Back in June my Book Riot Box included a novel by
Daniel Jose’ Older. I was not familiar
with Older, but the novel was announced as the first in a new series. Looking at the cover, I was delighted to see
it was not a zombie or vampire series but something different – something new. I set it aside while preparing for the
Shakespeare Seminar I lead each summer, and it was lost among the many books
waiting to be read.
Fast forward to November…because of my interest in
diversity in literature I began following a controversy regarding a children’s
book, A Fine Dessert by Emily Jenkins
and Sophie Blackall. I will not explain
the controversy, if interested, Google the title; however, one of the links led
me to a panel discussion with Jenkins and other authors, including Daniel Jose’
Older. I found his comments to be
cogent, sincere, and eye-opening. I began
a search to learn more about him, and while reading his Facebook page, I had my
“Ah Ha” moment: there was a photo of Half-Resurrection
Blues. And it became one of my first
reads of 2016.
Older is an excellent storyteller and sucked me in
immediately. Carlos Delacruz is an Inbetweener:
neither dead nor alive, he was partially resurrected. He works for the New York Council of the
Dead, and his territory is Brooklyn. As
the story begins, Carlos is the only Inbetweener but soon others appear, and he
is in a battle with Sarco who wants to destroy the barriers between the worlds
of the living and the dead.
Half-Resurrection
Blues is peopled with a mixture of
humans and ghosts, some of whom understand Carlos’ world. Carlos does not know anything about his
previous life. The first face he saw as
an Inbetweener was Riley, a ghost, and now his best friend. But my favorite ghost is Mama Esther:
Then we enter the library, the only room in the entire
house with any furniture, and everything’s all right again. There aren’t even shelves, just stacks and
stacks of books from floor to ceiling.
You’d think it’d be a chaotic mess, all packed in there like that, but
somehow there’s a harmony to it: the books seem almost suspended in midair…Esther’s
floating in her usual spot right in the center of the room. That’s where her head is anyway. Beneath that great girth smile, her wide body
stretches out into invisibility in a way that lets you know she’s got the whole
house tucked within those fat ghostly folds. (29).
If
I ever return as a ghost, I want to be Mama Kate.
The world of the living includes Baba Eddie and Kia, a
sixteen year old girl who runs his Botanica.
Even at fourteen, Kia was knowledgeable and confident, “She bounced back
and forth between customers, arguing about how much yerba buena to use in a
spiritual cleansing and helping an old man who wanted to get his wife back from
her new lesbian lover” (41).
But the world of Carlos Delacruz is filled with fear
and violence: fear of the destruction of both worlds if Sarco is successful and
the violent battle that ensues including a nearly indestructible being: the Ngk. Carlos is in the middle of this from the
opening when the Council of the Dead orders him to kill the other Inbetweener
who has appeared, and Carlos makes a promise with unknown entanglements. It is a dark urban fantasy.
And as I was finishing my visit to the dark world of Half-Resurrection Blues, the second Bone
Street Novel, Midnight Taxi Tango,
hit the shelves with a January, 2016 publication. It picks up with some new characters and
another battle threatening the comfortable, if sometimes uneasy, separation of
the worlds of the living and the dead.
The end of Half-Resurrection
Blues left Carlos with some complications in his life. He is still the main character, but Kia
evolves into a young woman of power and conviction. Her background is developed, and her interest
in capoeira forced me to Google it: what an amazing martial arts form. Another human character, Reza, a lesbian taxi
driver with a special twist to her job, joins the battle, and these three
characters alternate as the narrators.
This time they are taking on the Blattodeons; pink cockroaches with
primordial power.
Maybe my experience with the first novel brought me to
a better reading of Midnight Taxi Tango, or perhaps the idea of Blattodeons is
more disgusting in my mind, but I found some of the descriptions absolutely
horrific. Reza shoots at a strange man
and:
For a second he just stands there. Angry holes pockmark his face, his hands,
those long robes. Little curls of smoke
plume out of each one, and I can only imagine what the blowout from the exit
wounds must be like on the other side. Then
I see the skin on his neck shudder; it’s moving. It’s alive.
It’s one of those evil fucking insects, making its skittish, evil way up
his chin and across his startled face.
(75).
I
do not give spoilers in my reviews, but trust me, these descriptions will get
the adrenaline pumping.
Both novels are mesmerizing trips
into a realistic urban environment.
Older has other published books including the highly acclaimed YA novel,
Shadowshaper. I am looking forward to
many more excursions into the worlds he creates. Note: His books are available on Audible, and
he is the narrator for Midnight Taxi
Tango.
Older,
Daniel Jose’. Half-Resurrection Blues.
New York: ROC/Penguin, 2015. Print.
---.
Midnight Taxi Tango. New York:
ROC/Penguin, 2016. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment