I enjoyed not just the story and the creativity but the words themselves. Jennings isn’t afraid to get weird, and fortunately for us, he has the writing chops to make it work. Jazz lives!–and hangs out regularly with Afro-Pippi Longstocking. Talking catfish and nutria go on side quests with Black American history. Ancient Central Asian myths rub elbows with hoodoo. The lore here is deep, the themes expansive, and the callbacks legion. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like this but I want to read many, many more books in this vein. It’s also totally not what this book is about. If you dig a little deeper, they might mention a trans man with a gift and a secret, a coming storm and a big bad Haint. The publisher blurbs for this book all say something about magical NOLA, nine songs of power, and a little boy named Perry who goes on a quest with his sister Brendy to recapture those songs in a magic piano and save the city. This is still an honest review and I bought my own copy of this book because Paying Writers Cures Foolishness.) (Disclosure: I met Alex aka at Under The Volcano 2022 and have been known to message him whiny existential writer complaints on occasion.
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