What a rollicking story with surprising depth! I would absolutely read a sequel to this: the world is well-built, characters perfectly developed, and I had a great time being enthralled by it. I especially enjoyed how children are tasked with saving the day since grown-ups have failed. Highly recommended.

I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

I really enjoyed this one. I read it slower than usual mostly to soak in the unbelievable imagination that came through these words. But a little bit of that slow reading was to work on organizing all of the characters that came through the pages. This was such a great twist on Urban Fantasy though, and I loved the magic and the intrigue and I was excited to see what was going to happen next. Definitely a must read for UF lovers.

'The Ballad of Perilous Graves' had an amazing cover! Of that we can all agree, right? After that I'm not sure you are going to get two reviews that are the same for this one. It is very different. I like New Orleans (that will help). I like supernatural and magic infused stories. I did not love this book. The writing style was not my cup of tea. It was hard to track, as was the story. I wanted to love it but it just wasn't for me. I know others will love it. And, I rarely believe this but, I think it will make a great movie/ series. Or perhaps it could have found its niche as a graphic novel.

I ended up also getting a copy of this on audio from Libro.fm ALC program, which I much preferred as music is a big part of this novel and it has a full score. I will say that I ended up DNFing this book because it was just TOO long, clocking in at a 17 hour audio book (deaths of Evelyn hardcastle was like 12 hours for reference and that book is long). BUT with that said I do think this is a very unique book about New Orleans, the Black history of Jazz and the importance of music. There is a magical side of New Orleans existing alongside the human one. The book is diverse and there is trans rep.

Something I found jarring, which I saw other reviews mention, is that the majority of this book is told through the POV of two young siblings and reads like a magical middle grade. But it is an adult book that switches to an adult perspective (and not often enough to feel like half) which took me out of the narrative every time. I’m not sure why the additional POV was necessary, and it would have been better just focusing on the kids story.

Overall I do think this was a unique book and that the target audience would really love this one. I don’t think I am that audience so I don’t want to rate this unfairly, despite the DNF.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves takes place in Nola. Nine of the city's songs have disappeared.In the center of the story are three kids: Perry, Brendy and Peaches, tasked with a quest to find all the stolen songs of the city, and an adult: Casey, a trans man trying to get back someone he lost. All of them are on a magical journey of self-discovery and growth.

This book feels as enchanting and magical as its world. Just like Nola, it has an undefinable character that's hard not to love. The book will take you on a journey where you won't know up from down, real from dream.

The storytelling and world building are masterful, combining hoodoo and fantasy. It's filled with haints, zombies, graffiti that comes to life, p-bodies that get addicted to the high of graffiti, giant rats, and many other creatures and magical beings.

I loved the way the story was told. This book does not hold your hand through the story. In fact it runs ahead of you, not waiting for you to catch up. It requires you to trust the process and wait for things to start clicking into place. I won't lie, there are aspects of the book I'm still confused by at the end, but in general it all comes together beautifully.

The writing illustrates everything in such a vivid manner, its easy to see Nola, its music, its magic, and its people as if it's all playing out in front of you.

The only drawback for me was that I was more into the way the story was told, the characters, and the setting, than the plot itself, which kind of gets buried under the weight of all the other aspects. Combined with the fact that it's a longer and denser read than I was expecting, it felt like a really slow read and I felt like no matter how much I was reading I was making no progress.

This is a book I would recommend anyone who likes fantasies with a strong world, and people looking for something a little different in their books.

Thank you very much to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for providing me with a copy of The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings in exchange for an honest review.

What initially drew me to this book, aside from the beautiful cover, was the idea of music as a form of magic and the New Orleans setting. Jennings has so many creative ideas I have personally not seen in books before: the particular way that music and other forms of art were sorcery, the Dr. Professor character, songs having 'human' forms, the P bodies... I found myself really excited by these ideas and trying, and failing, to explain what I was reading to others. I also really want to visit New Orleans now!

The Ballad of Perilous Graves has all the imagination, whimsy, quirkiness and creativity that I particularly enjoy in books, but that are perhaps not for every reader. At times I did find it quite convoluted and got confused about what plane the characters were on and what form they were in. I was listening to a Book Riot podcast episode and, about this book, one of the hosts said "you just have to go with it." I'd say that's good advice when reading this book and really its only downfall. If you're getting a bit confused, let go of needing to know exactly what's going on and just go on along for the ride!

Personally I would rate this book 3.5/5 (rounded up to 4) and I'm very much looking forward to Jennings' future writing!

I'd recommend this book to fans of Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere), Jasper Fforde (the Nursery Crime Series and the Thursday Next Series), Genevieve Cogman (The Invisible Library series) and Garth Nix (The Left-Handed Booksellers of London).

3.75

This is one of those books that I know I'll need to reread to get a better sense of my thoughts, but I'll do my best for now. Alex Jenning's debut was lyrical and full of atmosphere and really was a love letter to New Orleans and Black culture.

His alternate world New Orleans was full of life and folklore and magic and it was jarring and beautiful. I was very impressed with the way Jennings was able to imbue so much life into this book and really hope he returns to this world. Also, I was having the best time looking up facts about some of the real people and places mentioned in the book while reading, though I might recommend waiting until finishing the book to do that because it ruined the Mr. Larry reveal for me.

Two things I will warn potential readers of:
1. The pacing is confusing. The summary says that nine songs of power have escaped and Nola will fail without them, but the book doesn't really get to that point until about a third of the way through and it's not until closer to 60% of the way in that the plot threads start to come together. While I loved that Aha! moment, it was a smidge frustrating that it came so late.
2. The majority of this book follows our main character, Perry, and his sister and best friend, and all three of them are children. We also follow Casey, a trans man who has recently moved back to New Orleans, and have some other segments of the book told from other adults in the story, but Perry is the primary POV, which may or may not work for some readers. The jumps between other POVs I think also contributed to some of my confusion about the plot/pacing.

While I can see why this book is getting such mixed reviews, I fall on the enjoyed it side and would highly recommend to anyone who is looking for an adult fantasy that's neither white nor medieval. I would also recommend this in the same vein as N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became, as I think both works will really work for a reader who has a real connection to the city in question.

Knowing how magical realism and I don't play well together, I probably shouldn't have requested this one from NetGalley, BUT . . . the premise sounded intriguing, and then there was that AMAZING cover.

And, I tried to love the book, I really did, but the whole shebang was just too confusing for my rapidly aging brain. What was real and what wasn't? Who was a ghost, a zombie, or still alive? I gave up on trying to figure it out.

On the plus side, I did like the magical, folklore elements (view spoiler), the New Orleans setting, and I LOVED the three kids.

Every now and then I butt heads with a book that I honestly think would make a better graphic novel, or film, and this was one. Hopefully, I'll be watching this on Netflix in a few years, and it will all make sense to me then.

But, DAMN! That's an AWESOME cover, eh?

One Sentence Summary: Charged by the magical Doctor Professor to find some songs that escaped from his piano, Perry Graves, his younger sister Brendy, and their friend Peaches get more than they bargained for as the Storm is coming.

Overall
At its heart, The Ballad of Perilous Graves is about Perry. This is his story of how he saved New Orleans. There was a lot packed into this book and so many little details that needed to be paid attention to because they built on each other. It’s easily confusing, but I really enjoyed the focus on the music and magic. I felt swept up in the story and the world and absolutely loved the main characters. I did feel it was really slow to start with nothing really interesting happening until about halfway through, and then, when it did start happening, it never really stopped. The world was fascinating and strange, but I loved it. The characters were so much fun, and I adored Perry. The story felt too layered and like there was more going on than there were pages for, so there were many times I felt confused. But this was a fun book that swept me away.

Extended Thoughts
In Nola, Perry Graves is looking forward to summer vacation, but his little sister has magic (he’s determined he has none) and their best friend is the strongest girl they know. It isn’t long before Doctor Professor starts to appear with his magical piano in his neighborhood, deviating from the places he usually materializes. He charges the children with finding his nine escaped songs, songs that keep Nola running smoothly with its sky trolleys, its zombies, its haints, and its magic. It’s dangerous, but Perry and Brendy’s mother is the daughter of a Wise Woman, and Wise Women have tools that get passed down to Perry and Brendy, no matter how much it scares Perry. A Storm is brewing, though. A Storm that might spell Nola’s end because a powerful haint has awakened and has plans of its own.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves drops the reader straight into a magical alternate version of New Orleans, but it’s really so much more than that. This is kind of a crazy ride where, if you don’t read slowly and carefully enough, you might miss some important details, and maybe an entire world. I loved that this focused on a trio of children and that they took their charge seriously, but not without some fear. I also loved this version of Nola, where I felt like I was there, where the world wasn’t just built through what it looked like and how it functioned, but also in the speech patterns and the phrasing used in the narrative. I loved how far reaching this story was, how it went back and forth in time and literally spanned worlds. But it was hard to follow sometimes and I felt it left some loose ends and other things unexplained. As fantastic as I found the world to be, I felt like it bit off a little more than it could chew.

The world is the highlight, despite how confusing it was. The description mentions Nola and Away, and these are actually pretty important things to pay attention to because there’s a collision of worlds about two-thirds of the way in and, if I hadn’t been paying enough attention, would have completely missed it and, thus, being thoroughly confused. Nola is the primary setting. It’s an alternate version of New Orleans and really plays it up. Outside of the haints, zombies, and a magical piano man who randomly appears and makes people dance, it felt like it gave me the spirit of New Orleans as I’ve never been. But I liked that it didn’t focus on Mardi Gras. Instead, it’s set at the beginning of summer vacation and the city is just chugging along. The sky trolleys sounded fascinating and, if it weren’t for them, I fully expected to be transported straight to New Orleans. It’s a fascinating world full of music and magic, with paintbodies lumbering around and zombies going about their daily undead lives alongside everyone else. Then there’s Away, which, I think, is the real New Orleans. Nola is essentially set atop New Orleans, but the magic seems to bleed through in a way I didn’t really understand. Even more confusing, there’s also a Dead Side of Nola, which was just creepy and weird and kind of the seedy side of town. It definitely felt like way too much at times, but I still found myself amazed at the detail given to Nola and how it was just a really great setting for this magical story.

The story itself is fairly simple: three kids are sent out to find the nine songs Doctor Professor needs in order to keep Nola functioning smoothly. But another layer is added when a dangerous man with a gun is seeking the same songs as the kids. And then there’s yet another when it turns out a Storm is brewing and it could spell the end of Nola. Honestly, I found the story to be both the most confusing and the least interesting part of this book. It spent a lot of time setting up the world and the relationships between the characters as well as something I felt just fell by the wayside for most of the book. It was slow to start and really get going, so I wasn’t really sure where it was going or what was supposed to be happening. Then the second half hit and suddenly everything was happening. It was all so fast I could barely keep up. There are details that build up on details that turn into important pieces, but it’s difficult to remember and follow all of them. It felt like more things were just being pulled out of a hat and sometimes I just couldn’t follow why or how they were supposed to be connected. It left loose ends and things unexplained so, by the end, I wasn’t exactly sure what this book was supposed to be about. But it was also my least favorite part of the story, and not just because it was confusing. Compared to the characters and the world, it just felt like the weaker piece. I didn’t feel myself become caught up in what was happening. It might have been because there was so much going on, but I also felt like too much was thrown into the mix so, by the end, there was just no space to fully see everything through, so I felt let down.

But the characters were amazing. It’s focused on three kids who all appear to be younger than 13, but are thrown into a world full of danger and magic they barely understand. In many ways they are typical children, each speaking as a child of about their age would speak and throwing fits as a child would. But they’re three determined children who know what they need to do and who will do what they have to no matter how terrifying and uncomfortable. There are also some interesting adult characters, a couple of whom just completely confused me because of the different worlds that exist in this book. But I appreciated Perry and Brendy’s mother the most. In books with children, I find that either the parents are completely absent or just let their kids merrily go their own way. In The Ballad of Perilous Graves, there are parents who express concern and fear and make their kids do certain things. They also understand what their kids have to go through, but they will try to protect as much as possible while providing what support they could.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves is Perry’s story. In this case, it felt very much like a heroic ballad with Perry at the center even though some of the other characters nudged him out of the limelight at times. But this is his story, his story of struggles and fears and coming to terms with himself and his destiny. Actually, the story made a whole lot more sense to me when I thought of it as the ballad of Perry. He was a fascinating, complex character with deep insecurities and fears. He doesn’t believe he’s magic, but, time and again, the reader is shown just how exceptional he is. He’s really a good kid and tries hard to take care of Brendy and Peaches. His crush on Peaches is adorable and sweet, but he never tries to hold her back. I felt his story in the second half was hurried up to the point where I lost track of his characterization, especially since the first half set him up so well and then the thread felt like it was let loose a little too much. Still, I adored Perry.

Then there’s Brendy and Peaches. These two girls are incredibly strong and smart. I loved how Brendy never let anyone get in her way, yet still acted very much like the child and younger sister she is. She felt like a spitfire to me, being bossy and bold. Sometimes I thought she acted older than her age, but she’s unique and magical and I just fell in love with her from the start. She’s feisty and fun. I also really liked Peaches, but I had a harder time pinning her down. She’s clearly a magical child who adores animals and has clearly defined boundaries between her and Perry that he follows. She has exceptional strength and a penchant for disappearing. But she’ll also protect her friends at all costs. There were times when she felt young, and times when she felt older. Sometimes she even felt a little like a wild child, but she has a strong sense of duty and will do whatever she needs to.

The characters I was most confused by were Casey and Jaylon. Cousins, they were involved in tagging, as in leaving graffiti, until something went horribly wrong and Casey left New Orleans for an extended period of time. Casey actually felt a little boring, with much of his story detailing his day to day life or his love of art. Clearly, the cousins are close, but I had a hard time figuring out how they played into the story. Their involvement was the most confusing thing, and really required some close reading and a full attention. I have no idea just how integral they are to the story, but I kind of wish they hadn’t been there.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves is a bit of a wild ride full of magic and music. There are lyrics woven through the story, but, considering the music of New Orleans isn’t the kind I’ve listened to much, I had a hard time hearing it in my head. I did love the idea of songs having escaped the piano and are now wandering around, though. I loved how the love of music was so well woven through the book and how the magic just felt like a piece of the world. This was an incredible read, but it’s meant to consume one’s attention. There are little details everywhere. I did feel fully immersed in this book and, every time something came together, it felt like a part of my understanding just exploded a little. It wasn’t always easy to follow, but it was easier to enjoy and feel the magic of Nola.

Thank you to Angela Man at Orbit and NetGalley for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

"Perry's dream-that-was-not-a-dream made his world, his life, seem small and grimy, but Peaches represented pure possibility for Perry. Maybe there were some things not even she could do, but it didn't matter. She was capable of so much, she was so free, that sometimes Perry thought that maybe he was free. too. Maybe everyone was, had been always, and when they felt chained or trapped it was because they'd been lied to, or they were simply mistaken."

Jennings' NOLA is absolutely fantastical. In Jennings' NOLA, the songs are alive, and nine of them have escaped. Doctor Professor, who comes through town on his magic piano, tasks Perry, Brendy, and Peaches to find the songs before danger comes. The kids are set to find the songs, and Daddy Deke, who's been taken, but have to face all the weird and dangerous things the city throws their way.

While this world Jennings built was beautiful, whimsical, and unique, it was very difficult to absorb and follow along at times. I found myself confused through most of the book. I found the chapters did not transition well enough for readers to follow without being confused. I really enjoyed the general plot of the story, which eventually came together at the end, and the kids were hilarious. Peaches reminded me a lot of Pippy Longstocking.

Overall, I wish this story were clearer in the way the characters were set up, and the book felt longer than it really needed to be. This would be great if you're looking for a fantasy, with a really unique world set up.

Thank you Netgally, Alex Jennings, and Redhook Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

↠ 3.75 stars

The synopsis doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what this mind-bending novel is all about. There is truly so much going on, from kids with super powers, to musically inclined ghosts, taxi driving zombies, missing or dead family members, fantastical quests, songs and art literally coming to life, flying trolleys, ancient cursed objects, alien spaceships turned underwater nightclubs, and so, so much more. It’s almost like a drug-induced trip full of all sorts of colorful characters, exciting action, and stunning world building at every turn. I even had to take a step back at one point to make sure I was still reading the same book since it alternates between two seemingly unrelated narratives. And at the heart of the book is a love story to New Orleans, it’s history, and the incredible people who inhabit the city. It’s such a fun and interesting novel I was lucky enough to pick up that’s sincerely like no other urban fantasy I’ve ever read before. If you’ve looking for something wild, challenging, and overwhelmingly fantastical, this is definitely the book for you.

I was already intrigued by the concept of an urban fantasy so thoroughly entwined with music. But knowing that it’s also set in New Orleans, a city I love dearly? And parallel cities at that? That was an immediate request from me.

In an world where magic and music are so intertwined that they can’t be separated, the dead haunt the city, and art has power. Nine of the songs of Nola have been stolen and it’s up to Perry Graves and a group of other powerful people to recover the songs and keep the city from falling.

From the first descriptive scene, this made me want to buy an airplane ticket to visit New Orleans again. The descriptions of the streets, the music, the food, everything made me visualize what I had loved most when visiting the city.

It’s a bit of a slow start, plot wise, but as the plot ramps up in tension, the more info we learn that this world is magical and wild. There’s no info dumps, just the information as needed as everything starts coming to a head.

The way the music and art and song are so deeply intrenched in the culture and magic of this world was amazing to read. While still feeling magical and unknowable, it also felt familiar in the way that music and art are capable of change and power without magic backing them.

I practically flew through this. The characters were all charming and distinct. There is a lot of POV switching, but the character voices are all distinct enough that I was never confused on whose head we were in. And this story has the unique honor of being the first book to have young protagonists where the adults in their lives aren’t incompetent, evil, or dead. It was refreshing. Definitely going to buy a copy when this comes out, and keeping the author on my radar for future books!

Thanks to NetGalley and Redhook Books for this advice reader's copy!

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Release Date: June 21st, 2022


General warnings for gun violence and children in peril, and specific warning of a mass shooting described in Chapter XXVI, XXVII, parental death in Chapter XXXII

This book is in danger of being my favorite read of 2022. Alex Jennings shoves you into New Orleans' magical doppleganger "Nola" and leaves you dancing to a ghost's wild song. There's no suga coatin the trip the book will take you on. No slowing down to chew on the living graffiti tags floating in the air and being used like drugs. Though Alex trust his readers to put 2 and 2 together without being spoon fed (though yes I was wildly confused when 2 of the same character showed up) the world building and descriptions are too grounding to keep you from ever feeling so lost you want to give up. Even if you do feel lost or confused, an impossibility when turning through this vibrant wild world, the characters are too loveable to want to leave the book behind. Like sweet Perry and his cheerful sister Brenda, I'd follow the powerful Peaches through any story no matter the outcome. Thank you @netgalley for the arc.

Exuberantly, fantastically inventive, Alex Jennings’ novel was so full of treats and wonders and that I was left feeling a little overwhelmed and definitely impressed with the world and characters in "The Ballad of Perilous Graves".

I knew death and music were going to be central, based on its clever title, in this tale of New Orleans and Nola, a parallel, very different version of this city. Nola is where most of the action takes place and it is considerably different from our understanding of New Orleans. For a taste of the magical differences populating Nola, Jennings has created, in no particular order:
-graffiti that moves about, and can influence and radically change the appearance and behaviour of people who come into contact with it. These people become known as P-bodies
-a super strong, super fast and super amazing girl who is one of the main actors in the story
-zombies who don't go about chomping brains
-wandering haints/ghost
-floating streetcars
-an underwater casino staffed by talking animals
-powerful, ambulatory songs
And the list goes on.

The story involves a few magical and powered people coming together to save Nola from a threat, but that description feels like a pale summary of the eye-popping imagery and sheer breath of unusual and amazing people and things Jennings has created and that are in conflict.

As you can probably tell, I liked this book a lot, but it's also not for the fainthearted, as it's a big, monster of a book. The story action moves along well, with only a little confusion, on my part initially, with the transitions back and forth in time, or between New Orleans and Nola, and from the perspectives of young Perilous "Perry" Graves and transgender Casey.

The story pops with energy and rhythm, from Jennings’ in-story song snippets to the vibrant characters and graffiti decorated city. Though this book won’t be for everyone, I liked this book a lot, and wondered if Jennings had more stories in mind for Perry, Brendy, Peaches and Casey, as I’m interested in what happens next for them.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Redhook Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

An absolute blast to read, this book has enough mind-bending ideas to power 3 or 4 novels. That includes: a magical system based on music (used to power an alternate-world New Orleans), parallel universes, magical graffiti, villains based on blues songs and historical literary figures, zombies, talking human-sized nutria, a superhero or two, and a very permeable boundary between life and death.

The writing is lovely; the dialogue is a pleasure, the pace moves right along, and the author elegantly allows the storyline to disclose his worldbuilding organically without long passages of expositions. The characters are well drawn, and I especially enjoyed that the heroic children were written without condescension or being miniature adults.

If you love New Orleans and/or its music, this is your book. I think I know the music pretty well, but I'm sure I only caught 10% of the references and jokes. If you just enjoy an original, inventive (urban) fantasy, this is one is for you also.

DNF @ 43%

I'm kind of torn on this book because part of me does want to finish it to see where it goes, but I also feel like it's just not capturing my attention right now. I love the worldbuilding and magic in this book, and I think the writing is really great as well - I didn't realize this was a debut until I came to write my review but I am really impressed with the author and will definitely be checking out future works by them.

That being said, this book did not work for me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'm almost halfway through the book and I feel like there's just not much happening plot-wise. The weird thing is that the pacing doesn't feel slow either - there's a strange sense of urgency here, but nothing is actually happening to progress the plot?

Secondly, and more importantly (for me), I did not know going into this that most of the main characters were going to be actual children. Based on the synopsis, I thought we'd have younger adult characters, possibly teenagers, but not children aged 12 and younger. I simply personally just do not enjoy reading from the perspective of children in my adult fiction. It's very strange because it's very clear from the writing and narration that this is an adult book, but in some sections with a lot of dialogue between the children, it reads like a middle grade book, and I personally found it quite jarring. I really enjoy Casey's chapters (the only adult POV at the point where I am now), and I'd probably continue reading if at least half the chapters were his, but unfortunately that's not the case.

Overall, I feel kind of neutral about the book - I think if you know what you're getting into and you're not as averse as I am to reading from children's POVs, you might actually like this book. I think the magic is really interesting, and this idea of a city being run by magic and having a life of its own is one that I enjoy a lot, but the pacing and characters need a bit of work in my opinion. I definitely recommend the audiobook if you are going to pick this up as I think the narrator does a fantastic job.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves is the debut novel by author Alex Jennings and is a story that is very much a love letter to New Orleans and to old time Jazz. These are two things I am very much not super familiar with, but the story sounded really appealing and featured a blurb from a really enjoyable author (Victor Lavelle) so I decided to give it a try when I got a free ARC from the publisher.

I lead with these things because The Ballad of Perilous Graves is very much a story I bounced off of, and I'm not really sure that how much of that is the book's fault as much as the fact that I'm not quite the right reader for it - a White New York Lawyer with no connection to New Orleans, Jazz, or any of the topics dealt with here. The story also is very much descriptive and imaginative as it imagines two different versions of New Orleans - one of which is wildly magical even if still very relatable to our own world - and descriptive fiction also is a bit of something I struggle with. So you may very well enjoy this book if the above (and the further description below) is more of your things.



--------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------
Magic and Music - both separate and intertwined - are the lifeblood of the City of Nola that Fifth Grade student Perilous "Perry" Graves has grown up in. But despite the girl Perry crushes on - the orphan girl Peaches - having magical strength and abilities, Perry himself lacks talent in music or magic...or so he tells himself after an encounter that left him deathly shook and convinced him to transfer schools.

And yet, when the city's great Musician/Magician, Doctor Professor, tasks him, his sister Brendy, and Peaches with the quest of finding nine songs of power that underline the City, Perry finds himself forced to confront his fears about magic and responsibility and to take action in order to save the soul of Nola....as things start going from bad to worse.

Meanwhile, in the city of New Orleans, a young trans man named Casey returns to the city he fled years ago only to find the magic that scared him away - and the cousin who used to make it with him - is still there. And when disaster seems to strike that cousin, Casey will have to embrace the parts of himself he has always feared and the magic that is part of who he truly is....
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The Ballad of Perilous Graves is told through a series of points of view, with probably the majority of segments told from the perspective of Perry, but other segments are also told from the perspectives of other characters in Perry's magical city of Nola, like his sister Brendy, his crush and superpowered girl Peaches, or a few other characters and antagonists who come up along the way. The Nola featured in these chapters is full of magic and music, with real jazz songs showing up personified in various ways, with zombies and undead walking around along with people who are addicted to inhaling graffiti tags - even as it also has recognizable issues of racism, poverty, and horrifying storms preying on the City from time to time.

And then you have on occasion, sometimes introduced by datelines, Casey's chapters in our real version of New Orleans, give or take a little bit of magic that Casey encounters and eventually lead him to the other Nola. These chapters follow Casey's quest to get him to really to accept himself, not just for being trans (his family didn't take his transition well, and his misery over it possibly drove his girlfriend away), but to accept all the parts of himself like his magical drawing, rather than fearing the unknown and strange that makes Casey who he really is. And well, it's a solid theme, and there are some parallels to Perry's own issues accepting his own magic and music and right to exist in this world he feels inadequate about....but at the same time, it never really feels to me like it's part of the same story as Perry's, and Casey's chapters are often so few and far between that they just always feel out of place even when they finally intertwine with Perry's story.

But again, Perry's story and the story of Perry, Brendy and Peaches in Nola, is the real star here, and well here's where I struggle with this review. So much of what happens here is in the descriptions of what Perry sees and of the music and its lyrics, and well, I have a hard time appreciating those or even focusing enough to read them - it's just now how I read, and well I'm also not familiar with what's being referenced in the songs and in New Orleans etc. So to me, this felt a bit messy if not an utter mess, with the conclusion just never really feeling like it tied everything together in a coherent way....but that could be just because I was missing things in reading something that clearly wasn't for me. So it's kind of hard for me to really judge this...and that goes all the way to the ending, which could be considered both wrapping things up and setting up a sequel all at the same time.

So yeah, if you're more interested in descriptive/atmospheric fiction, have a greater knowledge and appreciation of New Orleans and old time Black music and jazz, this book might fit you a lot better than me, and it might wind up being something you like a lot. But without me having those things, this one just didn't work for me, and the split narrative certainly didn't improve the book in that regard.

In the spirit here, I ask that if you are currently deceased, it is imperative that you resume living at once and begin reading – (very loosely taken from part of the digital galley).

New Orleans. There is no place like it, except in “The Ballad of Perilous Graves.” Alex Jennings fires up the torches to show the real Nola. Music always felt like the heartbeat here, we just never realized it is the heartbeat. Evil is out to kill nine essential songs holding this world together. Take away the songs, songs manifesting themselves as spirits, and the city collapses against a collection of all the storms ever visited on the area.

A chosen few are tasked with using magic to fend off the attack. Three are children who will face off against the likes of legendary song villain Stagger Lee and a gruesome ghoul he reports to. The fourth defender is Casey, an ex-tagger who abandoned his art when he saw his creations coming to life on their own. Graffiti can float on the air now and people passing through the graffiti become disoriented, one person vomiting flower petals after going through a tag. These episodes have been coined “Color Rushes.”

Musical spirits and ghosts are not unusual in Nola, but we bridge other oddities not found on your travel agent’s brochure. Zombies are commonplace walking the streets and when you look up you see the sky trolleys. Parades of P-bodies pass by, dazzled souls who spent a little too much time under the effect of the paint of the graffiti tags. Now things are getting grave and even the air pulses with the oncoming storm– a destruction promised.

A good deal of the book is spent preparing our unlikely heroes for their battle against the dark forces. Casey is a trans male coming to grips with the death of his cousin and the magic they both created which now runs rampant in the city. Perry, just out of fifth grade, and his younger sister Brendy are thrust into their roles as warriors by a fate reinforced by family. Then there is Peaches… a mysterious and astonishing girl who seems to live alone and is really the leader the other kids look up to. She could really be the focus of another book all herself.

Wait… am I following all this… I am not lost here am I?

With all the POV changes and strange events you find yourself taking a leap of faith that the tide is flowing forward. It is a journey and demands some patience getting to where it is going– there will be people who will not finish it. I found the payoff well worth the effort, though. “The Ballad of Perilous Graves” is super-charged with imagination, filthy rich in characters I have not even mentioned, and captures a Nola feel so well you can hear the music playing and capture the images moving as you go. Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Now I am going to tape a coin to my record player needle and put my scratchy Dr. John “Gris-Gris” record on. #CocoRobichaux

2.5 stars

I feel I should start off by acknowledging that this book was not written for me. It’s a celebration of and love letter to Black New Orleans. That said, I’m going to talk about what in this book did and didn’t work for me.

Firstly, I think the book struggled to fit into an age category. Normally I’m happy when a book has cross-category appeal (after all, labels like ‘middle grade,’ ‘young adult,’ and ‘adult’ are all for marketing). I do think however that most of the chapters with Perilous read as middle-grade fantasy, while the chapters with Casey are more adult. I also didn’t feel that the split-perspective worked for me in this book; I didn’t mind so much when minor side characters were given a short PoV chapter to establish a scene before our protagonists arrive, but the switching between Perilous and Casey felt slightly off-balance. I never felt like I fully understood what was going on in one perspective before we switched to the next, and the atmosphere and tone are so different in the two characters’ different worlds that at times it felt like two books Frankensteined together, which could have been neat if Perilous’s story weren’t much more interesting than Casey’s. For this kind of mash-up to work, both narratives need to be equally fleshed-out and compelling.

The setting, a magical version of New Orleans called Nola tucked just alongside the “real” New Orleans, is wonderfully imaginative. That said, the story indulges so much in the worldbuilding of this fantastical city that there’s always a few new things the reader needs to understand and incorporate into their vision of the world, making it hard for either the narrative or the reader to focus on and really connect with the characters. Because there’s so much description, as well, it’s difficult for the reader to tell what’s worth paying attention to and what’s just background color.

I also struggled with the fact that many of the characters seem to speak with the same ‘voice,’ beyond just sharing the vernacular of a tight-knit community. Even in a flashback to a scene in the 1920s, the characters speak with exactly the same voice and vocabulary as they do in the 2010s.

Lastly, a personal pet peeve: I’m kind of over stories where a fantasy protagonist resists The Call solely due to a desire to be a Normal Kid, especially when a) said kid had shown prior to receiving The Call that they wanted some things about them to be special and b) evidence is already showing that they are already not Normal and refusing to engage with the story isn’t gonna change that, it’s just going to put their loved ones in danger and bog down the plot. While there can be instances where a hero refusing or negotiating with The Call can be thoughtful and enrich a story, a pure desire for ‘normalcy’ (especially in this story, where literally no one in Nola is normal!) doesn’t do it for me. I find this trope tired and overplayed, and I didn’t think it added anything to this novel.

Overall, The Ballad of Perilous Graves is an imaginative, musical romp, but its composition didn’t work for me; I thought it was too long. That said, I think it will hit with the right audience, so I’m going to recommend trying this book if any of the following describes you: You love New Orleans; you love comic books; you read a lot of middle grade fantasy and want to venture into more adult content; you love jazz and inventive magic systems; you’re seeking Black joy; you experienced Katrina.

There’s a lot of good stuff in this book, I just found it too bogged down with extras; but for others, that stuff I find superfluous may be what makes the book a favorite. I’d say it’s worth a try if you’re at all curious.