The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, Dawnie Walton's upcoming debut novel, is a sweeping and thought-provoking look at the meteoric rise and fall of a 1970s-era music duo.

First things first: this book is written in the same style as Daisy Jones & The Six, in that it uses interview-type responses to tell the story rather than narrative. It’s an interesting choice and I’ll admit at first I felt it was a little too copycat for me, but ultimately it worked for the story.

It was the most unlikely pairing: Neville, the gawky, earnest English musician, and Opal, the blunt, brash, young Black woman from Detroit. But somehow the meshing of their styles, particularly as Opal grows more comfortable with her voice and her presence on stage.

It’s the early 1970s, and racism is everywhere. And one night during a performance, the racially charged atmosphere leads to violence, and an act that forever changes the duo and the lives of those around them.

Flash forward to 2016, and rumors are flying that Opal and Nev might reunite for a tour. Music journalist S. Sunny Shelton, who has a connection to the duo’s early days, begins an oral history of them. But as she talks to those who were involved, she finds out there are secrets that have been kept hidden for decades, secrets which could jeopardize everything.

I definitely found The Final Revival of Opal & Nev to be a fascinating read, and while it had the usual elements of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, there was more to this book than that. I was surprised by the level of suspense in the book as well as how the book was an examination of how music and social issues are so intertwined. Walton really did a great job with this.

Again, as I felt when reading Daisy Jones, reading about songs and music is always missing something when you can’t hear them, so I hope that perhaps they’ll make an adaptation of this book, too. It’s definitely a compelling story!

NetGalley and Simon & Schuster provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev publishes March 30.

God I hope they are creating an amazing audiobook for this.


This book will have you wishing these characters were real, ok...not all of them.

It’s immersive and believable and creative. This is a great debut novel.

If oral history is the new format trend in books, I am not mad at all.
It's hard not to compare this book to Daisy Jones and the Six, since the formats are essentially the same, but this book is BETTER than Daisy Jones. Much better. The writing is superb and the story itself is just straight-up more interesting than Daisy Jones.
I loved how well-developed the characters were. Even when they were being evasive, they still brought so much to the story. Every character belonged in the narrative and helped to advance the plot, which I appreciated.
Opal & Nev deals with systemic racism in a thoughtful way that really resonated with me. This one is going to stick with me for awhile.
I can see this being a huge hit in 2021, and I will not hesitate to recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC!

I wasn't sure about the oral history format of this book at first - it was hard to get into with short paragraphs from so many different characters at the beginning. However, once I got into it I was really interested in Opal and her story.

There is a lot to like about this book in terms of the storyline, own voices, relation to current events, and the uniqueness of the format and the plot. Overall it was a really good book.

Some parts seemed to drag, while some of the really good parts seemed to be over too quickly. I would still recommend it to others to read.


Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance reader's copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is an oral history written in a way very similar to Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones & the Six; however, the interviewer plays an important role in advancing the plot of Opal & Nev. If you enjoy the varied perspectives of an oral history, you will enjoy this format, though I will say it felt a bit disjointed because there were so many perspectives to hear from. There were a few consistent voices, but many one-off additions that made little sense. If you are easily distracted by this format, I wouldn't recommend this. As far as plot goes, I was excited about the premise of the story, but I found the beginning of the book really slow--I felt like it took forever to get to the "Opal & Nev" section, and it took even longer to get to the event that the main action of the book is supposedly based on. Hearing the same story from so many different perspectives made it repetitive at times. I was also quite disappointed in the ending of the book. I feel like so much time was spent on leading up to this turning point in Opal & Nev's career as a duo, and then very little to no time was spent on the years between around 1980 and 2016. The culmination, this reunion of sorts, was also a let down in my opinion. I think the end of the book was abrupt and could have used more fleshing out, more reflection on the part of the characters, or some time afterward to discuss its repercussions beyond a single footnote. Overall, I enjoyed the book, just not as much as I had hoped. Content warnings: racism/racial slurs and graphic violence

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance reader's copy.

Many thanks to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for this advanced copy!

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I tried my best to not compare it to Daisy Jones & The Six while reading it, which was extremely hard to do.

What I liked:
- Each character had a distinct personality and a place in the book.
- I love this oral history style of writing and I am sure the audiobook is excellent.
- It looks like 5-6 pages before I realized this was fiction, not a true story.
- The themes of racism and the historical references were so well developed and important

What I didn’t like:
- The pacing was off for me. Many parts seemed so slow while others almost had too much happening.
- I did not love the back and forth between S. Sunny Shelton’s notes and the interview. I grew to really not care for her input and wanted to focus more on Opal and Nev.

I give it 3.5 stars, but am rounding up to 4 because I believe Dawnie Walton is an excellent writer and has much, much more to contribute to the literary world.

I will probably be in the minority when I say this but this book was not for me. While the book was what well written and had great characters the storyline just couldn't hold my attention. thank you to not yelly and the publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I thought Daisy Jones and the Six was about as good an oral history a book could do, but I was wrong. This book is FANTASTIC. This is the story of a rock star's daughter interviewing her father's former band mates in order to get to know him better. He was killed during a show before she was ever born. Through these interviews, we get to know the stars of the band: Opal &Nev. Opal will, hands down, but the best character I read this year.

This is a page turner, you want to understand what went down that night just as bad as the author putting together this oral history. Beyond that, it's great observations on the ways our current world mimics dynamics of the world in the '70s and how we have or haven't evolved. This felt like both great historical fiction and great contemporary fiction.

An impressive debut novel. And I'll get this out of the way now, do not shy away from reading this book because you think it will be too similar to Daisy Jones & The Six. Other than using an oral history format to tell the story of a fictional band, they really do branch off in different directions. I like both books, but The Final Revival of Opal & Nev definitely tackles tougher topics.

It's the 1970s and Rivington Records based in NYC would love to add some stars to their roster. Aspiring British singer/songwriter and lanky redheaded white male, Nev Charles, is looking for that special someone to join him in making music. After an exhaustive search he sees Opal singing in a Detroit bar. She's a young Black woman, and while she might not have the best voice or a fit that boring definition of conventional beauty, she sure has "it", that presence that all stars seem to possess in spades. That's how Opal and Nev got their start so many years ago. In 2016 the duo might reunite and music journalist, S. Sunny Shelton, is in the process of collecting an oral history of the pair.

Given the title I did assume the book would focus equally on Opal and Nev. However it kinda evolved more into Opal and Sunny's story and I'm glad it did. The strength of this novel is showing racism in both its obvious and subtle forms. It's something that pops up right from the start with Opal as a young girl in Birmingham, Alabama and continues all the way into the 2016 storyline. When you read about the 1970s significant event in the story it makes your blood boil for many reasons. One of those being that fifty years later, that fictional scenario could easily play out in real life.

When I initially finished the book I kept thinking that Nev wasn't a fully developed character like Opal. But my opinion of how Nev was written changed for the better. Now here is where I try to figure out how to express my thoughts without veering into spoiler territory. The best I can come up with is saying the author made a smart choice in how she wrote that character. I think I was too dumb to realize it at first.

Sign me up for any book Dawnie Walton writes in the future. Highly recommend checking this book out.

I started to read this book on February 1st, and it took me almost 4 weeks to finish. Everytime I talked about it, I said that it seemed to have more pages than announced, but I always tried to stress vehemently that it was not a bad book. And now that I have finished, I can state: this book was great to me, it is already one of my favorites this year so far.
The way it approaches racism in the USA in different decades and levels is assertive. The musical and journalistic settings are so believable I had to look those people up online many times to certify who was real and who was not. I wanted to either hug or beat up the characters (maybe both, at some points), and got quite involved with their stories.
My anxiety for finishing it was entirely related to my desire to know what was going to happen, where was that story leading to. It is true that the initial 40% of the book was a bit monotonous, but it made sense to me, according to the proposal of the story. I think that was the kind of rhythm I would expect if I were reading a real non-fiction book. And further, things escalated in a way that got me really puzzled and curious to discover the disclosure, that, for me, was utterly satisfying!
Thanks NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC.

Man oh man, where to begin? I finally got around to reading Daisy Jones & the Six and was really intrigued by the format. Enter The Last Revival of Opal & Nev… I could not get enough of this book. It delves into the creation, unraveling, and revival of music duo Opal & Nev. You get to hear from the wide cast of characters that made up their musical inner circle, as well as learn about Sunny, the journalist with a deeper connection to Opal, who is compiling their story in “present day.” You’re left feeling as though you really know the characters and that you’ve actually taken the ride alongside them. It’s a topical, at times funny, emotional, and shocking take on our world.

This one is bit like Daisy Jones and the Six in that I truly believed Opal and Nev were real rock stars. I loved the oral history style and think that this made the novel seem even more real. The topics of sexism and racism that are shown over a 50 year time span just show how much work we have to do in both areas. The tragic loss of Jimmy is reminiscent of the George Floyd murder in that it was witnessed by so many and no justice was served. I wish that I could listen to an original Opal and Nev recording. The journalism piece brought to us by SarahLena was an interesting way for the reader to be inquisitive. I loved her character but wish we knew more about her. I highly recommend this one. I thank Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Written in the same style as the ever popular "Daisy Jones and the Six," "The Final Revival of Opal and Nev" delves into the story of how a skinny Black girl from Detroit and a red haired, pale as can be, singer/songwriter from Britain team up to form an unlikely Afro-punk/rock 'n roll duo in the late 1970s. The story is of their meteoric rise to fame following a disastrous concert and infamous photo. Never achieving the desired attention for their music, they disbanded, with Opal Jewel melting into obscurity while Nev Charles ascended to fame. As Nev's illustrious and award winning career begins to wane, rumors of a possible reunion show reach the new editor of music magazine Aural, S. Sunny Shelton. Told through journalistic interviews and notes from the editor, our narrator Sunny tells the story of a singer who did not have a prosperous career, but whose voice still speaks to later generations and remains just as important and vital now as it did back when few first heard her songs.

I loved this book. It is well written and told from multiple perspectives, touching on a cultural smorgasbord of topics relevant in both the 1970s and today, including race, identity, speaking up for what you believe in. By taking us from the 1970s to 2016, the reader can see just how little progress has been made in the intervening years, and just how much farther we have to go. I did feel like the book dragged towards the 2/3 point, because I was ready for the build up to the actual reunion show to be over, and to see if everything the narrator learned and sacrificed was worth it in the end for her "novel."

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an e-ARC of the book. All opinions are my own.

Great book for fans of Daisy Jones & The Six. This was a BOTM pick and if you can get it through that service or from a bookstore or library then I would totally suggest it. If you are a fan of music history and books about music then you will enjoy this novel.

What an amazing book this one is. 

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton tells the story of Opal Jewel, half of the titular 70’s punk rock duo. Opal is a young, dynamic Black woman, discovered during an open-mic night by an up-and-coming British singer named Nev Charles. The career they embark on together is just getting started when they are thrust in the middle of an Altamont-type confrontation that changes the lives of many and cements their place in history.

Now, 40 years later, the story of Opal and Nev is being told through interviews to a reporter whose father was lost that fateful night. On the verge of a reunion concert and possible tour, the interviews threaten to expose secrets kept hidden for decades.

It will be impossible for almost any review of this book to not draw comparisons to Daisy Jones and the Six after that book’s incredible success. Both tell stories of 70’s rock bands and the strong women who front them. And both are written as an oral history told to a strangely similar source.

But.

Make no mistake—this is it’s own story. It is about the music and the personalities, yes, but it is also about the constant struggle that Opal faces as a Black female both in the music industry and in the country as a whole. Through the lens of the interviews looking back and narration told in 2016—just prior to the election—it is a gut punch of a story about how the more things change the more they stay the same and how far we have to go.

The characters are vibrant and strong and feel so real you will wish you could just Spotify their music and pull up photos of Opal’s stunning outfits.

My only criticism is that I felt like the story dragged JUST A BIT in the second half, but it was not enough to stop me from reading it in 2 days.

This one will stick with me.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon&Schuster for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev is so well written that I thought it was a true story. Sammy an editor at Aurel, a music magazine wants to find information on a musical group from the 70’s and ‘s. Supposedly her father, the drummer of the group had an affair with Opal while Sammy’s mother was pregnant with her. Opal is a young Black Girl from Chicago while Nev is a young man from England. Nev tours the stateslooking for just the girl to be his partner., finally finding Opal a gospel singer. The novel is narrated by various characters as Sammy interviews those people who can tell her about her father and Nev and Opal’s early career. Some of the characters were very relatable and funny. All were well written. The:music business was explored but did not overwhelm the story. I just can’t believe this wasn’t a biography.

Two years ago, I read and loved Daisy Jones and the Six. It was the first book I'd ever read that was written in an oral history style and when I finished it, I wanted more stories told in that manner. So when I saw that The Final Revival of Opal & Nev was being compared to Daisy Jones, I couldn't add it to my TBR list fast enough. They are similar in that they are both about a musical group or duo from the past, and their story of fame to fade out (all that happens in between and some after) is told in an oral history style, but other than that, they are very different.

Opal & Nev were a (fictional) duo from the 60's; a white British man and a Black American woman, quite the odd pair, but together they just clicked on stage. We know from the start that they survived something terrible and tragic at a concert, and that decades later, they are planning a reunion concert and possible tour. A journalist who has a close personal connection to their past is writing a book about them to coincide with the concert. The details unfold as mentioned above, in oral history style (as answers to unspoken questions in an interview), and also in excerpts from the book that is being written. There are many real celebrities and actual historical events mentioned throughout, which helps make it all seem real. Just as I did when I read Daisy Jones, I almost found myself wondering if Opal & Nev were actually real performers.

The first third of the book was a little bit slow - not boring, I wanted to keep reading, but just a slow burn. After that, it picked up the pace and I had a hard time putting it down. The chapters that covered the tragic events at the concert were riveting and heart wrenching. Many topics are timely; racism, gender inequality, privilege, violence, and so on. As I mentioned, the book spans decades, from the 60's when Opal and Nev first met all the way to 2016, when the reunion concert takes place. And it serves to show just how far we haven't come in regards to racial issues.

I recommend this book to those who enjoyed the style of Daisy Jones and the Six, though of course this book is different - maybe a bit deeper. I personally loved that about it, and if not for the slower start, and an ending that felt a little bit rushed after all that buildup, I would give it a full 5 stars.

My thanks to #netgalley and #Simon&Schuster for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I wanted to love this - I did. For anyone who loved similar stories told in a long magazine type interview way - or ones that are looking for a story with substance and backstory and are relevant now, then you'll probably love this.

I just wasn't a fan of the style of writing. It feels disconnected and I didn't like the huge author notes. I still think a novel type telling, especially with the daughter's POV, would have been much more compelling and I would have felt her shock and anger as she learned the secrets she searched for. I did like the peak into 1970's music scene and I did find many parts funny.

Interesting oral history story about a famous band and those involved. I didn’t love this as much as I hoped but it would be one I recommend.

What I liked

The Final Revival was told in a series of flashbacks from many narrators, like Daisy Jones & The Six, which it is often comped to. I find this storytelling technique the most fun in audio form, but it’s always enjoyable, especially when the author does it well. Dawnie Walton gives each individual character (and there are dozens!) their own distinct voice.

I really thought it was real, for a moment. Even though I knew it was fiction from the start, I did take a moment to google Opal Jewel, because I thought, just maybe, it might be real. That’s when I knew this book would be good. (I did end up not loving it as much as I expected to, but it continued to be well-written throughout.)

The Final Revival deals with racism in the music industry and in the United States as whole on almost every page, and Walton does an excellent job contrasting “the way it used to be” and our modern era. (The modern narration was set in 2016, so, what a year.) For those who think that we’ve come so far, this is a really educational education on the simple fact that we have not.

What I didn’t like

In Daisy Jones & The Six, we learn at the very end that the narrator has a personal connection to the story. (I won’t spoil that in case you haven’t read it.) But in The Final Revival, S. Sunny Shelton reveals her connection very early on – which I appreciated, because it makes a lot of sense as to why she’s writing the story. What I cared for less was the many personal interludes and editor’s notes inserted in the narration. It messed up the pacing for me.

Pacing, in general, kept me from loving this book. There are long stretches where it feels like nothing is happening, and then a lot of action condensed in a few pages. I think that can be the weakness of a story told through interviews, because “subjects” have the opportunity to ramble.

If you like that, you’ll like this

Daisy Jones & The Six, obviously.

Fictional rock and roll bands on tour. Or real ones!

Journalist main characters.