Elysium Girls

I enjoyed this book a lot. It's unique to everything I have ever read before and it is a very interesting story. The premise is intriguing and Kate Pentecost does a great job at building a world sort of like our own and yet nothing like it at all. Some of the magic and its rules got a little confusing at times, but the story wrapped up nicely and everyone got the ending they wanted. I wish we got to learn more about Mother Morevna's past and her tattoos, and the Goddess Mother Herself, but I'm glad everything that went wrong was set right.

This book takes place in a small dust bowl era town which is pulled out of time and forced into a game of Life and Death. If at the end of ten years they have built a just society Life wins, but if not Death will claim the townspeople for herself.

The majority of the story takes place as the town is approaching the ten-year mark, so there's a time pressure that keeps things exciting. The founding of the town and appointment of the leader who is in charge during the book is glossed over a bit, but it did also happen when the main point of view character was an elementary school aged child so it's understandable. There is also a magical element to the story that I wasn't expecting, where some of the humans have magical powers. It took a while to get used to but overall I liked it.

There are quite a few characters, considering that they are isolated outside time for the duration of the game. Most of the characters are interesting and the interplay between them is fun, but they do end up relying on stereotypes or a single character trait a bit much for my liking. There is a daemon character sent to influence the game and he is likable but also so stupid that I wanted to scream sometimes.

There's some very mild romance, a bit of found family feelings, some pretty wild plot twists and a few fun fight scenes. A few things wound up sort of getting glossed over in the rush at the end, but overall I enjoyed the story and characters. The message about free will and what a just society actually is was a good one.

One thing that bugged me though was the format. The main character's point of view was written in first person, but every other character who had point of view was written in third person. It would switch between them in the middle of a chapter which could be jarring. I think I would have preferred either all third person or first person with their own chapters.