The Opal and Nev of the title are a famous - or infamous - musical duo who are most known for an incident at a show case that left one of their band members dead. It’s quite hard to explain the the structure - it’s an oral history of the band but it’s also the story of the writing of the oral history as the journalist writing it tries to make sense of the story she is hearing and how it fits into her own life - she has a personal connection. The oral history device means it is easy to read in bite sized chunks - which is what I did because it’s more serious than my brain could cope with at some times but don’t let that make you think that’s it’s not good, because it is. Because it’s an oral history it may draw comparisons with Daisy Jones and the Six but they’re actually very different - but both worth reading.

This book reminded me A LOT of Daisy Jones and The Six (which I also loved), in the way that it was told through multiple POVs and over a long timespan. I personally love this format, finding it easy to read.

TWs: some tough topics like BLM and #MeToo are touched upon in a sensitive way. For a debut book, this was impressive. Looking forward to reading more from the author. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book!

This book was brilliant. I really enjoyed the style, the characters and the setting. I loved the exploration of extremely complex topics in a sensitive way, that let the reader in on the discovery and unpicking of these issues as the story unravelled.

It gets compared to Daisy Jones a lot, but I think this stands apart on its own, having a focus on a black female artist and her route to fame. It’s an important and empowering story and I loved it.

I really did try to love this book. I started it and restarted it so many times because I just wanted to love it so much but I couldn't love it and ended up forcing myself to finish it.
I originally wanted to read this because it sounded very similar to Daisy Jones and The Six which is one of my favourite books of all time, but also because I love reading about famous people and musicians and seeing all of the drama that surrounds them in their lives. But something about this book just did not click with me, which really disappointed me.
I really wanted to love this book, but something about this was just not clicking with me. I think I just could not connect with any of the characters and the writing was just not my kind of style.

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev is a brilliant fictional take on an oral history of a pop-punk band that had a brief moment of stardom in the 1970s. Journalist Sunny Shelton has been given the chance to finally receive the life story of feminist icon Opal Jewel who came to fame following her punk band Nev Charles, who later became an 80s pop sensation. But Opal and Nev's rise to fame came following a horrific event that actually claimed the life of Sunny's father - drummer Jimmy Curtis. And now the two are finally going to reunite, and talk about what really happened that day.

This is a great story that's perfect for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six, or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. There's just something delicious about a tell-all story, even if it's one that fictionalised - maybe because it can be as sensational as it wants. I also always love and appreciate the journalist angle - the fine line of wanting the line or the truth that will break a story wide open, but having to thread carefully so you don't spook your subject away.

While this book is similar to Daisy Jones, it also takes on a lot more political significance due to the story heavily revolving around race relations at the time - and so much of Opal and Nev's songs and images were a reflection of the racism experienced by Opal and other Black people in the US at the time, and beyond that we see how she was treated by others such as management, and the media because she was young, outspoken Black girl. I thought all of this was done really well in the book, and at times we see Opal's struggle reflected in that of Sunny's in her role as the first Black female editor of music magazine Aural - and how her young, white 'hip' boss just doesn't understand the importance and significance of Opal's story versus that of the white, British Nev.

I do think there was a little twist/reveal at 50% through, and I felt like there was going to be some great action after that but the story ended up meandering for me instead. We see Sunny go back and forth with what to do, and while the ending and Opal's decisions were satisfactory, part of just wanted a bit more, sooner. I also thought something would come out as well with Beau Bond appearing out of the woodwork and telling his story, and revealing what really happened/what was said.

I do think this book is good. I'm just disappointed that I wasn't as invested in the story as I thought I was going to be past that 50% mark. I would definitely reread this on audiobook though as I say it's excellent!

You can't have read Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid and then not try to compare Opal & Nev to it. They are paired together in so many "like this read this" type lists and videos....but they aren't that similar.

Daisy Jones is about the music and the band, Opal and Nev is more about the racism and patriarchy of the 1970s and the present day (i.e. 2016) "when all that is behind us". It took me a little while to feel the flow and change my expectations of what the book was going to be, but once I got over the hurdle I was glad I was along for the ride.

The editor's footnotes did not work really well in the kindle/arc version, and I feel the whole book is better suited to audio than text - especially on a kindle/other device. The whole book just didn't really FEEL like a book within a book to me, something just didn't click with me there. It very much felt like our main character writing ABOUT her book and her notes FOR the book rather than the book itself. The ending was also very abrupt and I thought more could have been done with it.

Worth a read, but not a must for me. 3.5 stars

I unfortunately was given this arc the day it was archived and sadly missed the chance to read!
This however is definitely going on my tbr!

An oral history-style account of a fictional music duo in the 70s, so perfect for fans of Daisy Jones & the Six. I found the writing dense in places, and struggled to get stuck into this one.

After Daisy Jones and the Six won me over last year, I was very excited to heat about this book. Another musical oral history set in the 1970s, this time following the rise of an Afro-punk duo? I was all in. But it’s worth getting this out of the way – this is a very different story to Daisy. I found it to be less about the band, the music and the people and more about the politics and racially-charged tension of America, both in the 1970s and present day.


The book begins in 2016, where we meet Sunny Shelton, who has recently gained the coveted position of editor at fictional music magazine, Aural. She’s writing a long-form book about Opal & Nev, a duo who shot to success in the 1970s with a controversial, unique style.

But Sunny has a personal reason for wanting to write this story – her father was the drummer in the original Opal & Nev line-up, and he was killed at a riot during one of their shows before she was born. On top of that, it’s well-known that Opal had an affair with Sunny’s father, so she’s more than a little intrigued about the woman.

The book is told through a mix of points of view, from interviews with Opal and Nev, other band members and record studio staff. It’s also broken up with editor’s notes from Sunny herself as she reflects on what she’s learnt about the duo and acknowledges her own vested interest in the story.

This style of writing definitely helps the story feel more authentic feel more authentic. The author is really able to explore the atmosphere and tensions of the time, and seamlessly drops in real musical legends alongside her fictional characters.

There is a lot to love about this impressive debut, which explores timely issues including the movements of Black Lives Matter and Me Too and wraps them into a shocking and explosive story. Opal was a great heroine – she’s a brave, fierce, Black woman who knows exactly how to stand up for herself – “a woman who, in the sum of her life, has been a champion for those who are marginalised, bullied, discriminated against“. I just wish we’d got a little more sides of her in this story.

The ending felt a little anticlimactic but it did do a great job of showing that we really haven’t come that far when it comes to issues of race. Overall, this is a good debut, and the author tells an exciting story with a powerful message.

A great novel about race relations in quite a unique form.
I really enjoyed reading this oral history account about a fictional rock duo. At first I had to get used to the form, but once you're accustomed to it, it feels like an unstoppable reading experience.
Shared from multiple perspectives, this story centers around a young Black woman named Opal Jewel and the people in her life over time.
Both the musical aspect as the multiple perspectives presented in this form makes an easy comparison to the popular novel Daisy Jones and the Six, but I feel that Walton did a better job in this book of capturing both politics and music of a very interesting era. Must read!

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev is everything I could wish for in a book about a band. I loved Daisy Jones and The Six and for a moment, I thought Opal and Nev was going to be a rehash - BUT IT’S NOT!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love them both, but Opal is the woman for me! It’s that element of early Punk - Opal knows what she wants, and she’s not going to settle for anything less.

It’s written in the form of interviews: what you see on the page is the transcript of the interviews conducted by S. Sunny Shelton, editor in chief of Aural magazine. Sunny has an ulterior motive. Her father was the drummer in Opal and Nev’s band, and was beaten to death at one of their first gigs - Sunny hadn’t been born when this happened.

Opal and Nev’s band has been a fascination for her since childhood, so when they announce a revival concert, Sunny sees this as her chance to wet a book about them and perhaps find out more about her father along the way.

The writing is so atmospheric. I could feel myself in the concert hall, the recording studio, and there in the rooms (or planes) where Sunny was conducting her interviews. You get a real feel for the time - the 1970’s - and it’s inherent racism. It was really interesting to read of Opal’s life away from the band and in Paris, and how she coped without Nev (hint: just fine).

And just so you know: I would most definitely buy Opal and Nev’s albums (and there’s a Spotify playlist that I think has been created by Dawnie Wilson - it’s excellent!).

This book has had a lot of comparisons to Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and I can see why because they're both told in an interview-style format and they both focus on the music industry.

However, I enjoyed this a lot more, mostly because I preferred the characters in Opal & Nev to Daisy Jones!

The story is essentially a book within a book, so you're following a journalist who is writing the story of Opal and Nev, who were an Afropunk rock 'n' roll duo in the 1970s.

What I liked most about this book was the characters. They felt so real and I think the audiobook for this would be even better!

My one small criticism was that I felt the 'editors notes' and the footnotes interrupted the flow and were a little distracting, but I'd still 100% recommend it.

A fast paced, highly entertaining read. It will undoubtedly be compared with 'Daisy Jones' and I felt the latter book made better use of the format, but Opal and Nev tells a compelling and very necessary story and will be hugely enjoyed by music lovers as well as those interested in recent American history.

Wow just wow, I loved every journey of this fantastic and rocking book. I loved the characters, I loved the story and could almost hear the music and feel that beat pulse through me. Love love love it.

"The Final Revival of Opal & Nev" is a really well-written, rich aural history-style account of a fictional music duo in the 1970s. Absolutely ideal for fans of Daisy Jones & the Six, although it does stand alone as a great book.

pal & Nev are an iconic interracial Afro-punk/ rock outfit whose meteoric rise to fame in the 1970s is blown apart following a race riot at one of their concerts. Sunny Shelton is a music journalist piecing together what happened, in anticipation of a reunion of the band thirty years later. Sunny’s involvement is personal; her father was the band’s drummer, having an affair with the flamboyant Opal and was killed during the riot. Told as a series of interviews and reviews, the format is reminiscent of Daisy Jones and the Six however the similarities end there. This tale is much more linear, easier to follow and a provocative portrait of the treatment of black women in the music industry and the social injustices of the time. Opal is a powerful heroine, demonised by racist, misogynistic music executives (and the public) and mistreated and used by friends. I really enjoyed this book, an immersive and thought provoking tale.

obviously this is going to be compared to daisy jones and the six but it stands on its own as a look at race and class in the 70s.

i really liked the different turns the story took, becoming more focused on one day and the impact that had across the years,

really interesting! and i'd recommend it for people who liked daisy jones and the six as well as music based books in general

As the first black editor in chief of a prestigious music magazine Sunny Shelton has worked hard for her career. Now she is asked to write about rock duo New Charles and Opal Jewel as they plan a reunion concert after many years. Opal and New made two albums in the early 1970s fusing punk with his British sensibilities and her soul background but they split and went their separate ways. For Sunny this is very personal as her father was a member of their band, killed in a racist riot at one of their last gigs, and writing this book will expose secrets kept for her entire lifetime.
I loved the vibe of this book, the atmosphere of early 70s New York, still slightly sleazy and a hot bed of talent. I enjoyed the tale of Opal and New, the two disparate characters, and I felt that the element of race was handled carefully and to just the right level. This is a failing in many recent novels, they try to jump on the 'Black Lives Matter' bandwagon and force race into the plot line in a crude way, not the case here. In fact the pitch is so perfect I forgot that Opal and New were fictional characters!

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev was the perfect book to scratch my itch for a Daisy Jones & The Six-like story. This has an interview format and it's told in such a convincing and engaging way that I'm quite sure a lot of readers will look up "Opal & Nev" on google to make sure they're not real. I loved how Opal was bold and talented and complicated, whereas Nev... well, after the second half of the book I was kind of tired of him. I feel like the first half of the book is strongest, although the second half of course has many revelations and a bittersweet ending. This book is both fun and not fun - it does not flinch away from the racism in the 60s and present-day US, nor its painful, sometimes deadly consequences. A great book.

I loved this book! Opal was an amazing character who I loved reading about - what a legend! This book was super enjoyable and gave me Daisy Jones vibes (dare I say I enjoyed it MORE?)