Hey friends! I have such a great book to share with you all today! Keep in mind this book is a sequel, so beware of spoilers of the first book.
About the Book:
The Hate U Give meets Shadowshaper in Bethany C. Morrow’s A Chorus Rises, a brilliant contemporary fantasy set in the world of A Song Below Water.
Teen influencer Naema Bradshaw has it all: she’s famous, privileged, has “the good hair”— and she’s an Eloko, a person who’s gifted with a song that woos anyone who hears it. Everyone loves her — well, until she’s cast as the awful person who exposed Tavia’s secret siren powers.
Now, she’s being dragged by the media. No one understands her side: not her boyfriend, not her friends, nor her Eloko community. But Naema knows the truth and is determined to build herself back up — no matter what.
When a new, flourishing segment of Naema’s online supporters start targeting black girls, however, Naema must discover the true purpose of her magical voice.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY
About the Author:
Bethany C Morrow is an Indie Bestselling author who writes for adult and young adult audiences, in genres ranging from speculative literary to contemporary fantasy to historical. She is author of the novels MEM and A SONG BELOW WATER, which is an Audie, Ignyte and Locus finalist. She is editor/contributor to the young adult anthology TAKE THE MIC, the 2020 ILA Social Justice in Literature award winner. Her work has been chosen as Indies Introduce and Indie Next picks, and featured in The LA Times, Forbes, Bustle, Buzzfeed, and more. She is included on USA TODAY’s list of 100 Black novelists and fiction writers you should read.
My Review:
A Chorus RIses is such an interesting book to review. I don’t think this book will be everyone’s cup of tea, as the main character really isn’t likable until the last 100 pages. The majority of her character consists of a lot of complaining, but I really didn’t mind. I thought that it made an interesting contrast to the first book, and I don’t need to like or root for a character in order to enjoy the book. I really like that this book followed Naema because on of my complains of the first book was that her character felt really flat and one-dimensional. The fallout from the first book is the premise of this book, I was skeptical about whether or not I would be able to connect to her character after she wrecked Tavia’s and Effie’s lives in the previous book. But after finishing A Chorus Rises, I really enjoyed that the author was able to make me interested and invested in a character I was predisposed to hate. I did like Naema (to an extent), but the most compelling aspect of the book was her struggle with understanding who she is and telling her story, which was portrayed well.
Also, it says this could be read as a standalone but I highly recommend reading the first book before reading this one because otherwise, this book would be really confusing and hard to understand. So if this book interests you at all, definitely read book one! It’s worth it.
Thanks for reading!!
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