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The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
THE BALLAD OF PERILOUS GRAVES reveals New Orleans as you’ve never seen it before. From sky trolleys to haints, from the Dead Side of Town to songs that walk, talk, and keep the spirit of the city alive, this is an imaginative story that will sweep you off your feet.
So what is the novel about and what are haints?
In a fantastical version of New Orleans where music is magic, a battle for the city’s soul brews between two young mages, a vengeful wraith and a powerful song.
Nola is a city of wonders. A place where haints dance the night away, Wise Women keep the order and songs walk, talk and keep the spirit of the city alive. To those from Away, Nola might seem strange. To failed magician Perilous Graves, it’s simply home.
Then the rhythm of the city stutters.
Nine songs of power have escaped from the magical piano that maintains the city’s beat, and without them, Nola will fail. Unexpectedly, Perry and his sister, Brendy, are tasked with saving the city. But a storm is brewing and even if they capture the songs, Nola’s time might be coming to an end.
With a unique voice, inventive, lyrical storytelling and immersive worldbuilding this vibrant and imaginative debut highlights Black American culture and history in a way that isn’t often explored in fantasy. As for haints, you’ll just have to read it to find out what they are…
About the Author
Alex Jennings was born in Wiesbaden (Germany) and raised in Gaborone (Botswana), Paramaribo (Surinam) and Tunis (Tunisia) as well as the United States. He is a graduate of Clarion West and the University of New Orleans. He is now a teacher, author and performer living in New Orleans. His writing has appeared in strangehorizons.com, podcastle, The Peauxdunque Review, Obsidian Lit, the Locus-Award winning Luminescent. He is an afternoon person. @Magicknegro
What I Thought
New Orleans – or Nola – as it’s depicted here is a place that I’d love to visit someday. Already known as a city for the paranormal here the paranormal is part of the everyday – with haints (ghosts) striking up a band and drawing people into their hypnotic dance, and graffiti that hovers in the air.
I have to admit that it took a time to get used to this book and I’m not sure I fully got there. I think this is because initially I was trying to read it quickly, whereas it deserves to be read when you have the luxury of time. Some of it is written in dialect which also meant it demanded a bit of extra attention. And just look at that attention demanding cover too.
The writing is truly lyrical – it has a melody all its own and, as I was reading I did wonder if this would work better for me as an audiobook – I found a sample online so do take a listen and see what you think – I love that there is – rightly – music included and will definitely give this a try when it’s available here (not yet available on audible U.K.).
Perilous Graves or Perry for short is a young boy, who along with his younger sister Brendy and unusual crush Peaches get caught up in a task to save the city by capturing some missing songs. Peaches was my favourite character – she was ballsy and brave and we go on quite the emotional journey with her.
The story was like a fever dream and sections of it reminded me of: the underwater scene in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Stephen King’s IT, Pixar’s Soul, the Dr in Princess and the Frog the and a certain boy wizard. Ironic as the other main POV character was a trans man.
Art and music combine, and at its heart I think it’s a tale of how New Orleans as a city rebuilt after Katrina – how its artistic heart and spirit lived on despite the destruction.
I honestly think this is going to be a book that will divide people – with some adoring it and some really not. My opinion lies somewhere in the middle, it made my brain hurt, not necessarily in a bad way – just in a way that means I need to afford it more of my energy on a re-read. There’s so much going on that I’m fairly sure it will be a completely different experience the next time. This is such a unique debut and it has such a visual and auditory aesthetic that I’m definitely going to check out the audiobook and wouldn’t be surprised if a filmed version exists one day. I love that this has encouraged me to read out of my comfort zone and I just need to do some work to make this more accessible for me. I’m definitely going to check out author Alex Jennings Spotify playlist of musical inspiration here before a re-read.
Do check out the other posts on the tour and see what others – especially those more musically minded – made of it.
Thanks to Tracy at Compulsive Readers and the Publisher for the gifted ARC for the purposes of an honest review and my apologies for posting this late. On this occasion life caught up with me and the book needed more time to do the review justice.
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Spellstoppers by Cat Gray – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Welcome to Yowling – a secretive seaside village where magic is just one step away…
Max has spent years thinking he is cursed, because whenever he touches anything electrical it explodes. But then he is sent to Yowling and discovers he is a Spellstopper, someone with the rare ability to drain dangerous build-ups of magic and fix misbehaving enchanted items.
When Max’s Grandad is kidnapped by the cruel Keeper of the malfunctioning magical castle that floats in the bay, only Max’s gift can save him. Together with his new friend Kit, Max throws himself into an adventure filled with villainous owls, psychic ice cream and man-eating goldfish. But can he really pull off the biggest spellstop ever?
About the Author
Cat Gray is an author and journalist, based in London and Ireland. She started her journalism career at the age of 19, interviewing musicians and celebrities in between attending classes, then went on to be an editor at a series of glossy magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar and Town & Country.
Since she was very young, she’s always believed that there’s an adventure just around the corner, and this is reflected in her magical fantasy stories. Spellstoppers is her first book.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/_catgray
Instagram: http://instagram.com/cat.gray
What I Thought
Classic middle grade adventure with young Max not fitting into the everyday world because of an unfortunate ability to kill anything electrical. His exasperated mother sends him to live with her estranged father where Max finds out that magic exists, and that he has the power to stop it. And soon those newly realised abilities are put to the ultimate test.
Max’s grandfather Bram and his assistant Kit are joined by the unusual inhabitants of Yowling including the not so nice owls (think Hitchcock’s The Birds) and the really not nice Keeper of the mysterious and ailing castle, Leandra (who gave me Madam Mim vibes).
Full of both hideous and mouthwatering food, and animal companions with unusual names – children are going to love this story of learning how to harness what you’ve been taught to fear.
If you are a fan of The Apprentice Witch or The Hedge Witch I think you’ll enjoy this just as I did.
Cat Gray has written a pacy story set in a sleepy seaside town and with a main character you can’t help but like.
Thanks to Blue at Kaleidoscopic Tours and the publishers for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Check out the rest of the tour stops for more insights.
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The Measure by Nikki Erick – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Your fate arrives in a box on your doorstep. Do you open it?
It’s the decision of a lifetime. It seems like just another morning. You make a cup of tea. Check the news. Open the front door. On your doorstep is a box. Inside the box is the exact number of years you have left to live. The same box appears on every doorstep across the world.
The Measure is a transfixing contemplation of fate, a piercing exploration of how we value our lives, and a soaring story of love and heartbreak. When the world shifts irrevocably overnight, each character is faced with an immense decision. As boxes open across the world, their lives intertwine in moving, unexpected ways. An unforgettable story of love, resilience, and hope. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, David Nicholls, Matt Haig and Stuart Turton.
About the Author
Nikki Erlick’s writing has appeared on the websites of New York Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan and The Huffington Post. She graduated Harvard University summa cum laude and is a former editor of The Harvard Crimson. She earned a master’s degree in Global Thought from Columbia University. The Measure is her debut novel. @nikkierlick @BoroughPress
What I Thought
When publishers talk about high concept, this book is exactly what they mean. And this concept does deliver in the telling too.
Told from multiple points of views (8) but from a series of people who are connected or becoming connected throughout the story. Each with a distinctive voice.
The opening of the story hit very close to home and I’d be interested to know how much of the story was influenced by the pandemic. The discussion felt very real about how we accept or face up to our risk of mortality, how much we accept or mitigate risk.
The concept was so spooky. That one day everyone who is 22 and over gets a box on their doorstep. Maybe Terry Pratchett’s Death got fed up of playing the Hogfather and decided to deliver everybody their life expectancy! Children are exempted from this knowledge until the day they reach 22. Is this a gift or a curse to them?
In Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End people only find out their fate on the day that they will die, here people are given notice but what will they do with it?
We follow the characters as they decide whether or not to open their boxes, initially not understanding what the strings inside mean and then how they deal with the fate they have been given. Some with hope and others with despair – and not always in the way you’d expect.
Society is quickly divided into short-stringers and long-stringers and both groups have their challenges.
Human connection sees them reach out to others with the same experience and it sees them keep living their everyday lives because, until it does, life doesn’t stop. Births, marriages, death, loss.
This is one of those philosophical books that makes excellent book group material because it touches on what are fundamental questions to humanity. I highly recommend it, although trigger warning wise it won’t always be the right time for people to read something like this. As with the best of books there is hope amongst any despair that features heavy topics and you will get attached to characters – with all lengths of strings. How long will they be with the reader? Like people, as long as they remain in our memories and hearts!
Thanks to Tracy at Compulsive Readers working with Anne Cater at Random Things Tours – and the publishers – for the gifted ARC for the purposes of an honest review. Do check out what everyone else on the tour thought too and tell me below – would you open your box?
kirstyes 