Rating: 3.5 stars (rounded up)

This is the second book in Morrow's series A Song Below Water. First, I'll say I loved the first book, so was excited to see the sequel.

In the first book, we are introduced to Tavia and Naema, which is primarily about Tavia's experience as a siren. A Chorus Rises is about Naema's journey after the dramatic ending in A Song Below Water. Morrow further develops Naema's character, beyond the girl we met in the first book, by rounding out her personality, exposing her struggles as an Eloko, and how her life experiences impact her understanding and compassion towards others.

Cherise Boothe and Eboni Flowers did excellent work narrating the book.

This is definitely a fun read and continuation of the A Song Below Water story. Like may sequels, I enjoyed the first book more...and also, this is well worth the read.

A Chorus Rises is the sequel to A Song Below Water, but follows a different character. This book is told from the point of view of Naema Bradshaw. In the first book, she was cast as the villain of sorts since she exposed Tavia's secret of being a siren. Naema herself is an Eloko, which means she can sing a song that influences the behavior of others. She doesn't see herself as a villain and this book gives us a chance to see her perspective. After the events in the first book, Naema faces backlash from the press and removes herself from the scene. As she tries to get her life back, she discovers a group online using the hashtag #justicefornaema who is looking to punish others who may be sirens. The problem is all sirens are black girls so Naema sees it as double-bad since it appears to be a front for racist individuals to act on their feelings.

This was a good follow-up to A Song Below Water and while I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first book, it was still a good read. I didn't connect with Naema as much as a main character as I did with those from the first book. I did like that the author used the story to show the dangers of people getting riled up on social media and how there can always be racism lurking even under different guises.

A Chorus Rises by Bethany C. Morrow was a great read. I featured it as Book of the Day on all my social media platforms, and I’ll include it in my monthly roundup of news releases for my Black Fiction Addiction blog.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of ‘A Chorus Rises’ by Bethany C. Morrow. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

I picked this one up immediately after finishing the first book, ‘A Song Below Water.’ I found some elements of ASBW a bit confusing so I wanted to get into the second book while the story was still fresh in my mind. I think there are neat magical elements to this story, but I really wanted more world building in the first. I definitely don’t think ACR can function as a stand-alone without the context provided in the first book.

In the second book we’re following Naema from the first book. She was an antagonist in the first book and starts off the sequel refusing to acknowledge any wrong doings on her part. I didn’t feel as lost starting this book as I did when starting the first book. I loved Naema’s interactions with her family and Courtney has my whole heart. I adored him!

After reading this book I wonder if I should reread the first book at some point to see if it makes more sense. I did like this book better than the first. It was captivating to see the world through Naema’s eyes as she tries to tell her side of the story. She’s not the most likeable character but she’s definitely interesting and I enjoyed her story. She also had a great character voice in how she phrased things.

4/5 stars

I will admit that I STRUGGLED to like Naema’s character at the top of this story. The way she treated Tavia and Effie in ASBW made her a tough character to sympathize with, yet Marrow does a really lovely job building her world. The books is basically about the aftermath of Naema being turned to stone and has a wonderful message about bullying and standing in your truth without bringing others down. The plot is not action-driven, so it’s a bit slow in moments.

NOTE : I hadn't realised this was a sequel to A Song Below Water, so a special thank you to the reviewers who suggested reading ASBW first. Definitely do that, if you want to understand the context! 😂👌

This book speaks strongly of race, privilege, and the importance of family, but in a different way than its predecessor does.

But okay, TBH I almost DNFed this book a few times. Naema is just SO annoying, entitled, and just plain insufferable. I have to say though, the audiobook narrator did an AMAZING job bringing her character to life! Almost too much, actually 🤣

I enjoyed the combination of mixed media chapters and Naema's POV. I did feel like the magical realism was less present in this one, and there was definitely not as much action. It's more about Naema's path to come to terms with what happened at the end of ASBW (although I wish her obvious PTSD had been explored more) and some noticable character growth.

Also, did I hear Naema describing a non-binary cousin at some point??

This book is a sequel and I highly recommend reading the first one before reading this one to gain a better understanding of the characters but it can be read as a stand alone story. The fantasy world feels so real and is set in a realistic present day Portland and a small town in the Southwest. The characters are engaging from the start and make you want to find out what will happen to Naema and if she will recover from the stoning. The aspect of her ancestors speaking to her once she is away from her busy life and social media and around her family is such a great part of the story. The books is just as much about current racism and bias as it is a magical story in a fantasy world. I love that Naema comes to realize that her privilege as an Eloko does not mean that she isn't also a Black girl and that she will need to help make sure that other Black girls are not harmed in her name. It also showcases the downfalls of social media and how it can be used to radicalize white terrorist. The audio version was engaging and enjoyed the voice throughout the recording.

When I downloaded A Chorus Rises, I didn’t realize it was a sequel, and I think that made my experience with this book very different than if I had I read the first book (A Song Below Water). And, unlike some books, this sequel is definitely not a standalone.

When I first started listening to this book, I felt like I was dropped into the middle of the story (because, well, I was). I couldn’t figure out what an Eloko was and why they were so privileged in Portland.

As I kept listening to A Chorus Rises, I was able to get my head around the magic and the story, but it wasn’t until about half way through the book before I felt like I understood what was happening.

I really hated Naema - she is such a self centered and self-obsessed character. Many of her thoughts circled around herself first and she rarely thought about other people’s thoughts or feelings.

I almost DNF’d this, not because I felt lost in the story, but because of Naema’s character alone. The story itself touches on important topics of privilege and class, as well as social media influence in our culture.

I purchased A Song Below Water in audio to read the first and second back to back. I loved the setup of these novels but something just seemed like it was missing. Almost like the message out weighed the story. I really wanted to love this story.

I would still recommend this book to students because it was a unique way of addressing some important topics that need to be discussed.

I was so excited for this book, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for it to be. I loved A Song Below Water, and when I saw this sequel focuses on Naema, who is arguably the villain of the first book, I was really intrigued.

While I do love the growth that Naema goes through in this book, she's still that mean girl. Maybe I knew too many mean girls in school myself, but I just couldn't get behind Naema as a protagonist. She's still extremely self-centered through most of this book, even as she's coming to some realizations about what it means to be "eloko first" versus her identity as a black woman. There is so much rich commentary here about race and privilege, internet fame, who is given a "voice" and why... It's just frustrating that we need to wade through chapters and chapters of Naema's pettiness and selfishness to get there. I just... I can't get behind someone who is like "I'm spoiled and I own that. So what?" Bleh. I did, however, ADORE Naema's relatives, and her cousin Courtney is what kept me reading much of the time.

I listened to an audiobook version narrated by Cherise Boothe and Eboni Flowers. Cherise Booth does an amazing job of conveying Naema as our narrator, and I love that she gives each character their own unique voice. She really made it easy to fully immerse myself in the book. Eboni Flowers narrates the inter-chapter mixed media parts and also does an amazing job. 5 stars for the narration.

This is the second book in the A Song Below Water series, and while I'm seeing it billed as a stand-alone I think you really need to read A Song Below Water to get the full effect of this book.

This was FANTASTIC. The perfect sequel to A Song Below Water, and exactly right. Naema is so much herself and (mostly) unapologetic about it. I needed this book to personally check myself and learn something. And sometimes redemption arcs just aren't necessary, you know?

I really enjoyed this. A Song Below Water was filled with magic so i was expecting more of that in this but there was a lot less. It had a different kind of magic though, a young woman coming into her own and finding her voice. I loved watching Naema learn her true power.

I loved getting to know Naema better and see her interactions with her friends and family. She's a very real character who's stubborn and witty, albeit also bratty and angry. I loved loved Courtney, he might be my favourite character from the book.

I loved the addition of mixed media, it kept the story rooted in reality for me, having a separate narrator for these parts was really smart and worked very well. The story covers real world topics like racism and privilege, and handles them very well.

The audio was fantastic. Both narrators gave great performances.

A Chorus Rises is the sequel to A Song Below Water and I really liked it.

To start with the narration was INCREDIBLE. I just have to mention how this book is (kinda) mixed media. It features social media posts and they are narrated very well and I was never confused about who was texting and posting. I didn't like this book as much as ASBW because I missed having the magical elements more in play. I felt that this book was very fun to read but there wasn't much of a payoff. But it was fun and I was very happy to read again about these characters

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Audio Comments:

Great audio. Both narrators were excellent. Loved having a different narrator for the mixed media portions. Naema's narrator truly brought her character to life. She was Naema to me by the end of the story. Very well done!!

Full Review:

After the explosive conclusion to A Song Below Water, teen influencer, Naema Bradshaw finds herself for the first time vilified in the public eye. As an Eloko, a magical being beloved by all, Naema has been treated as a quasi-celebrity in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, for her entire life.

Now pegged as the mean girl who outed classmate, Tavia, as a Siren, Naema is getting dragged in social media channels where she has always been respected and adored. Once a movie releases purporting to tell the true story behind Tavia, her sister, Effie, and the event known as The Awakening, Naema only sees hostility towards her increase.

Growing more and more frustrated with her current situation and the fact that no one seems to understand her side, Naema decides to leave town. Heading South, Naema goes to stay with extended family that she never sees. This trip is actually her first time leaving Portland and the bubble she has created there for herself.

Greeted at the airport by her cousin Courtney, Naema can tell immediately from his reaction to her, that life is going to be very different outside of Portland. Her family couldn't care less about her Eloko status. She'll be treated just like everyone else; loved and cherished, but for herself, not for her Elokoness.

It is once she is separated from all the noise in Portland, that Naema is finally able to channel the connection to her ancestors and discover the true power of her voice. This story was interesting and a tough one to rate. I really had to consider it once I was done.

We only get Naema's perspective in this book, whereas the first book followed both Tavia and Effie. This one does incorporate a lot of mixed media, however, and I always enjoy that. It makes the overall story feel more realistic in my opinion.

The bulk of the story focuses on Naema coming into her own. We really get to deep dive into her world. While there is still an underlining examination of privilege, race, social media and the experience of black women in America, I didn't feel that coming through quite as strongly in this volume as in the first. It's definitely still here, it's just overshadowed a bit by Naema's day-to-day.

As far as Naema goes. I really enjoyed her perspective a lot. She is snarky, strong-willed, stubborn and funny. I loved her interactions with Courtney and the rest of her family. I can see why some people may be put off by her, she can seem a bit of a princess at times, however, I think she feels real. She is a product of her environment, but once removed from Portland, she was able to grow and evolve as a character, which we love to see.

I think Morrow created an important and timely story with both of these books. I would recommend them to anyone who enjoys YA Contemporary stories with Fantastical elements that tackle real life issues. Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Teen and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I will definitely be picking up future work from this author!

Don't know what else I expected when the mean girl gets her own book. I brought this on myself, really.

!!Mild A Song Below Water spoilers ahead!!

A Chorus Rises is the companion novel to A Song Below Water. While this is a standalone, I recommend reading the first book to truly understand the events and emotions that play out here. It's been a year since I read ASBW, but I thought this did a great job of refreshing me. A year on, Naima Bradshaw is upset about a lot of things, namely the gaps in the story being told of her, Tavia the siren and Effie the gorgon. She was turned to stone last year on Tavia's order, but all anyone sees is her outing the siren on livestream and more. While Tavia's celebrity has skyrocketed with a movie of her story newly released, Naima's platform and status as an Eloko has taken a hit, and she only knows one way forward. She's out to set the record straight and show the world who Tavia really is.

Straight up, a lot of my thoughts about this book boil down to Naima being the main character. She is ... not a very likeable person. I was not a fan of her in ASBW, and being in her head did not change that. She is very self-centered, vain and rather petty, but she at least knows this. It's who she is. There is a big heart under all that attitude and snark, yes, but it was buried a little too deep for her to endear herself to me. I get that she went through a time in the last year, being one of Effie's stoning victims, but I was not into the pity-party for one. Most of the book, I found her to be constantly griping about Tavia this, Effie that, I am the true victim here. Essentially the queen bee has been dethroned and she can't take it.

Likewise, the character development throughout this book didn't do it for me. At what point was I supposed to like Naima? I so badly wanted to root for her but she made it so hard with her personality. At one point, I thought I was only a quarter of the way through the audiobook because of where she was in her character arc, and was shocked to find I was just past the 65% mark. And nothing truly interesting happens until three quarters through, when we start piecing together the smaller things and there are serious implications to deal with. It was disappointing that it took so long for the story to evolve into something to kick start the main character's change.

As with ASBW, there are tough discussions of race, being Black enough, and weaponizing racism. And as with it's predecessor, these conversations were thought-provoking and well done once they finally came into play with the story as a whole. However, the Black girl magic that shone before was really missing here. There was a lot of heart and love and an incredible layering of themes in the first book with the two sisters discovering who they were. Here, it barely came up. Perhaps that is because Naima already knows she is as an Eloko and has been celebrated for it for years. There is little for her to find out about herself in that respect. That said, I'm still not entirely sure what an Eloko can do. They have a trill that people love to hear, but is that all it is? Am I missing something more?

I really enjoyed A Song Below Water and had high hopes for this companion novel. Unfortunately, the main character did not let me embrace her version of the story.

***I received an uncorrected proof of this ebook from netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

“I am still Naema Bradshaw. Whatever you think you know about what I can or will do, I promise, you don’t.”†

I loved A Song Below Water, and I was a little apprehensive about this sequel because I could not stand Naema in the first book. Unfortunately… she wasn’t much better for the majority of this one. Naema is very much an angry/ bratty teenage girl. She’s the token, self-professed mean girl who's drowning in Eloko privilege. I had a hard time feeling bad about her being temporarily turned to stone, and then “cancelled” (anonymously) on social media for outing Tavia.

A Chorus Rises was Morrow’s chance to get the reader to understand both sides of victimhood, which are endlessly complex between race/ species/ privilege/ gender- especially in the age of social media. Unfortunately, it took far too long for the author to get me on Naema’s side. Naema spent the first three-quarters of the book in a woe is me state. She feels like she doesn’t at all deserve to be villainized (which... she does after her disgusting behavior at prom). She both does and doesn’t recognize her privileged position, capitalizing on it often ("I am Eloko first."†) while simultaneously refusing to recognize the sheer atrocity of the acts she committed at the end of book 1.

“What we’re not gonna do is start thanking our attackers for our personal growth.”†

Okay, that is an absolutely iconic line… (but, again, Naema calling Tavia her “attacker” is a bit much, imo… ). While I do think Naema deserved some karmic retribution and is being a bit over-dramatic with her self-perceived role as victim… this is also the turning point in the book where Naema recognizes her privilege and uses it for good (for once). Unfortunately, this was a bit too little too late for me. I spent so much of this book being annoyed by Naema, I wasn’t able to fully change my opinion on her with the short bit left.

I also didn’t really like her relationship with her boyfriend. It felt flat and unemotional… almost vague. We got Naema’s thought processes, but her boyfriend is basically a blank spot in my head. He seemed like an a*s in book 1, and he doesn’t seem like much of anything in book 2.

The saving grace of this book is Naema’s cousin Courtney. He is a fantastic addition. I only wish he had called out Naema even more than he did.

†must be checked against final text

Smart, Insightful, and Magic. A Chorus Rises looks at race and privilege through the lens of a world where magic exists, but so do many of the struggles and prejudices of today’s society.

I’m not a fan of Naema, and starting a book where she’s the POV character, I worried that either I’d dislike the book because it followed a character I don’t like, or that she’d fall into one of the obvious cliches and miraculously become the kind of heroine you expect. Neither happened. I loved Naema’s snark, and while I missed Effie, I enjoyed Naema’s perspective almost as much. This book got more into the magic of being an Eloko (instead of just the privilege that goes with it) and I really enjoyed seeing more of that. I’m hoping for more books set in that world!!

"I'm never gonna be okay with people trying to erase the rest of who I am. Never again." -From A Chorus Rises

2.5 stars.

Listen. I wanted to adore this book. The cover was beautiful, and I was so totally here for the idea of magical black girls as a way to examine privilege. I was so excited to read this whole storyline. But this MC. She has a type of entitlement mixed with teenage chip on her shoulder snobbery that I almost want more bad things to happen to her. This was made SO much worse by the tone the narrator used to voice the entire book. My ears are still ringing from the angsty conceited prose I suffered through. Maybe it would have been better to just read the physical copy, but I won’t be able to get that voice out of my head now; and the character ARC happened way too late.

I received a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest opinion.

I need to start this review by saying I requested this from NetGalley based on the cover and the blurb. I like to go into books blind and as such didn't realize this was book 2 until I was a decent ways in and didn't have book 1 available to start over. By that point I had pretty much figured out the world that would have been built in book 1 so I decided to continue. This book is billed as being able to be read as a stand-alone and while it can be I think having the background of the world-building and understanding the references back would have helped with clarity especially early on.

With that said I would give this a 3.5 rounded up as a stand-alone. Honestly had I read book 1 I may not have picked this up as I probably would not have wanted to read about such a self-absorbed MC.

Naema's popularity is on a downward spiral and she's being cut out of her magical network after the incident from book 1. She decides her best course of action is to get away from magic-rich Portland for her first ever family reunion in the Southwest. There she connects with families and starts to learn what is really important.

While she's struggling to find her new voice in the world she finds a new radical group of her supporters. She must navigate this new group to find their purpose and help get to the bottom of their mission.

I feel like I need to address the obvious first since I’ve seen this in many, if not most, reviews. Naema is not exactly likeable for a good portion of this book. She’s an unapologetic ‘mean girl’ with a serious chip on her shoulder and a lot of growing up to do. But seriously. While reading, remind yourself that 1. She has EVERY reason to be completely 110% pissed off and bitter about what she has been through, and is still going through. Especially since 2. She’s a teenager! I don’t know if anybody remembers what it’s like to be a teenager but it sucks. And I don’t know if you remember what you were like as a teenager but you probably sucked just a little bit, too.

The lessons about race, identity, and prejudice in these books are SPOT ON and I like that Naema was mad and her sorry-not-sorry attitude becomes a strength as she grows throughout the book. I do think the author dragged out the angry, bitter bits in the beginning. Not because it was unfounded, but because it felt redundant after a while. And then there was not nearly enough time devoted to all the realizations and fighting back at the end. She could have cut back on the angst and spent more time on the justice. Plus, like the first book, very little was wrapped up at the end. The result of that with the first book, for me at least, was that without a conclusion at all, I forgot where the story ended, exactly what had happened, and was lost for a good portion of this book, left wishing there was a “previously on” like in tv shows. You can leave room for a sequel without just leaving things entirely unfinished. In the end. I also think the world building could use work- I still don’t fully understand how this world works and it’s confusing. I still enjoyed the first book more, but I’m excited to see where this story goes from here.

Thank you NetGalley, author, and publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.