What else is there to say other than "oh my fucking god I love this book"?
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is not just a book, it is an entire life, it is every emotion not yet created, it is the only thing keeping me awake. You cannot possibly understand how good this book is.
Dawnie Walton has delivered the most stunning novel of 2021 so far. Each character is so well developed, but Opal Jewel Robinson is just an entirely other story in herself. I am so damn convinced she is living and breathing and rocking out at any and every moment. She is a pure burst of real life love, joy, and passion. I loved her, I didn't love her, I loved her, and always wanted everything to do with her. This book fucking changed my life.

Despite the hype, I was ultimately disappointed by this book. The pacing felt inconsistent to me. The story dragged for the first half leading up to the Rivington Showcase, felt appropriately fast-paced and engaging through the main conflict, then immediately pumped the breaks again. I also had a hard time getting a sense of Opal and Nev's fame in their world. At some points, they seemed like a household name, and at others, only known through the Rivington Showcase. I think this was what got in the way of me being fully immersed in this book.

Although the book started off very interesting and promising, it seemed to drop off to me about half way and didn't seem as interesting. It tells the story of two people from two totally different lives and background and how they are put together as a singing duo. Years later, they reunite for what seems to be a reunion tour. . It ended being just an ok read for me

She delivered!!! I loved this story! I’d highly recommend it to people and I think people are gonna love it! Music and a good story!? Yes please!!!! 🥰

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev is a fictional oral history account about the musicians Opal Jewel and Nev Charles, a rock-and-roll duo who achieved fame during the 1970s and became connected with a notorious racial riot. The band soon split, but are now rumoured to be reforming, which leads to the music editor of Aural magazine to explore their story, the reasons for their break-up, as well as her personal connection to their story.

I found this book so captivating and engaging. I really enjoy books written in an interview format, such as Daisy Jones and the Six, and this felt it brought something different to this structure and story. Rather than a stereotypical account of sex, drugs and rock-and-roll, here issues of racial discrimination, injustice and gender and racial inequality form the heart of the story. The exploration of race in the music industry is particularly powerful and some scenes that are described are very affecting and emotionally difficult to read.

The characters throughout the book are so well developed. Opal is a powerhouse of a character who I adored as she is so independent and demanding of justice. The book creates such a vivid picture of 70s life and I really enjoyed the use of real-life musicians within the re-telling to bring the story further to life.

This is such a powerful and enjoyable book about the love of music and fighting injustice.

3.5 stars.

I am still thinking about this book which read more like non-fiction. Definitely a heavier story than Daisy Jones. I really wanted MORE of Opal, MORE of Nev. I know we were just getting Sunny's perspective, but I needed more first person narrative from the two main characters. Such a good story for today's political climate. Really focused on how much has changed and yet nothing has.

What an amazing book. Five stars, five stars, five stars! It will be compared to Daisy Jones, obviously, but the story is so different and so much more relevant to 2021. I loved this book and savored it, and I can’t wait to recommend it to everyone.

🎸 The Final Revival of Opal & Nev:
I had high hopes for this book. When I saw people comparing it to Daisy Jones, which I loved, I was really excited to read it. It took me a long time to get into, and while the ending did save it a bit for me, I really had hoped for more.

What didn’t work for me:
* The characters felt more like caricatures. They just did not seem real to me. There were a few characters that I could not stand just because of how ridiculous their dialogue was.
* The book was simultaneously trying to be a documentary of sorts, but was also giving behind the scenes. I wasn’t ever sure what was part of the documentary, what was the editor’s note , or what was simply happening behind the scenes to the editor herself.
* Opal’s sister Pearl: I could have just done without her. Honestly, her character brought nothing to the story. Also, all of her interviews were such a stereotype of a Christian woman and it just was not working for me.

What did work for me:
* Virgil! The outfits! Plus his friendship with Opal felt very realistic to me.
* Once the main event in the book description happened, I felt the book really took off. It took a long way to get to, but after that I felt like the story started to gain some traction. We also got more Opal - she was fierce, she was a force for social justice, she was vocal, cool, & unapologetic. Loved her! And while I won’t spoil anything I will say I felt the ending of the book really did justice to Opal’s character as a whole.

All in all, this was a 3 star read for me. I’m glad I read it as it did have some really creative & well done elements. I just felt like the interview dialogue wasn’t conversational enough & that the first half was a bit too slow to dig in to the real story the book was trying to tell.

Thank you to @netgalley for my advanced reader ebook copy! This book is currently on shelves!

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev has been recommended for fans of Daisy Jones and The Six because they are both an oral history of fictional rock bands but I think I enjoyed this one even more!

One of my favorite parts of this book is the heavier hitting topics mixed in. Opal and Nev is packed with social commentary and so many thought-provoking and timely topics such as racism, feminism, sexism, and more. The writing is amazing, especially as this is the debut novel by @dawniewalton!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for my gifted copy.

Whoa. This book was absolutely amazing. And a debut novel to boot! Just stunning. If you enjoyed Daisy Jones & the Six in any capacity, this book is definitely for you. It takes the interview approach of Daisy and runs wild with it, resulting in vibrant and fun characters who have VERY distinct personalities, motives, and flaws. The writing is as lyrical as the music of Opal & Nev is meant to be and the atmosphere created is just perfection. This book feels SO real. Touches of real musical history are woven throughout, including a few bits of name dropping here and there of real musicians. It's woven together masterfully and I LOVED it. In addition, I HIGHLY recommend the audiobook. Done in full cast narration with the fabulous Bahni Turpin as Opal. For me, this is a favorite of 2021 and I definitely see it being in my top 10 at year's end. A must read.

* Disclaimer: In addition to the audiobook I borrowed from my library, I was given a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

The first third of this was soooo slooow, but once Walton dropped that sneaky reveal about one of the character's intentions, I had a better appreciation for how carefully she was weaving a nuanced view of race. It is so hard to not compare this to Daisy Jones and the Six, mostly because they are both oral histories of fictional rock bands and so, so good at using different perspectives of the same issue to highlight broader issues.

LOVED this novel. At first, the novel felt very similar to Daisy Jones and the Six. Initially, I thought the story would be a love story with a rock band backdrop. However, the social, racial and cultural issus the book took on were much more powerful. The character development was a true highlight in the storytelling, and i continued to have mixed emotions about every character throughout the entire book!

The inevitable comparison will be to Daisy Jones as this book follows quickly after the bestseller with a similar oral-history-of-a-fictional-rock-band structure. But while the structure is similar, the crux of the matter is that Opal & Nev is different, and better.

Opal & Nev gets to the deep heart of rock and roll and questions it A genre built on the ideas and concepts of black music, made popular by white artists who ripped off the originators with little credit being given. Characters in this book are deeply investing with the trifecta of Opal, Nev, and narrator being fully realized. The book masterfully explores the dichotomy of Opal, painted as being "other" by nearly everyone but in actuality, bursting with humanity to that of Nev, the British "everyman," who uses his parents wealth to boost his career to new heights while showing that being apolitical is a political decision that only those with privilege are able to make.

Audio narration is top notch.

God I wanted to like this. I was so into the premise of this. And then I got the actual book and it was just so *redacted* boring. I love the concept of this story being told through interviews, but all the cut-ins from the Editor just took away the immediacy of it. I made it close to halfway before I decided that not only could I not make myself pick this up again, I did not need to. I don't care what else happens or what might get revealed. It's such a disapointment because this was one of my most anticipated 2021 releases. I wanted to love it so much.

This book is perfect for fans of Daisy Jones & The Six because it is about a fictional 60's/70's rock act AND it is written in the same interview style. I loved Daisy Jones so I was very much into this! The Final Revival of Opan & Nev is written about a Black author and follows the interviews/notes made by the Black editor of the fictional music magazine Oral. Sunny decides to write a feature/book about the duo of Opal & Nev. She has a connection to the band, since her dad used to be their drummer. As part of researching the book, Sunny uncovers the formation of Opal & Nev and also the circumstances surrounding her father's death during a riot at an Opal & Nev concert. Opal & Nev are an unlikely pair, Nev is a gangly, red-headed Brit with a penchant for guitar and quirky lyrics. Opal was a showy, fashion-forward performer in a Detroit R&B /soul duo with her sister Pearl when she was discovered by Nev.

Okay, I really enjoyed this one. While there were similarities with Daisy Jones, I really like that The Final Revival of Opal & Nev also explored social issues like race. Opal & Nev faced a lot of challenges early in as they weren't fully accepted by white crowds or Black crowds. Opal is a bold, outspoken woman who caused some issues for the pair, but she was really a woman seeking fair treatment and justice.

I highly recommend this one to music fans and fans of Daisy Jones & the Six. Also, BONUS... the audiobook version features a full cast. 4.5 stars from me!!

What to listen to while reading...
Author Dawnie Walton made this playlist of music that inspired here while writing the book: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0a6...

Everywhere I look, The Final Revival of Opal and Nev keeps getting compared to Daisy Jones & The Six...and I guess that's bound to happen, since they're both stories centered around the rise and fall of rock & roll groups. But...comparing them solely based on that fact simply doesn't do Opal & Nev justice.

This story stands on its own two feet, and feels incredibly poignant in today's world with the Black Lives Matter movement and continued fight for racial equality. Dawnie Walton draws us in to a story about two musicians from opposite sides of the world, and masterfully depicts how they meet, and how their lives ultimately become intertwined. Spanning across decades, covering the duo’s early lives through present day, we see how actions – both big & small – can have reverberating impacts on others.

I enjoyed reading this book wholeheartedly, but even more importantly, I felt it was an impactful work that holds important lessons and a point of view that I found incredibly insightful. So, yes, this reminded me in some ways of Daisy Jones…but I think Opal & Nev deserves it’s own turn in the spotlight.

This is the story of Opal Jewel, the Afro-punk star and singer/song writer Nev Charles, and their coming of age and rise to fame. Most of the action happens in early seventies New York City with the story being recounted through a modern day oral history being told by music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols. Sunny, as a kind of super fan, takes on the project of telling the story, thinking she knows it all, but as her interviews progress, new perspectives and some shocking allegations come to light...

I LOVED this book so much! Here’s why:

🎵The oral history interview style and structure, with multiple POV (very similar to Daisy Jones and the Six if you have read that!)
🎵 The characterisation! Despite there being lots of characters involved, it remained easy to follow and the characters felt very real. Our main character Opal Jewel is fully realised and I was along for the ride, a strong female lead who is a rockstar and an activist - LOVED IT! The characters are also intertwinned in a really clever way that keeps you engaged with the story
Included great plot twists!
🎵 The backdrop of 1970s America and rock and roll. I loved the song writing and being able to imagine how the lyrics would have been brought to life
🎵 The way race and gender issues were highlighted throughout the book, it was SO well done!

My only regret is that I read this and didn’t listen to the audiobook because I keep hearing how great the audiobook is!

I would also picture this as a fantastic adaptation for screen (I really hope that happens!)

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for proving an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderful debut that intertwines music, race and politics and even though the bulk of it takes place 50 years ago, it still seems incredibly current. The story is told in an interview style, oral history format, much like Daisy Jones and the six. So if you like that, chances are this will work for you as well. The characters are bold, charismatic and colorful and you truly get sucked into their life as they tell it.

I loved this book. Opal Jewel is one of the most confident and strong female characters I've ever read about. I love that she wouldn't take any sh*t from anybody, no matter the cost. It was so interesting to go through her struggles with her and through Sunny's struggles too. I think we can all learn from Opal on having strong convictions and holding on to them. Taking away one star because the story dragged at times.

My favorite book I’ve read this year! For fans of Diarist Jones and the Six and The Nine Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, this is for you. Captivated from the beginning, excellent character development, and a beautiful story that transports you back in time.