We all know Daniel Jose Older is a brilliant author and all-around awesome human, right? One thing you expect when you pick a DJO book is LAYERS. You read the book the first time and think "That was a super cool adventure", then "But wait, what did he mean when—" so you pick up the book again and go for a reread, and every time you discover a new thing: a though-provoking concept, or a certain fact you never considered before, or even a cool joke. BALLAD & DAGGER is certainly no different, and seriously, can't wait for book two!

This book’s mix of mythology, history, and fast paced action makes it a perfect and engaging book for a classroom. I loved the cast of characters, the culture, the aspects of reincarnation, and the layered Spanish throughout that made the story incredibly rich and addicting.

DJO stories always get me because of their premise. The adventurous nature of so many of his books often work for me, but I've found that his middle grade and adult books are just more fitting for what I want as a reader. This is fascinating as the first Rick Riordan Presents YA series, but I can't say it's my favorite thing from either the author or the imprint. I'll keep an eye out for what Older comes out with next, even though I'm probably not going to continue this series.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
This book was so rich and vibrate! I loved every second of it and cannot wait for the next installment. The world Older creates is incredible and I now want to go to Little Madrigal!
This is one of the best books that Rick Riordan Presents has published that I have read! I hope for more YA books from this publisher.

Ballad and Dagger is the first ever YA book coming out of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, and it definitely lands with a splash. Written by Daniel Jose Older, who carefully crafts his own mythology here.

Overall, I really loved this book. You can tell a lot of work went into developing the deep mythology here, as Santeria Mythology is not real in the sense that it actually exists in the world. All of it comes from the genius of Daniel Jose Older's mind. Combining Cuban and Latin culture with its own new mythology, pirates, politicians, and them actually being Jews shouldn't work. Yet it does, most magnificently. You come out of it feeling like the mythology is real.

My one gripe with this book is the beginning. It really starts out way too slow, throws a lot at you at once, and is pretty bland. If I wasn't a fan of the RRP imprint, if I wasn't a massive fan of Daniel Jose Older, and if I didn't get a review copy of this book, I probably wouldn't have made it past the first few chapters. The book doesn't get its hooks into you until the 2/5th or halfway point of the book, which is an issue. That being said, the latter half of the book really pays off for those who have the patience to reach out. That characters beats fly off the pages, the action gets turned up, and most importantly, the plot is no longer wayward. It is set on a path.

Unfortunately, I am giving this book 3.5 stars, rounding it to four here. Ballad and Dagger starts out slow, but picks up the pace soon enough, leaving you with an ending that will leave you craving the sequel, and saying "Oh Madrigal."

Thank you Disney for providing me with a digital ARC of this book to honestly review.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it was what I wanted from a urban fantasy book. This was such a great start to a series with people with powers. I was hooked and thoroughly didn't want the book to end, it was well written and left me wanting more.

Ballad & Dagger is an intriguing and fun middle grade fantasy. Mateo is a piano prodigy with one goal to play for the legend Gerval. When he finally gets his chance, he finds it not everything he expected. He witnesses a murder by someone close to him and he begins to question everything. Suddenly Mateo finds himself in the middle of magical battle that's full of mystery. This book is great when you get past the first part. The world building is so intricate and detailed it takes a long time to build, and it's worth the pay off if you can yourself interested. Ballad & Dagger is full of magic, fun and great characters. I'm glad I stuck with this story and I can't wait to see where this story goes.

Daniel Jose Older has created a realistic yet fantastical world where spirits interact with humans and several cultures are meshed into one (slightly strange) heritage.

Mateo loves music more than anything, followed by the love of his heritage as a San Madrigal expatriate. Mateo's parents are logical doctors, nothing like his Tia Lucia, with whom he currently lives. He doesn't feel like he is necessarily part of Little Madrigal because he traveled with his parents as they went around the world to help others, but he feels a strong tie to the music of his people.

San Madrigal was an island of pirates, Jews and Santeros who lived together, if not in complete harmony, in solidarity. They were all trying to escape the wider world, where they were persecuted. They formed a three person council, the Cabildo, with one member from each group to rule. When the secret island sunk several years ago, the survivors formed their own community called Little Madrigal in Brooklyn.

Now something is threatening the peace between the groups. There is to be a new pirate on the Cabildo, but suddenly factions are springing up, San Madrigal's most famous citizen/musician is back from tour, and there are terrifying supernatural creatures in their neighborhood.

The night of the Grand Fete, where the new person on the Cabildo should be named, Mateo's classmate Chela kills a man (or machine?) and Mateo finds out he was initiated as the son of Galinka, the Healer spirit, when he was very young.

Now Mateo and his friends have to figure out what is happening to their community, and who their enemies are. Does all of this mean that the island may rise again?

Elder is a wonderful writer and I can't wait to read the next book in this series! Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

I enjoyed this story and the culture and lore that is woven throughout. I wish I’d listened to this one to better immerse myself because my Spanish is subpar at best. Glad that Riordan is venturing into YA.

Ballad and Dagger grabbed me by the hand with the opening paragraphs and swept me along. So many of these Rick Riordan Present line books are amazing and this is definitely one of them. This one is a bit different because the mythology here is for a fictional place with Latin/Caribbean/African influences. There are a lot of just wonderful elements to this Mateo and Chela are strong characters of color. It seems like the RRP imprint is a mix of Middle Grade and Young Adult, this is definitely the latter. There is violent and death.

Set in Brooklyn, it’s heart is actually on San Madrigal, an island that sank fifteen years ago. Mateo, the protagonist, is gentle, a bit squeamish even for people who take pride in being both founded by pirates and the only Caribbean island who resisted the Colonizers/slavery. These people are a mix of religions heavy on Santeria, and Sephardic Judaism. His best friend is Tams, very popular, very bisexual and learning Santeria. Mateo has his music and is pretty much content in his life, living with his Tias (one alive and heavy into Santeria and reading the cowry shells and the other a ghost) while his doctor parents are off doing the Doctors Without Borders thing.

What Mateo wants most is to make his music and maybe, just maybe take it to a wider audience. In theory Madrigal music is supposed to be secret but his musical hero Gerval is doing just that. But when Gerval takes notice of him Mateo’s dream might turn into something else. Never meet your heroes. And in Madrigal, land of pirates, there are stories and there are lies and there are gods/goddesses who incarnate in people. When Mateo sees Chela doing something unspeakable he’s thrust into this magical, mystical world finding power of his own.

Mateo, Chela and Tams (not to mention Mateo’s aunts) are such well drawn characters. The world building in this is great and the secrets get revealed doled out just a little at a time drawing you in. Mateo’s hero’s journey takes you places you don’t expect it to go. I want to see more of them all. When one of the gods is a destroyer and one just might be a demon, you know this is going to be a bit more violent and it is. There are things Mateo and his magic just can’t fix.

The story does touch on colorism and racism but in a very organic way without beating anyone over the head. It comes across as an every day part of these characters’ lives which is no doubt how it would really be. There is LGBT rep in the side characters (Tams) so there is a nice touch of diversity in this. Can’t wait for the next book and man just look at that cover.

I received this via Netgalley for review which in no way influenced my review.

Could not finish; got to page 199/386 (according to Digital Editions) \ 55% (Kindle \ Chapter 23

I tried, because it had its moments and the concept is what instantly lured me in. To the point that I barely even read the synopsis once I knew it's a RRP book with more culture exposure (and thus, more pantheons!). I even thought, well maybe I'll at least finish the first installment but I likely won't finish the series, and yet, I kept being able to walk away from it in order to knock out other ARCs (and those two books I *didn't* want to walk away from). But there's this odd underlying awkwardness to it. I remember trying to articulate my feelings with my husband and only being able to come up with it just feels awkward. Like, if it were a movie, maybe it'd be similar to a made-for-television or straight-to-VHS/DVD/etc movie. I don't know if that if that evenly properly sums it up, but it's all I have right now. I had moments of confusion, thinking I had missed something, and then the longer I read, the more characters started to feel like copies of one another, lacking enough of a voice to feel like individual characters. I for sure lost track of ages, because young adults and adults read the same. Pacing was weird, transitions jarring...overall, disappointed.

Points for inclusivity and normalizing it (and it not being what made the character the character), as well as culture blending and further exposure to various sorts.

This story has a lot of different elements and is filled with magic and music that is set in an urban fantasy world and mainly revolves around a political battle with mystery, magic, and a lot of heart. The world building was interesting and the characters were decent enough, but this didn't connect everything together well for me. At one point it seemed like there was just a huge amount of information given to the reader, and that bogged me down some. The elements of the story were good, just not a favorite overall. I wanted to like it more than I actually did, which was a letdown. The beginning took awhile to grab my attention, the last bit was better, but by that point I wasn't invested enough. A decent read and will likely pick up the sequel at some point.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This is a story about two teens who discover their powers and each other. Filled with music and magic set in an urban fantasy, this story revolves around a political battle within a diaspora community. The story has mystery, romance, magic, and heart. It follows Mateo Matisse a high school junior and a piano prodigy who just wants to get the attention of a music legend. On the night of the Grand Fete, a party that celebrates the blended culture of pirates,Cuban Santeros, and Sephardic Jews his life is turned upside down when he witnesses the murder of someone he knows. He soon discovers that he is Galanika, the healer god and that two other gods were also “reinacrnated” into two other people in his community that he must find in order to bring back their island home of San Madrigal. The story started off slow for me and political.. and not much happens until the last 30% of the book which picks up but it just wasn’t for me sadly. Definitely give it a go though it’s got a lot of fun magic and history and culture in it!

*Thanks Netgalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide, Rick Riordan Presents for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher.</p>
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<p>I have really enjoyed everything I've read in the Rick Riordan Presents line, but I admit that I had started to form a certain expectation of them, and with it a worry. They have not only all been middle-grade fantasy, they've had a very similar shape of subgenre/plot: a tween or young teen from modern America discovering the mythology of their heritage in a rather firsthand way. Some of them have been amazing books, but I'm very glad to see that this line is open to a somewhat broader age range and plot type.</p>
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<p>Which is to say: <em>Ballad and Dagger</em> is young adult, not middle-grade. Its hero, Mateo Matisse, is a high school student whose vocabulary, life concerns before this book, and plot arc in this book are definitely a notch or two more mature than, say, my girl Aru Shah in the wonderful books that bear her name. And the world Older has created draws on his heritage but is very much his own creation.</p>
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<p>Mateo is a high school junior living in Little Madrigal in New York City--the diaspora community formed after the secret magical island of San Madrigal sank beneath the waves. The people who had originally formed the community of San Madrigal were a mix of Santeros, Sephardim, and pirates; over the centuries the fusion of cultures has made its own unique combination--but not one the outside world is allowed to know much about. The people of San Madrigal have been fiercely proud of the way they stood aloof from colonialism, and they'd like to keep it that way. And if observant teens like Mateo and his friends have moments of wondering how a country that was never touched by the icy hand of colonialism managed to replicate some of its worse features, well...history is full of mysteries, right?</p>
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<p>Some of those mysteries are about to get solved. Because the powers of Little Madrigal want to raise San Madrigal from the waves. If only they can find the children of San Madrigal's three central spirits: a creator, a destroy, and a healer. Mateo's focus is his music, but he also loves his friends, his aunts, and his community--and would love to be able to help, if only he had any power to do so. If only...well, this <em>is</em> a YA fantasy, right? Something's bound to turn up. But Mateo's music forms a strong central thread to a book with compelling characters and fun worldbuilding. While there's almost certainly more to be told of Little Madrigal, this book surprised me with how quickly things pulled into a satisfying ending for this piece of the story.</p>
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I LOVED this book! I struggled to get through the first 1/3 but once the story picked up i couldn't put it down. I think the first part just felt like a little bit of and info dump, readers that prefer to learn about the world as the story develops may have trouble getting through all the details straight away. Despite that The world building was great, I was really captivated by the mythology around San Madrigal and Little Madrigal! It had me googling actual latin mythology and wanting to learn more of what's real life and what's just for the story. The adventure we embark on with our MC was so much fun, I'm looking forward to book 2!

I so badly wanted to be hooked by this story, but I wasn’t. For me the world building was dense and stalled the progression of the plot. I was craving more action earlier on, and I wish there was more depth to the characters. I’m not sure if I’ll read the next book in this series. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

San Madrigal sank below the sea. The people of this island, descendants of the native Indigenous peoples, pirates, Jews and West Africans have found a new home in an enclave in New York. Mateo Matisse is one of these people, he's also a musician, great friend, nephew and might be falling in love with Chela Hidalgo. There are forces at work in the little expat. San Madrigal community and Mateo gets swept up in the wake of these forces. The forces that are at work bring to the fore secrets that had been buried about the people of San Madrigal, magic and destiny are moving and Mateo has to try to find a way to navigate his way through these currents. Interesting story, magic, mystery, destiny are all at work and this story is definitely worth the time.

While I really liked Mateo and Chela, the real standouts to me were the side characters. I loved the friend group so much and hope there will be more of them in the next book.

This is a good read that I think a lot of people will love. I liked it a lot, but didn't love it and I'm not sure why. I just had a hard time picking it up at times. The pacing wasn't too bad, but I felt like it was slow at times. So maybe that was it. But the story and characters are great. I loved all the Spanish in the book. Also, the mythology/culture was really interesting. The ghosts and monsters helped with the action. I would have liked a bit more of the pirates, but I do like that the book focused on a large group of people. Mateo's power as a healer really stood out to me. I liked the explanation of how it worked. Overall, the book was good. I just don't want to get into the plot too much and spoil anything. The synopsis does a great job explaining what the book is about.

I am curious to see where the story goes and will likely read the sequel.

I gave this book 4 stars (closer to 3 1/2). Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my earc.

Mateo Matisse just wanted to play his music for the world. Then, he is told that he is Galanika, the healer god. And that the other two gods were also "reincarnated" into two others in the community, that he must find in order to bring back their island home of San Madrigal, which sunk beneath the waves 15 years ago, forcing the hidden community to be relocated to Brooklyn. He is told to trust no one, although it seems that everyone shares the same goal, returning home. However, Mateo witnesses a murder and monsters begin to threaten the community. Infighting breaks out and Mateo has to stop a great evil from surfacing and destroying the world. All in a good days work, right?
Some absolutely stunning world building and a fascinating mixture of mythology, history, and fiction. However, I felt that this book suffered a lot from telling, but not showing. Instead of showing us the culture generated from the mixing of Santero, pirate, and Sephardim the author just stated it. The storyline started out very slow and only sped up right at the end, which isn't necessarily bad, just not by favorite. And, I must bring up Farts the dog, who I felt was a bit of a Chekhov's Gun. How to you introduce a farting chihuahua and not have it play any role in the story? A bit odd.
He developed the best friend character well, but she only showed up when it was convenient for the storyline and it felt that she mainly existed to help push Mateo in the right direction. However, this didn't make her falling for twins any less amusing or her personality any less fun. Though, it did seem like the author was putting the twins on opposite sides of the conflict, but he didn't quite see that storyline all the way through. Maybe it will appear in the sequel.
If you do not understand Spanish, the book loses a lot of additional meaning and depth, but is still entirely understandable. All in all, it was an incredible story, filled with diverse characters, romantic subplots, and a fascinating discussion of the long history of colonization and exploitation in the Caribbean.
Thank you to Netgalley for this title in exchange for an honest review.

Always a Daniel Jose older fan! Absolutely love his writing and was so excited to receive a copy of Ballad & Dagger. This one kept me on the edge of my seat and it was un put-down-able!