The world of Coyote and Crow starts with a question; what if the colonization of the Americas never happened? It’s a world where societies and cultures were able to change and grow along their own trajectories. Technology has advanced to dazzling heights and in new directions that Indigenous peoples of this place were able to independently establish. Its name is Makasing. This is the world we find ourselves in in Hemlock and Sage, the debut novel from the fascinating world of Coyote and Crow.
Our story follows lifelong friends Niya and Tusika. In this world there is a near universal coming of age ceremony known as the Adanadi ceremony. Initiates choose a path, usually an animal, who may, or may not, grant them a supernatural ability. Niya comes from a farming family who rarely have received an ability while Tusika’s family has a long history of serving on the ruling council of Cahokia, the largest city in Makasing, and always receive an ability.
While the two prepare for their Adanadi ceremony together, what should have been a typical process is thrown into flux when a mysterious outsider arrives in Cahokia with claims of an evil cult leader threatening her community.
This book places heavy emphasis on relationships. We see Niya wrestle with the difference in social status between her and Tusika as well as her changing feelings towards her. She is frequently caught wondering if their relationship will change after the adanadi and at different times hope to be more than friends. It’s a complicated web of friendship, jealousy and secrets.
Hemlock and Sage is a slow burn. There are exciting action scenes; the majority of the story focuses on relationships. The book reads like a high school drama and that’s not a bad thing. The few action scenes and futuristic technology are fun but the meat of the story lies in the questions about the characters changing relationships. Can we remain friends if we change? How does this new person change how I see you? Once we both change will we be different people and if we are what will that mean?
Author Tali Inlow (Cherokee), spends much of the book slowly building up to these questions. We see that she is primarily interested in the who of her characters, letting the story build around them and not getting distracted too much by the dazzle of the world. She consistently emphasizes Niya’s struggles to grow and understand a world where she often feels like she has little agency over the direction her friend is going and the sense of excitement but also nostalgic loss she feels for the changes they both are going through. It’s an emotional coming of age where no one comes out as the same person they used to be.
While we get to know our main characters very well in the story, a few of the minor characters come off a bit one dimensional but for a upper middle grade/lower YA book it’s age appropriate and still fun. If anything this book shows how diverse the story telling potential of this world is, where many would want to go full sci-fi action, Inlow takes the unexpected, and perhaps brave, approach of making it a drama. It certainly wasn’t the story I thought it would be and that was really cool.
Inlow keeps her characters largely within her tribal tradition. Keeping in mind the lack of colonization in this world she keeps terms and words in her language where appropriate. Her characters refer to themselves as Tslaagi, for example, Inlow never uses the colonized name Cherokee. Imagine what kind of story would be possible if we were to have even more Native authors from other Nations tell their Coyote and Crow stories? The possibilities really are endless!
We get a sense of the amazing technologies and world here as well as the political intrigues of Cahokia’s ruling elites. While these are very interesting and fun to read about, I found myself wanting more of them. Niya is an interesting POV character in that she gives us an insight into the world of a typical Cahokia citizen but the story could have used more exploration of what really makes this world different and interesting.
More than anything, however, this serves as an invitation for more. We need more stories from this world! I would love to see a sequel to Hemlock and Sage where more of this world. I’d also love to see Coyote and Crow get the same literary treatment as Dungeons and Dragons or Star Trek where many authors get a turn to explore and play with everything this world has to offer.
So if you’re looking for a dramatic story with a young, female, Native protagonist in a futuristic sci-fi world that takes you to some interesting places well Hemlock and Sage has got you covered!
Check out the book and everything else from Coyote and Crow at their website https://coyoteandcrow.net/2022/11/08/hemlock-and-sage/
