oh my goshhhhhh yessssssssss

I loved Elatsoe so much and this prequel really has everything I loved about that one--intriguing worldbuilding, rad characters, loving family, and real Lipan Apache history/lore.

I think it could stand alone if you haven't read Elatsoe but also like. Why haven't you read Elatsoe???

Another solid book from this author. An enjoyable read, bringing in some fun worldbuilding - it's fun to see our world with fantastical elements, just a little bit different than ours. However, this book did suffer from some uneven pacing, and it also felt like it was trying to be too many different stories at once. The grandfather elements felt like they fizzled out halfway through, the stuff with the woman in the shell seemed only to exist to bring the shells into the story, and the resolution to Shane's mother being missing was anticlimactic. I liked the characters, but some of them felt less developed; I was disappointed that there wasn't more with Amelia and Gabrielle, given their apparent importance to Shane. Also, I don't know what it was, but I never trusted Donnie. It felt like there was meant to be more there that never was fleshed out. I did enjoy this, and I really enjoy the writing style and the world in general, but I'm still waiting for a more tightly put together book that doesn't leave me thinking that this was really two different books put into one. Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC; all opinions are my own.

I'm so happy to get to go back to the world of Elatsoe (Elatsoe Cinematic Universe?). I just really love this world and its fantastical and supernatural elements and exploration of culture and the afterlife.

Something about the way DLB writes just immerses me and gets my brain foggy brain to pay attention. The bits of humor and science nourish me.

The cornerstone of the story were the authentic characters and the relationships between them. However, the appearance of a couple of more whimsical characters stole the show for me.

What I loved about the book:
- Exploration of the afterlife (the Below)
- Portraying grief, history, culture, family and family that isn't perfect
- Tough, badass women
- Worldbuilding that doesn't overexplain and bore me to tears
- The epilogue

I really need more books in this series and world, preferably specifically with Elatsoe, my ace queen.

the heart of shiene lende
Shane, Elatsoe's grandmother, embarks on a quest to find her missing mother on an emotional journey that explores familial bonds, cultural identity, and the spirit of a family that faced tragedy and historical injustices. The novel stands out for its intricate plot, rich character development, and combination of fantasy elements with modern issues​​, like how Native American land was taken.

a richly woven world
What sets "Sheine Lende" apart is Little Badger's skillful worldbuilding where the supernatural coexists with everyone else. Faeries, vampires, and the ghostly land Below are only a few elements in this book. The idea is that these ghost-whisperers live among ordinary people. At its heart, the story remains human, exploring the strength of a family.

themes and reflections
"Sheine Lende" dives into the exploration of cultural identity and generational trauma. The complexity of relationships (like between Shane and her brother, her grandfather, and her friends) adds layers to the story. And the novel doesn't shy away from discussing social themes, making it a great read for young adults navigating their understanding of the world.

why it stands out
Darcie Little Badger’s ability to blend classic fantasy elements with modern issues sets "Sheine Lende" apart. The novel is not only a fantasy adventure but also a reflection on the societal challenges we face today, wrapped in a story that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.

what i didn't like
I would rate Sheine Lende four-stars. Although there were so many good things about this book, it just wasn't for me. This genre is just one that I usually dislike, and although it was a nice, soft comfort read, there were not many plot twists or other literary devices that I usually search for in books. I think I just wasn't the intended audience for this book, so I'm not going to hold it against the author.

final thoughts
For fans of Darcie Little Badger, "Sheine Lende" is a must-read, further cementing her status as a pivotal voice in YA literature. It’s a book that not only entertains but invites readers to ponder the deeper connections between our past, our identities, and the stories we tell.

As I’ve come to expect with Darcie Little Badger’s works, this was absolutely INCREDIBLE and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy!
I loved Shane, and all her friends and the community she builds for herself and her family. The historical setting was very immersive, and as usual, the world building for this alternate, magic infused, reality was seamless.

What a wonderful book! Elatsoe and A Snake Falls to Earth were two of my favourite books, and Sheine Lende did not disappoint. It worked so well in concert with Elatsoe - so much that I immediately wanted to reread Elatsoe afterwards - but also stood very well on its own with a new cast of characters to enjoy. The worldbuilding we get with the magical elements is so intriguing and I love how well it's woven in, not entirely holding my hand but also not throwing m off the deep end in terms of setting. As always, familial and platonic relationships are such a strong centre point, and I love love love how well they're done.

It's difficult to express just how much I loved this book. Elatsoe was one of my favorite books the year that I read it, and it's already clear that Sheine Lende is going to be one of my favorite books this year. The writing is beautiful, and the world is beautiful as well. I loved the way that the fantasy elements were seamlessly a part of Shane's world in the book. I also loved the way storytelling was woven through the book. Shane's stories, as well as the stories she remembers her family telling, work perfectly in the narration.

Sheine Lende is a wonderful book about community, loss, and resilience. You don't need to have read Elatsoe in order to read and love this book, but if you loved Elatsoe, this is a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc.

4.5 rounded. I loved Elatsoe and was so excited for more of the beautiful world that Darcie Little Badger created! This is a prequel series about Ellie's grandmother when she was a teen. As with her first book, Darcie's world is so exciting. It is magical realism plus Lipan Apache culture and mythology. Similar to Elatsoe, the main character, Shane, has the power to raise the dead and has a mystery to help solve. The story is clever and the writing is vivid and easy to read. Shane is the kind of main character that you cannot help but root for but the supporting cast were well developed as well (I love the Grandpa).

I really hope Darcie continues to expand on this world. (Side note, that I think A Snake Falls to Earth is this same world, but not 100% sure). It is a really unique take on YA fantasy and YA thriller/mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Levine Querido for providing an eARC of this book.

After reading Elatsoe recently I was excited to see that Darcie Little Badger was coming out with another book - and a prequel at that! Unfortunately, Sheine Lende didn’t have the same magic to me that Elatsoe did. Still enjoyable, but the story seemed to drag on a bit longer and I came away feeling like there were plot holes and questions that remained unanswered.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Elatsoe is one of my favorite books of all time, so I thought there was no possible way that Sheine Lende could compare.

AND YET!

I LOVED Sheine Lende. This book was reminiscent of a warm hug from your parents when coming inside from a thunderstorm. Building upon the amazing world Elatsoe held, this prequel is centered on Ellie's grandmother, a Lipan Apache teen named Shane. This book had it all - a beautiful and exciting world, a strong, smart, and brave main character, a reckoning with generational trauma, an appreciation and deep love of mothers and the matriarchal line. Not only was this book all of this and more, it was clever and well-written, with descriptive scenes and characters that felt like friends.

I'm grateful to be in a world where Darcie Little Badger's writing exists. And where Rovina Cai's art exists!! Darcie Little Badger is easily an auto-buy author for me and Sheine Lende only solidifies this.

I encourage all who read this book to learn more about the Lipan Apache Tribe, who continue to endure after hundreds of years of attempted colonization - i learned a lot from lipanapache.org, which also has a nice list of recommended reads (https://www.lipanapache.org/LAT/books.html) including “The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apache's of Texas & Northern Mexico,” by Nancy McGown Minor. 📚

This was such a great prequel to Elatsoe and had the same feel that I enjoyed a lot. The characters were what I was hoping for and I enjoyed the young adult elements to this book. Darcie Little Badger does a great job in writing this and had the same feel that I was looking for. I hope there is more in this world as I’ve enjoyed reading this.

I love the Elatsoe series! I was really happy to read more in this world and see more cool animal ghosts.

Sheine Lende starts out as a story about a mother and daughter who have ghost dogs to help them find missing people and turns into a book about community. The focus on family, found family, and friendships in this book was really the standout for me. I feel like the depiction of imperfect family relationships was very important too. The story is unique, heartfelt, and hopeful. Something I wish I could’ve grown up reading. I also really enjoyed all the illustrations included at the start of each chapter. They are gorgeous! Darcie Little Badger does such a great job incorporating the more fantastical elements of her stories into the realistic settings and the Lipan Apache culture. I look forward to reading future books and seeing how she further expands the world she has created.

Sheine Lende is a worthy successor to Little Badger's terrific Elatsoe. It taps into Native identity and wisdom, explores coming of age and friendship, and is full of many good dogs. I love the matter-of-fact tone in regard to the Fae realm, was captivated by the description of Shane's journey into the Underworld, and felt great joy in reading about adults who trusted younger people and children. This is a beautiful book that will please all kinds of readers.

Thanks to NetGalley & Levine Querido for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fun supernatural mystery involving missing kids and Shane's mother. Shane digs deep into investigative work in the real and fantastical in order to bring her mother home.

Sadly, I didn't find this as compelling as Elatsoe. I thought it ran into the same issues as the other one--the lack of expanding on worldbuilding. The author would drop some really cool supernatural elements and not expand on them or just act like it was completely normal.

I did like Shane as a character and her grandfather was a pretty interesting guy too.

Thank you to Levine Querido for providing a free digital copy to review via NetGalley.

Sheine Lende is a prerquel to Elatsoe, centering on Ellie's grandmother when she was a teenager. Shane is a tracker, who was trained by her mom. One day, her mom goes missing and Shane must find her with the help of her family and new found friends.

Despite the high stakes of the story, I found the first half to be quite slow paced. It was worth taking my time with and I found the second half to be more compelling. The storytelling within the novel created any layers and nuance to the characters and plot. I especially enjoyed the few chapters in first person in contrast to the ones in third, as they felt more emotional.

Another aspect I enjoyed was how the conflict in the story arose very natually from the circumstances of the characters' lives and how they were well equipped for their journey. This adds a level of believability that many speculative stories can lack and for me, raises the stakes, due to the reality mixed in with ther fantastical.

The ending was incredibly satisfying and very rewarding.

This is the third novel I have read by Little Badger and I am always excited to return to her work. Her signature writing style remains beautiful, the much needed focus on familial and platonic relationships was present, as well as poignant themes of colonialism. Little Badger manages to have a distinct style, while each of her works functioning as its own distinct story. I am excited to see what she has in store for us next!

Sheine Lende
By Darcie Little Badger

Remember how I raved about Elatsoe last year? It’s time to rave about the prequel.

The overarching structure of this book is a rescue. Shane and her mother are looking for missing siblings, but something goes terribly wrong and Shane is left hunting down both her mother and the young boy.

But more than that, I felt like this was an exploration of identity. Shane and her family were displaced and have gone through several horrible events because of it. They had to scatter and so Shane feels that she is losing a part of herself as she realizes things she has forgotten, or things she forgot to ask her elders so that she could carry them on. She doesn’t know the Lipan language well and mourns that she stumbles over pronouncing her own name. Darcie Little Badger managed to write this in such a visceral way. As someone who doesn’t feel she has ties to any specific culture, I was mourning it along with her. And rejoicing when she found connections to her past and her people’s past.

Isn’t it fascinating how books can do that? I read somewhere that people who read (especially fiction) turn into more empathetic humans and I think this book really highlights how that happens. I’ll never fully know how that feels, but I now have a better understanding of, appreciation and sympathy for, peoples who know that all too well. Because, unfortunately, this isn’t an issue only of the past.

I hope I’m saying that coherently.

Thanks to @netgalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Darcie Little Badger is the kind of author I wish I was exposed to in my youth. I love her works and will read anything and everything she puts out.
It was nice to be back in the world of Eltasoe and get to know her grandmother, Shane. Little Badger continues to weave in the Lipan Apache culture seamlessly throughout the novel, as she did in Elatsoe.
Sheine Lende at first glance disguises itself as a mystery novel, but it is so much more. It is about individual and collective grief and loss, friendship, culture, community love, support, and keeping hope alive no matter how dire things may seem.

Things I loved:
Sibling love
Friendship love
Community love
Flawed characters
Lipan Apache culture and not shying aways from the harm caused (and continue to cause) to their people on a systemic level, while taking care not to highlight trauma that could cause more trauma.
Nellie
The Below

Some things that may have worked better for me:
We got a lot of internal and external dialogue of Shane telling us her thoughts and what was going on versus showing. Compared to Elatsoe and A Snake Falls from the Sky, this wasn’t as strong for me.
More depth to the Fae, fairy rings, and that world.

Overall, I enjoyed this and look forward to Little Badger’s future works.

Thank you to Netgalley and Levine Querido for making this available as an ARC.

I really liked Elatsoe, and this is about Ellie’s mom, Shane (Sheine Lende). Like Ellie, Shane also has a ghost dog to help her out. While Elatsoe had a sort of Scooby Doo feel, this book is more "search and rescue" journey as opposed to solving a mystery.

Thank you to Levine Querido and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book!

Elatsoe had previously blown me away, and I'd fallen in love. I recommended it to one of my students while I was student teaching, and they too enjoyed it, as I'd see them reading the book during free time in class. Sheine Lende, I think, is tighter-written, showing Darcie Little Badger's growth as an author (when she was already so fantastic!) and deeper depth to the world, with Shane narrating her world.

I did absolutely tear up several times while reading, both at the historical contexts, the findings, and the familial fear. My anticipation was building in every page and I both wanted to read quicker, to get to the end, and never put this book down. Shane was a fantastic narrator, and I truly felt as if I was traveling around with her, like a lesser version of Sunflower.

I absolutely did tear up again at the author's note. And then I reread Elatsoe and A Snake Falls to Earth. Thank you so much. I cannot wait to reccomend this book to my students; I've already started with friends.