically imagined tale of Life vs Death, witches and demons, and horses made of steel and fire. The city of Elysium, Oklahoma is locked in a stalemate between Life and Death and town outcast Sal may be the only way to stop their game. Teaming up with a group of renegade girls from the desert and one mysterious traveling magician, Sal must decide how to save a city that has never welcomed her...or lose the chance to live at all.

An entertaining romp with a great cast of characters. For me, the unique setting was the best part. From the blurb, I expected it to be darker than it was, but it was an action/adventure story more than a dark fantasy. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

#ElysiumGirls #NetGalley
An interesting and conceptually different read. Young adults will enjoy the backdrop and pacing. It was hard to follow at times, but once I was invested it really began to pick up half-way through.

Elysium Girls is a strange book. I feel like for the first third I didn’t know what the book was really about, but I’m glad I stuck with it because the payoff was good in the end. It’s not a perfect book: there’s something strange about the pacing and the author has trouble making all of the characters as distinct as they should be. However, the unusual setting is really creative and the author hits on deeper themes like the meaning of humanity and the concept of identity and family. I enjoyed watching the heroine come into herself. The descriptions are appropriately haunting and I enjoyed the small mysteries and how details from early in the book became important as the plot progressed.

I really had fun with this story and it was interesting to say the least. One of my favorite things was the writing style. it was just so well written and easy to follow along that I fell into this book so quickly. The characters were interesting and I liked the idea of the battle between these two entities.

This book was received as an ARC from Disney Book Group - Disney-Hyperion in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I 100% enjoyed this book from cover to cover. The concept, the plot execution, the characters and the theme just blew my mind. When I read the first few chapters I got excited when I saw that the world of Elysium was controlled by two sisters playing a game and gambling the lives of the people of Elysium. This reminded me a lot of Greek Mythology and The Three Fates using mortals lives in determining the threads of life. Now with seventeen-year-old Sal at the realm to lead the people of Elysium out and end the sisters' game once and for all. I did not want to stop reading this book. It took my breath away and I absolutely love the concept behind this book and I know our teen book club and community will too.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

I have seen this compared to Mad Max meets X, Y, and Z..so my interest was drawn in right away. The writing style is amazing and kept me intrigued with each twist and turn.

Fun and unique story that combines science fiction elements, fantasy elements, and a touch of apocalypse world construction. I found the story to be engaging but ultimately a little slow in in development (possibly in part because it felt like the author was trying to tell two short stories and fusing them together). The central "mystery" was pretty obvious as well, but the quality of the writing made up for that.