Tag: Powers

The Weight of Blood

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Black teen girl wearing tiara and Prom Queen sash drenched in blood, set against a black background.A bullied teen, her unhinged parent, a prom and telekinesis. You may think you know where this horror novel is going but trust me, you do not.

A true crime podcast host is looking to uncover the truth about a tragedy that struck a small Georgia town years before. Does the blame really rest on one teen girl, Maddie Washington? Going back and forth in time, the narrative spools out the story in the podcast’s current day interviews with survivors and experts, woven with the events as they happened.

Maddie and her white father live in a small Georgia town where even in 2014 the community continues the tradition of hosting segregated proms – one for white students, another for Black students. Maddie is biracial but has been passing for white her whole life. No one ever knew her mother. Her abusive father keeps her terrorized at the thought of anyone finding out she is part Black.

To make matters worse for Maddie, her father has recreated a 1960’s era world in their home with no cable tv or internet. All Maddie sees are videos of “Father Knows Best” type television shows, old movies and whitewashed history lessons. It’s reminiscent of people today who try to recreate a world  where white men rule and no one else matters.

Maddie’s secret is revealed when an unexpected rainstorm sends her hot comb straightened hair back to its naturally coily state. One classmate, Jules, starts launching pencils into Maddie’s hair; other classmates joyfully join into the abuse. A video of the incident goes viral, bringing their school and community unwanted attention. What the video doesn’t show is Maddie begging them to stop. As she gets more and more upset, classroom lights break, windows shatter, and the floor heaves. The viral video causes things to escalate in this divided town, coming to a horrifying climax on prom night.

Each character in this story brings a different point of view, adding complexity to the narrative. Kendrick, the Black football star is  accepted by the white kids because of his talent, but has to live with that pressure and his tenuous relationship with other Black students. Kendrick’s sister Kali founded the school’s Black Student Union and isn’t afraid to stand up against the daily racism Black students endure. Jules, who started the bullying, feels victimized when called on it, blaming Maddie for this new experience of suffering consequences for her actions.  Wendy, Kendrick’s white girlfriend, believes dating Kendrick makes her a good person and will not stand for anything that gets in the way of her self-image.

Tiffany D. Jackson is an incredible writer who skillfully blends issues of racism, pseudo-allyship, entitlement, police brutality and the supernatural into a compelling story. This horror novel asks what’s more frightening, otherworldly powers or the impact of racism on Black people’s everyday lives?

Find The Weight of Blood at your local bookstore.

This Poison Heart

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poison heartBriseis and her adoptive mothers run a flower shop in Brooklyn where she demonstrates a special a gift with plants. When in her presence, drooping plants perk up, dying plants get healthy again and, when she focuses, Briseis is able to grow an entire plant from just a leaf or seed. Neither she nor her moms understand this ability, but they accept it.

Briseis’s birth mother Selene, who died when Briseis was very young, had a sister, Circe, who no one knew about. The family gets the unexpected news that Circe just died and passed on 40 acres of land in Rhinebeck, upstate NY to Briseis. Briseis and her moms take the plunge and move there.

It seems everyone in town knew Briseis’s late mother and aunt. Briseis discovers that her gifts with plants is a family trait. Selene and Circe ran an apothecary, sourcing plants from their expansive gardens and greenhouses to provide locals with natural medicines. Now the locals expect Briseis to follow in Selene and Circe’s footsteps. As Briseis unravels the mysteries surrounding her new home and her abilities, she learns there is far more to her heritage than she ever imagined. 

Briseis finds messages from her aunt that lead her to a hidden section of the garden, filled with powerful, deadly plants. Though Briseis is immune to them, she is not immune to the danger she faces from people who would stop at nothing to get to them.

This story is inventive and clever, weaving Greek mythology and deadly botany into a tale about family secrets, deceit and power. BIPOC and queer representation is centered in the story. The emerging romance between Briseis and  Marie, a local who seems to know more about Briseis’s family than anyone, enhances rather than distracts from the plot. The narrative twists and turns add even more drama and suspense. The author, Kaylynn Bayron, (who also wrote the extraordinary “Cinderella is Dead”) has created another fascinating world and a moving story that does not disappoint.

Find This Poison Heart at your local bookstore.

The magic inside

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When our magic is destroyed, can we do what it takes to bring it back?

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Generations ago, Sky Mother blessed her children, all deities, with mastery over life and death, dreams, the elements, health and disease, time, and animals. In turn, the deities created maji, their human children of blood and bone who could wield the powers. A king who hated magic ordered a raid; all the maji were killed and only divîners, young people capable of magic but whose powers have not yet awoken, were allowed to live. He also made sure to dispose of the sacred objects which awaken their ashê and connect the maji to Sky Mother. Many years after the raid one of the magical objects, a scroll, has resurfaced and is in the king’s possession. After witnessing a brutal act which reveals the scroll’s power, the king’s daughter Princess Amari steals the scroll and runs away from the castle. She meets Zélie, a divîner, and Zélie’s brother Tzain. They learn that the three of them are destined to take the scroll and make a way to reconnect divîners to their gods, bringing magic back. To do this they must stay ahead of Prince Inan – Amari’s brother who is charged with finding her and the scroll. He is committed to proving himself to his father the king, but struggles with a secret of his own – somehow, he too is a divîner.

This is an incredible book. The narrative, rooted in West African culture,  is dramatic and action packed, filled with uneasy alliances, ever present danger, and magic.  The world building is stellar, so rich, detailed and cinematic you become fully immersed. Complex characters make the story even more engaging. One especially nice element is the maji and divîners’ appearance. All of them have white hair; it’s straight when they are divorced from their magic, and as the connection gets stronger, their hair grows more coiled (think Angela Bassett in Black Panther.) Each chapter is voiced by either Amari, Inan, and Zélie, so we are always party to the internal conflicts each face when thrown into difficult, confusing situations. Kudos to the cover designer – the visual truly communicates the drama inside the book.

I love this book so much it’s causing me to reverse a firmly held opinion – I am no longer tired of trilogies! I am thrilled that this story will continue in two more books, the next, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, due out in early 2019. Is it too soon to stand outside of the bookstore and wait for it to be delivered?

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi, Henry Holt