Sheine Lende

 Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger, 391 pages.

Shane, like many of the women in her family before her, has the power to rouse ghosts from the world below. She and her mother use these powers, including the tracking power of their ghost dog, to find missing people (whether they can pay or not). Which is the right thing, but also hard, since money has been tight since they lost their home, community, and several family members in a flood many years ago. Things get even harder when her mother goes missing on a search and rescue mission for two siblings, and Shane has to go further than she ever thought possible to get her back.

This prequel to Elatsoe really works as a prequel in a way that many don't. The story didn't undercut anything from that book, while also not being rendered less meaningful because we know how Shane eventually ends up. Rather it added a lot of depth and history to a character we only see in passing, letting her own her story in the same way the Ellie does in her book. That being said, this book didn't work for me quite as well as Elatsoe. I found the pacing to be a little slow and clunky, and I had a hard time really getting into this book. It's still worth reading for fans of Darcie Little Badger, but I would recommend her other books first if you're looking for modern fantasy mixed with Lipan Apache mythology.