**3.5-stars rounded up**

After the explosive conclusion to A Song Below Water, teen influencer, Naema Bradshaw finds herself for the first time vilified in the public eye. As an Eloko, a magical being beloved by all, Naema has been treated as a quasi-celebrity in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, for her entire life.

Now pegged as the mean girl who outed classmate, Tavia, as a Siren, Naema is getting dragged in social media channels where she has always been respected and adored. Once a movie releases purporting to tell the true story behind Tavia, her sister, Effie, and the event known as The Awakening, Naema only sees hostility towards her increase.

Growing more and more frustrated with her current situation and the fact that no one seems to understand her side, Naema decides to leave town. Heading South, Naema goes to stay with extended family that she never sees. This trip is actually her first time leaving Portland and the bubble she has created there for herself.

Greeted at the airport by her cousin Courtney, Naema can tell immediately from his reaction to her, that life is going to be very different outside of Portland. Her family couldn't care less about her Eloko status. She'll be treated just like everyone else; loved and cherished, but for herself, not for her Elokoness.

It is once she is separated from all the noise in Portland, that Naema is finally able to channel the connection to her ancestors and discover the true power of her voice. This story was interesting and a tough one to rate. I really had to consider it once I was done.

We only get Naema's perspective in this book, whereas the first book followed both Tavia and Effie. This one does incorporate a lot of mixed media, however, and I always enjoy that. It makes the overall story feel more realistic in my opinion.

The bulk of the story focuses on Naema coming into her own. We really get to deep dive into her world. While there is still an underlining examination of privilege, race, social media and the experience of black women in America, I didn't feel that coming through quite as strongly in this volume as in the first. It's definitely still here, it's just overshadowed a bit by Naema's day-to-day.

As far as Naema goes. I really enjoyed her perspective a lot. She is snarky, strong-willed, stubborn and funny. I loved her interactions with Courtney and the rest of her family. I can see why some people may be put off by her, she can seem a bit of a princess at times, however, I think she feels real. She is a product of her environment, but once removed from Portland, she was able to grow and evolve as a character, which we love to see.

I think Morrow created an important and timely story with both of these books. I would recommend them to anyone who enjoys YA Contemporary stories with Fantastical elements that tackle real life issues. Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Teen and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I will definitely be picking up future work from this author!

I’m so impressed with how Bethany C. Morrow made me care about Naema so deeply after everything that went down in A Song Below Water - it’s a real testament to her skill as an author. This book is definitely more character driven than the first, but I think it makes perfect sense for this to be written in this way since it really serves Naema’s story more, just as the action served Effie and Tavia’s story more. I also liked that Naema was very much the same person, you just got to know different sides to her and really understand what she’s grappling with in the aftermath of ASBW. And as always, I am so grateful for the discussions of race, gender, privilege, and social media the author brings attention to. privilege, gender, race, and social media.

Thanks NetGalley for this eARC, in return, here is my honest review. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoy this book. But at the same time, I wasn’t surprised because I absolutely loved A Song Below Water (reviewed here). A Chorus Rises is set in the same urban fantasy world, but in this one we follow Naema, who wasn’t a super nice person from Tavia’s perspective in A Song Below Water.
Despite actively disliking Naema for the first third of this book, I ended up really loving her. Our first look at Naema is in A Song Below Water which is from Tavia and Effie’s perspectives. These three girls do not get along at all. I think it’s important to mention that this is totally okay! Naema mentions often that just because they’re all black, doesn’t mean they all have to be best friends. They can want better for one another and still actively dislike each other. And I totally agree with that. You don’t have to be friends or even like someone to wish that they’re not being discriminated against because they’re a magical or black.
But the further we get into this story, the more I couldn’t help but like Naema. She’s genuinely funny. She has a confidence in herself that most people would love to have. But she’s also still growing. This book takes place about a year after the end of A Song Below Water. So, Naema has had some time to heal, emotionally, from being stoned. But, Portland doesn’t feel the same to Naema anymore. She takes a break and goes to visit her family for their yearly reunion in the south. It’s here that Naema discovers that there’s more to being an Eloko than just the popularity she has in Portland. I really enjoyed getting to see Naema spend time with family she never sees and getting to know more about her Eloko abilities. I absolutely loved her cousin, Courtney. He’s hilarious and I think he was a great support system for Naema. Their relationship made me think of my cousins that were my best friends while I was growing up.
This story covers some really interesting topics that I didn’t see coming. There’s discussion of how easily online voices can be weaponized to do real harm to real people. I think the spotlight on “keyboard warriors” was an excellent one because what it takes to go from talking about doing something to actually doing it? It isn’t that much and it’s something that I don’t think is discussed enough or taken seriously enough. I liked how the friend group worked together to stop this aspect of the story. We get to see some unlikely allies and some healing. And we also get to see these teenagers be brave and do the right thing.
I would have liked for this book to have been longer. I think there were definitely some things mentioned in the story that didn’t really get explored. I’m thinking specifically of the Professor that was mentioned so many times. But we never actually meet her, even though what she’s researching aligns with what Naema is learning about herself. I would have liked to see more about Naema getting more of a handle on talking with the Ancestors. We do get a scene toward the end where things sort of click for Naema in regards to listening to the Ancestors and they help Naema realize that what she and her friends have done isn’t enough, that there’s still more to be done. But we didn’t get to see anymore after that.
Overall, I really grew to love Naema. She’s fierce and outspoken in the best ways. She’s brave and so smart. She knows that what she says hold weight because of her online following. She knows that even though she’s black, she has privilege that comes with being an Eloko. But she also talks about how being an Eloko doesn’t negate the struggles she faces as a black woman. As a queer, white woman, I could appreciate that aspect of the story. I think Namea’s voice is what made this story so gripping for me. Her internal voice was so thoughtful, even when she was angry or unsure. She’s funny and smart, caring and loyal, snarky and passionate. I really loved her by the end of the book. If you haven’t read A Song Below Water, please go do that. If you have, I think you’ll love A Chorus Rises just as much as the first book.

Don't know what else I expected when the mean girl gets her own book. I brought this on myself, really.

!!Mild A Song Below Water spoilers ahead!!

A Chorus Rises is the companion novel to A Song Below Water. While this is a standalone, I recommend reading the first book to truly understand the events and emotions that play out here. It's been a year since I read ASBW, but I thought this did a great job of refreshing me. A year on, Naima Bradshaw is upset about a lot of things, namely the gaps in the story being told of her, Tavia the siren and Effie the gorgon. She was turned to stone last year on Tavia's order, but all anyone sees is her outing the siren on livestream and more. While Tavia's celebrity has skyrocketed with a movie of her story newly released, Naima's platform and status as an Eloko has taken a hit, and she only knows one way forward. She's out to set the record straight and show the world who Tavia really is.

Straight up, a lot of my thoughts about this book boil down to Naima being the main character. She is ... not a very likeable person. I was not a fan of her in ASBW, and being in her head did not change that. She is very self-centered, vain and rather petty, but she at least knows this. It's who she is. There is a big heart under all that attitude and snark, yes, but it was buried a little too deep for her to endear herself to me. I get that she went through a time in the last year, being one of Effie's stoning victims, but I was not into the pity-party for one. Most of the book, I found her to be constantly griping about Tavia this, Effie that, I am the true victim here. Essentially the queen bee has been dethroned and she can't take it.

Likewise, the character development throughout this book didn't do it for me. At what point was I supposed to like Naima? I so badly wanted to root for her but she made it so hard with her personality. At one point, I thought I was only a quarter of the way through the audiobook because of where she was in her character arc, and was shocked to find I was just past the 65% mark. And nothing truly interesting happens until three quarters through, when we start piecing together the smaller things and there are serious implications to deal with. It was disappointing that it took so long for the story to evolve into something to kick start the main character's change.

As with ASBW, there are tough discussions of race, being Black enough, and weaponizing racism. And as with it's predecessor, these conversations were thought-provoking and well done once they finally came into play with the story as a whole. However, the Black girl magic that shone before was really missing here. There was a lot of heart and love and an incredible layering of themes in the first book with the two sisters discovering who they were. Here, it barely came up. Perhaps that is because Naima already knows she is as an Eloko and has been celebrated for it for years. There is little for her to find out about herself in that respect. That said, I'm still not entirely sure what an Eloko can do. They have a trill that people love to hear, but is that all it is? Am I missing something more?

I really enjoyed A Song Below Water and had high hopes for this companion novel. Unfortunately, the main character did not let me embrace her version of the story.

A CHORUS RISES
Author: Bethany C Morrow
Year: 2021

Review:
Plot: The main idea is one seen in many movies and books before: popular girls stop getting along in the last year of high school and dealing with the drama. But Bethany C Morrow makes an incredible job of turning this cliche plot into something so much more interesting by adding magic and creating a whole new world of possibilities. Readers get happenings they can relate to, such as love stories, family reunions and women supporting women, and things that will play with their imaginations, for instance the charming Eloko community and the mysterious sirens. Oh, and let's not forget that she did all this while advocating for black girl's rights.
Writing: The chapters were quite long and I liked the small media inspired chapters that came in-between the long ones (think online chats, newspaper articles and essays) that gave us a glimpse of how other people perceived the MC, Naema. The language she Morrow used is quite simple, which is great considering that the book focus on teenage readers.
Characters: The development of Naema was fantastic. The first impression was that she was quite selfish and I was worried the book would focus only on the mutual-enemies relationships between Naema and Tavia, but all was sorted out in the end and I grew very attached to Naema.
Verdict: Even though I don't think I am the target public for the book, I am glad I read it and will have this in mind when recommending books for younger readers (middle grade and young adults).

i was honestly pretty excited for this book, since i kind of liked the book 1 and i also follow Morrow on twitter, so i thought i'd give it ago, since i kind of had high expectations of this book. with that being said, i read book one, and i thought i remembered a good amount of that book before i went into this book. so, i thought i'd be fine to read this books. but, it was just such a mess, like so many things were just unexplained and i feel like what happened in book 1 was completely different from book 2 and it just confused me so much.

and i mean, this book was just kinda boring. like, i feel like a good chunk of this book was just about our MC talking about how everyone thinks that she is a monster and that everyone hated her so much. which, i think was just so shitty because i feel like it could have been so good and i wished everything just fleshed out more. and i feel like she was just so 2D and that she was just also entitled.

but, then we got the whole redemption arc which was at like 80%, which i just think sucked so much and was just so stupid. since, i mean, i feel like it didn't do to much anyway for our character, and i feel like by itself it was just very underdeveloped and rushed and was just there so we didn't hate her as much, but i still really hated it and also just really hated her as a character

***I received an uncorrected proof of this ebook from netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

“I am still Naema Bradshaw. Whatever you think you know about what I can or will do, I promise, you don’t.”†

I loved A Song Below Water, and I was a little apprehensive about this sequel because I could not stand Naema in the first book. Unfortunately… she wasn’t much better for the majority of this one. Naema is very much an angry/ bratty teenage girl. She’s the token, self-professed mean girl who's drowning in Eloko privilege. I had a hard time feeling bad about her being temporarily turned to stone, and then “cancelled” (anonymously) on social media for outing Tavia.

A Chorus Rises was Morrow’s chance to get the reader to understand both sides of victimhood, which are endlessly complex between race/ species/ privilege/ gender- especially in the age of social media. Unfortunately, it took far too long for the author to get me on Naema’s side. Naema spent the first three-quarters of the book in a woe is me state. She feels like she doesn’t at all deserve to be villainized (which... she does after her disgusting behavior at prom). She both does and doesn’t recognize her privileged position, capitalizing on it often ("I am Eloko first."†) while simultaneously refusing to recognize the sheer atrocity of the acts she committed at the end of book 1.

“What we’re not gonna do is start thanking our attackers for our personal growth.”†

Okay, that is an absolutely iconic line… (but, again, Naema calling Tavia her “attacker” is a bit much, imo… ). While I do think Naema deserved some karmic retribution and is being a bit over-dramatic with her self-perceived role as victim… this is also the turning point in the book where Naema recognizes her privilege and uses it for good (for once). Unfortunately, this was a bit too little too late for me. I spent so much of this book being annoyed by Naema, I wasn’t able to fully change my opinion on her with the short bit left.

I also didn’t really like her relationship with her boyfriend. It felt flat and unemotional… almost vague. We got Naema’s thought processes, but her boyfriend is basically a blank spot in my head. He seemed like an a*s in book 1, and he doesn’t seem like much of anything in book 2.

The saving grace of this book is Naema’s cousin Courtney. He is a fantastic addition. I only wish he had called out Naema even more than he did.

†must be checked against final text

This is one of those great sequels where you are both excited and sad at the same time. I loved the characters and the continuation of the story we got in A Song Below Water. This world of sirens and other beings was a beautifully done coming-of-age story with fate and romance and true voices.

A Chorus Rises was a really good book!
If you liked reading a Song Below Water you should definitely read A Chorus Rises.
The characters were so interesting to learn about and the message of the book was beautiful.
I am happy I had the opportunity to read this book!

I received a free ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily...

By the time I finished reading the first book in this series, A Song Below Water, I did not like Naema. So I was not sure I wanted to read this book knowing it focused on her. But I'm glad I took the chance.
Ms Morrow made me look at Naema differently. In this book we focused on the events after the incident that ended on the first book (no spoilers!). I learned a lot about the Eloko and what made them special. My favorite character would definitely have to be her cousin, Courtney. I loved his personality and how important family was to him. My only problem was Effie's absence throughout the book. I do hope that she makes a reappearance lower down in the series.
In this book, the readers also got to see how dangerous social networks can be in the wrong hands. As in the first book, sirens, who can only be black women, were persecuted and it was horrifying to read. I still love Tavia by the way. As a matter of fact, after this book, I love her even more.
I would love to follow up on the lives of these characters and would especially love to find out what happened next for Effie.
This book can be read by older children, teens and adults.

What a stunning cover! I love it! It's gorgeous just like the cover of the first book.

This is the sequel to A Song Below Water so I won't say anything with spoilers.

I wasn't sure about the main character at first but I get it now. We didn't get to really know Naema on the first book so this is her story and it was really good.

This book was centered in social media and the injustices that happen when people hide behind a phone or computer screen to target black people. And how Naema and her friends fight that.

I loved knowing more about Elokos, they're fascinating! Naema was a great main character, this book was perfect to show how she really is. Priam was so good too! I really loved Naema, all her crew and her family. And the friendships here were beautiful.

I just love Bethany C. Morrow's stories. I'm low-key hoping for more books in this series!

I love the plot and characters, the new addition to the series is very enjoyable. A few things could be relooked upon, but otherwise, I really do enjoy.

What an amazing follow up to A Song Below Water! I enjoyed this story coming from Naema's point of view. We were able to get the perspective of a stoning victim and what that felt like. We were able to get a sense of how she felt about being a magical being everyone loved until she wasn't. I LOVED the many messages that are found in this story; from toxic social media culture, undeserved privilege, to racism. Naema's journey to discover exactly what it meant to be an Eloko is such great representation about identity and the labels used in society. Great addition to any high school classroom.
Thanks NetGalley!

I was so excited to read this one! I loved Bethany's first book and was eagerly awaiting the next. Though this wasn’t as fun of a read for me as the first book, I would still recommend it to anyone who read and enjoyed A Song Below Water

This was a fitting sequel, and I think I liked it even more than the first book in this universe. I always like a story that takes you into the antagonist's head after-the-fact - especially when the antagonist isn't actually a villain.

"Whatever you think you know about what I can or will do, I promise, you don't."

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Teen, and MacMillan Audio for both an advanced e-book and audiobook copy of this book!

A Chorus Rises is the sequel to A Song Below Water. This book follows the aftermath of Naema, somewhat of an antagonist in the first book, dealing with the fallout of her decisions and what was done to her by Tavia and Effie. This story is slightly advertised as a standalone set in the same universe, but I would consider reading the first book as critical to understanding the plot/premise of this book at all. I listened to the first book seven months ago, and was so confused because I barely remembered anything about Naema other than that she is Eloko and was turned to stone at the ending.

This is advertised as fantasy, and while there are two species (Eloko and Siren) heavily mentioned in this book, there is really only one kind of supernatural ability used in this book? Other than one magical power in use, this is almost entirely a contemporary book that mentions mythology/fantasy.

My enjoyment of this book was lower than ASBW because I missed having the magical elements more in play. I also sincerely hope I interpreted at least one of these wrong, but there seemed to be two incest jokes casually thrown into the story that made me uncomfortable (the main one being an aunt told to "keep it in her pants" when she was excited to see her nephew). That kept this from being a three star book for me.

Pros: The cover is stunning, and I will be moving to Arizona soon, so the Arizona setting was fun to read about!

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the first book and is curious to see what happened to Naema Bradshaw.

Love love love this world!! I honestly fell in love with A Song Below Water (the book before this one), and was NOT disappointed to hear Naeme’s side of the story. She’s still unlikable, but I’m a sucker for a self discovery journey. I loved everything about this story!! Can’t wait to pair it with ASBW as a class read aloud!

Wow, this book so perfectly complements A Song Below Water that it feels like one can't fully exist without the other.

In the first book, Naema was such a carefully crafted villain. You could see she had nuance even at a distance, but her actions spoke loudly and in unflattering ways. Here, we not only see her side of things but also have the pleasure of watching her grow. Her voice is strong and unapologetic throughout; you can practically feel her fictional fingerprints all over each chapter. Her strategic mind, influencer skills, and self-confidence are impressive even when you can't decide where her next decision is going to fall on the spectrum of good and morally questionable. To be clear, I worried a lot less about that as I got to know her and also as she addressed her past actions. I also respected the decision to keep romance as a very minor (but enjoyable) subplot with family bonds at the true center of the story.

The overarching conflict in this book is just as powerful and thoughtful as the first. Naema's story addresses the tensions of intersectionality in individual identities. She struggles with how her fans and viewers have compartmentalized her as a Black girl or a charming Eloko depending on how they want to consume her content. She must navigate racism and her own magical privilege, embracing the wisdom of her ancestors to come out whole. The story also illuminates one of the many dark corners of the internet where people (read:white boys) are emboldened and radicalized through like-minded conversation that can fuel dangerous action. These heavy, relevant sources of conflict are interspersed with interpersonal drama, reconciliation, and meeting one's potential.

This pair of stories is engrossing and fierce, and A Chorus Rises is a worthy second act. I would recommend it to anyone. Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the opportunity to read and review this book. It's out on 6/1!

This book is/includes:
-own voices story
-ya fantasy
-black girl magic

A Chorus Rises is a sequel to A Song Below Water and it follows what happens after The Awakening, but from the villain’s point of view, Naema. Naema is struggling with the actions that she made in the first book and the media is not a big fan of her. This book follows Naema as she tries to understand who she is.

First of all can we appreciate this gorgeous cover. I am such a sucker for a pretty cover. This book includes conversations of race, gender, privilege and the media. I really appreciated the real world issues included in this fantasy book as I haven’t read many that includes this. This book is more of a character driven story rather than having heavy action that you would would expect from a fantasy book.

I highly recommend you read this book after A Song Below Water as it might be quite difficult to understand, as this novel takes place after what happened at the end of the first book.

I tried with this one, but it just wasn't for me at all. I'm a pretty character driven reader, so the fact that there was nothing I liked or cared about with the main character really killed this for me. I'm also starting to think that I don't connect with Morrow's writing. It was boring and didn't do much for me. I didn't love her debut, but I was hoping this one would be better for me. Unfortunately, I was super confused at the beginning since I barely remembered anything from the previous book and the recap felt kind of messy and not very memorable. I was like 10% of the way into the book before I remembered who our main character was from the previous novel. The plotline was boring and didn't hold my attention at all.