I’ve been on summer break for an entire week now and I feel like this week passed in a haze of naps, reading, and moving furniture around to install new bookshelves. Now that I’ve had some time to adjust, I hope I can actually hunker down and work on what I really want to be doing…which includes more reading, writing, and not cleaning my house. That all starts today with a review of Daniel Jose Older’s Last Canto of the Dead.
Thanks to NetGalley and Disney Books for this free digital copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is out now!
Last Canto of the Dead is the sequel to last year’s Ballad & Dagger, and it picks up immediately from where that first story leaves off. I love Mateo and Chela and was so glad to be back with them and their world. Sequels are always hard for me to talk about because I worry about spoilers, but like the first one, I found this to be stunning. Older has created a world that feels so familiar yet also so unique. His prose is lyrical, rhythmic, and powerful.
Last Canto has BIPOC Jewish rep, LGBTQ+ rep, and really plays with the concept of questioning who writes your history…and whose history they leave out while doing so. Mateo and Chela both grapple with trying to determine the true history of not only their San Madrigal peoples, but the history of their spirits as well and what that history could mean for their future. The story goes back and forth between Chela and Mateo as they soon have to separate, and you are with each as they discover more about their present selves and abilities, and the spirits they have always been throughout time. I also love how much Spanish is woven throughout the text.
My only issue was not with the book at all–I went back and forth between the digital eBook and the audiobook, and I found myself getting pretty confused in some parts of the audiobook. I think this was a me problem because the narrator (Lee Osorio) is amazing. I will definitely be purchasing these books so I can reread them!
Have a great week! Hoping to bring you some current music faves soon. š
The Bookish Bird 