Elsekind

by Celeste Hollister

Kex Mardugal is half human, half something... Else. With her dark skin and wild eyes, mankind considers her a soulless abomination. In the face of prejudice, Kex has carved a place for herself in human society. She earned the rank of King's Champion, securing a position of power within her homeland.

With her moving up the food chain, she has attracted the attention of an inscrutable sorcerer and his party of warriors fighting an enigmatic evil threatening to overtake their world.

Conflicts within the party undermine their ability to work together. All the while, their enemy, a strange and powerful demon, steadily gains strength, commanding deadly storms and legions of curselings to spread its blight across the land.

As an Elsekind, Kex discovers that she alone can define her code of honor in order to fight against the monsters of the world.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

236 pages, Paperback

Published April 20, 2017

About the author

Celeste Hollister is a novelist, a mom, a travel writer, and willing cat minion. She writes books for people who struggle with racial identity and LGBT+ representation. She graduated from Texas State University with a degree in writing, taught in urban schools for a decade, and lived in South Korea for a year. She loves wine, cookies, traveling abroad, and fanfiction. Currently, she lives in San Marcos with her lovely boyfriend and fabulous daughter.

Reviews

[Nancy Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Tolkien....read this book

I cannot remember when I have enjoyed a sore and​sorcery fantasy novel as much. I read a lot, all the​ and had been a bit bored wi

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bizarre, somewhat mold-breaking fantasy. While it follows the classic heroic quest format, there's enough weird side action so it's not entirely predictable. There's some bits that deal with the hero's biracial roots and a gay sidekick, but neither of these play major roles in the plot. A decent first fantasy novel.

[Lori Krell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tale of great adventure, Kex and her childhood friend realize they have much more to learn as they answer a request from another nation. The Champion of her king, her grandfather, carrying a curse, Kex grows so much on the journey and finds she's so much more than she once believed. Through it all, Hollister weaves politics, spiritualism, and culture to question who we are, gender roles, differences and being "other". We're all Elsekin in many ways.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was wonderful. I was hooked from the first pages and was actually sad when I hit the hallway point because I was not ready to finish.

[Ying · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elsekind is one of my favourite books from the year so far. It was an easy read and I found myself really interested in what would happen next.

The book follows the tried and true formula of young (misfit) girl heading off on an adventure with a band of friends, which is one of my favourite tropes. I haven't read a book with a gang of explorers in a while, and this book made me realise how much I missed it.

I really liked the idea of Juno. I thought it was really sweet. The scope and language of the book reminded me of books by authors such as Tamora Pierce and Emily Rodda. It's no A Game of Thrones nor The Name of The Wind, but I mean it in the nicest way. It's a much easier read but still conveys the idea of a vast unexplored world. Honestly hope that Ms. Hollister continues to write Elsekind novels because I'd love to read more books set in the universe.

So many themes were fit into the book, such as romance, discrimination, wealth etc etc. I really liked it. Bonus points for romance that wasn't shoved in our faces, and extra points for LGBT romance.

My only critcism is that I felt like certain details or chapters may have been left out. Sometimes things happened so quickly and I think more time could have been spent in some locations or exploring certain themes. I didn't get to know the merry band of explorers as much as I would have liked. I did enjoy how different characters developed, however I do think more time could have been spent on character development for the other characters.

Would recommend to read, and I think the book is appropriate for younger readers (12+).


Did anyone else think that Don Claudio was somehow connected to the "real" world? He mentioned a few things that are common in our world but seem foreign in theirs.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, not great, didn't really hold my attention well, so I kept having to stop and figure out who was who. A couple of times, I felt there had been a previous book that I missed.

[Dee Esquivel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading the journey of Kex, both mentally and literally. The story of a life long friendship, finding, and loosing new friends, and answering her own questions, moved me. I quickly became attached to the characters, relishing the descriptions of each, and the pictures created in my mind of this magical world. One quote has imprinted on my soul, Kex: "It does not matter what I believe. For none among us know the truth. What we have is a life, and so we must live it well, in the company of good friends, and in the service of good deeds. We can ask for nothing beyond that." Reading this brought back the joy of when I read my first J. R. R. Tolkien book. Wonderful job, Celeste!

[Celeste · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my book, and I love it. I want to share it with the world.