The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Last Canto of the Dead (An Outlaw Saints Novel) by Daniel José Older  Rick Riordan Presents/Hyperion (imprint of Buena Vista Books, Inc), 2023 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Kathryn Hall Buy at Bookshop.org Last Canto of the Dead is the second volume of the Outlaw Saints fantasy series by Daniel José Older. It can be appreciated without reading the first volume, but I highly recommend reading the excellent Ballad & Dagger first for the background and to preserve the chronology. Mateo Matisse and Chela Hidalgo are teenage human embodiments of immortal spirits, fighting to save the people and culture of their island San Madrigal, recently resurrected fifteen years after sinking beneath the Caribbean Sea. The three cultures of San Madrigal derive from the pirates, the Sefaradim and the Santeros (an Afro-Cuban mix of Yoruba religion/folklore and Roman Catholicism). When the island sank, most of the population emigrated to Little Madrigal in Brooklyn, where political differences ...

Ballad & Dagger (An Outlaw Saints Novel) by Daniel José Older Rick Riordan Presents (imprint of Disney Publishing), 2022 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Aleah Gornbein   Buy at Bookshop.org As readers of Jewish books, we are intimately familiar with the theme of diaspora. So jumping into Daniel José Older’s Ballad & Dagger where the focus is on the close-knit community of Little Madrigal is like settling into a well-worn couch, no matter the magical elements at play. Sixteen years ago, the Carribean island of San Madrigal sank, and the pirates, Cuban Santeros, and Sephardic Jews who lived there escaped to Brooklyn to keep their blended culture alive. Mateo Matisse, our protagonist, is now a regular teenager who loves music and lives with his Tía Lucia while his parents travel for work. Not one for the spotlight, he just wants to get the attention of Gerval, a popular local musician, at the annual celebration, the Grand Fete. However, when Mateo witnesses the rabbi’s daught...