Shelf Awareness MAX Shelf: Alex Jennings offers readers a fantastical, musical imagining of New Orleans in The Ballad of Perilous Graves, as three children are tasked with saving the city they love after the nine songs that keep it thriving are stolen by an evil power.

In this dreamlike place--not truly New Orleans, but Nola--live Perilous "Perry" Graves; his sister, Brendy; and Peaches, his best friend (and adolescent crush), who lives across the street in an abandoned house she's filled with animals. These three are tasked by a haint named Doctor Professor (a nod to the notable New Orleans blues artist Professor Longhair) to save the city by rescuing nine threatened songs that form the heartbeat of Nola.

This quest morphs into a twisted, dark adventure, complete with dips into alternate realities, embodied songs that walk and talk, and a terrifying villain who will stop at nothing to squash the heart of the city in which he is entrapped.

The premise of The Ballad of Perilous Graves is as simple and as complicated as that, offering space for Jennings to build out a world that is at once deeply rooted in New Orleans history ("this is a jazz city through and through!") and entirely steeped in imagination. Residents drop everything and dance on the hoods of their cars whenever Doctor Professor appears with his magical piano and starts playing in the streets; graffiti walk out of murals and into the air, followed by packs of Paintbodies (something akin to groupies) seeking out the contact high these painted figures offer; zombie-like characters drive cabs over to the Dead Side of Town and no one blinks an eye. Perhaps most importantly, songs in this world are living, breathing things, as capable of being murdered at point-blank range as they are of inspiring a crowded dance hall with their musical abilities. "That's the thing about music," explains Perry's grandfather. "It can destroy as much as it creates. It's wild and powerful, dig?"

There's a moment near the middle of The Ballad of Perilous Graves when a person is trying to retrieve something from a locked car during a flooding storm. In struggling to get into the car, he recalls a quote about walking in the rain, "Something about how when sudden showers blow up, people run, take cover, trying to avoid getting wet, got wet anyhow. But if one were to resolve from the beginning to just be soaked, perplexity would evaporate." While it's a small moment in the novel's plot arc, this line proves key to unlocking the mastery across the pages of Jennings's debut novel. The more a reader can let go of expectations and just fall into the strangeness of the story of Perry and his friends, the less perplexing it becomes, as the incredible, rich, vivid world of magical and musical Nola emerges.

The intersection and overlap of that magic and music sing across every page of The Ballad of Perilous Graves, both literally and figuratively, as Perry, Brendy and Peaches come to understand the magic of music and the music of magic. "Thass magic baby, pure and simple," crows the ghost of Doctor Professor to the three. "Jazz, baby... Potentest sorcery in all of Nola." As they come to appreciate both their own powers and those that run through the city on their quest to save the nine songs that make Nola what it is, they encounter music at every turn: in jazz clubs and dance halls, in the streets and at home, in their memories and the future city they want to not just rescue, but build. Jennings draws on the rich musical traditions of New Orleans throughout, with references to artists and songs pivotal to the city's music history.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves is in no way a children's story, though the three unlikely protectors in this story are children, tasked with saving their city when the adults around them are unable or uninterested in doing so. The themes underlying Jennings's incredible worldbuilding are ones of darkness and deceit, desperation and determination. The disconnect between the ages of the protagonists and the trials they must face, however, feels intentional throughout. It's an invitation to readers to see the world of possibilities as a child might, and to acknowledge the complexities inherent within those possibilities. That's the magic of the music in Jennings's stunning novel. It's an ode to a city, to an art form, to an age--all wrapped up in a surreal work of speculative fiction that introduces readers to an entirely new and complex society while simultaneously inviting a re-introduction to the world as we (think we) know it. --Kerry McHugh

Know what's really magical in this book? That every character easily finds a parking space in New Orleans! Have you ever tried parking in the Big Easy? It ain't easy.

I found Mr. Jennings book, The Ballad of Perilous Graves, to have some highly imaginative characters and situations. A ghost piano that shows up unexpectedly followed by the ghost piano player. The P-people who get high by breathing in 3-D graffiti. Nightclubs that are visible only to artists seeking answers. Two versions of New Orleans existing in two different planes, unknown to each other.

Therein lies the only problem I had. There are so many characters, and so many situations, sometimes I had trouble figuring out in which dimension each was located at any given time. Some of the characters were alive, some dead, some were songs that looked like humans, and I'd lose track of who was what and where. That could have been me, the reader, though. Goodnight Moon has been known to baffle me with only two characters. in one room.

I was attracted to The Ballad of Perilous Graves because I love New Orleans. The fact that two of them existed initially confused me. (See Goodnight Moon.) I really thought the city constructed Sky Trolleys after the last time I was there (some kind of monorail, I figured) until I realized this was in the NOLA, the sorta not real dimension. If any city planners in the Cresent City are reading this, Sky Trolleys are a good idea.

Like many fantasies, there's a lot of world building, a lot of characters, a lot of figuring out who belongs where, and it's fairly long. If you like the weird and the imaginative, this is a fine book but can be tricky reading. Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette for allowing me to read and review The Ballad of Perilous Graves.

Thanks to Net galley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review. Overall, this book is pretty good...it portrays the magical city of New Orleans in a way I've never read before. The reason that this book is getting 3 stars instead of 4, is because some of the narrative was going every which way, and it only tied to together at the almost very end. The characters were compelling and interesting and felt real, the way magic is wielded by music and drawing is creative.

I gave this book 100 pages. I hated every page. I can't stand reading a book written in slang or broken English or whatever you want to call it. It takes away from the story. I will not be finishing this book.

I will start off by saying a lot of this novel did go over my head. I don't entirely blame the plot, or the writing, or the author. There are just some books that are too much for me to fully grasp on a first read, and this book definitely had those moments. But that doesn't mean I couldn't recognize how smart, how clever, and how creative "The Ballad of Perilous Graves" is.

Alex Jennings did a great job weaving fantasy and real-world, as well as using the culture / history of New Orleans to build the story. The magical elements are also SO well done. I've read a decent number of novels that have magic and a lot of what Jennings did was unique and something I've never seen before (the graffiti and P-bodies especially caught my attention.)

The novel is mostly character driven, three of our main ones being children. Throughout the book, we are reminded that grownups are just big kids pretending to know what they're doing, which I cannot disagree with. I think using children as the driving force and the main heroes of the story makes it something different than it would have been otherwise. Sometimes, as a reader, you forget they're children, but then there are these significant, vulnerable moments where we are reminded. I found these sections to be incredibly poignant, a little sad, but so so important.

There is a lot of world building, history, and character introductions in the beginning that did drag a bit, and also I feel is what set me up to be confused more than I should have been. Of course, everything (mostly) comes together in the end, but it wasn't until about 25% of the way in that the story started to move and I was more invested.

This is not going to be a book for everyone. And not everyone who reads it is going to like it. Know ahead of time that the writing style is very specific and sorting through dialogue / the accents does take some getting used to. Keeping track of the characters, their various roles, the time frame, and the overall backstory of the worlds is also a little exhausting.

I suspect I would need to reread the book again in order to understand it a little better. I am looking forward to more people reading it in the future and seeing everyone's thoughts / feelings about it. Because it will be one of those books that generate really good conversation.

The Ballad of a Perilous Graves is a deep soak into a world of magic deeply influenced by New Orleans. The reader is quickly submerged past the tour bust or honeymoon versions of New Orleans and into something that is distinctly Black, Cajun/Creole, and can practically have your toes tapping to the sounds of the Jazz you are hearing in your head.

While disorienting or even chaotic at times, the multiple perspectives and even multiverse nature start to feel a bit like Jazz themselves as the novel progresses. If you love New Orleans (I lived for a time in Gentilly), love music, or love the supernatural, do yourself a favor and check out this book!

I have never read anything quite like this before. Super fun and interesting. The writing style was, forgive me, lyrical but also made me have to slow down and really pay attention. Love this so much--rich and imaginative and will stick with you for a long time.

I struggled to get into this book. I think it took to long to get to the magical part/the search for the nine songs.

“That’s the thing about music, about a symphony: destruction, war, peace, and beauty all mixed up, ya heard?…It can destroy as much as it creates. It’s wild and powerful, dig?”

It’s impossibly difficult to describe the plot of this book. Suffice it to say that this is the story of a fantastical version of New Orleans, magic, music, spirits, family, and a fight to save a city.

This is a book for everyone who has ever fallen in love—into a deep and profound love—with the city of New Orleans, whether you’ve visited or have only thought of it with a sharp sense of longing. Because inside the pages of this novel, New Orleans lives, breathes, and yes, works its magic on all who turn its pages.

Alex Jennings might write about magic, but he also employs it effortlessly to create masterfully crafted characters, a captivating setting, a haunting tone, and a lingering mood. This is how books should be written. I’m in awe of what I’ve just read. Bravo!

As a quick word of warning, it may take a minute for you to grasp what you’re reading, but be patient. Relax, and enjoy the journey. Allow the power of it to seep into your pores. Soon, you’ll succumb to the beauty of it all. It’s a very special story, indeed.

"Music might be the most powerful magic in Nola…"

The Ballad of Perilous Graves offers a fascinating premise of magic written inside of music, and serves up a perfectly atmospheric New Orleans setting to go with it, complete with all of the culture, lore, and mystique that Nola has to offer.

I tend to love magical realism, science fiction, and urban fantasy, and everything about this book (from the title to the description to the fabulous cover!) drew me in. Conceptually, I expected Perilous Graves to wow me. But in reality, I didn’t love it the way I wanted to.

There was a disjointed feel throughout much of the book, like it wasn’t fully finished, or like some important context was somehow missing, and I felt like I had missed key information somewhere. The unique dialect spoken by many of the on-page characters only made me feel even more confused.

There will certainly be readers out there who love this one (probably those who lean toward young adult content, as this feels a little closer to YA than adult), but it wasn't a hit for me.

——

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

New Orleans, zombies, ghosts, graveyards, magic, music, trees that talk and so much else. All of this and more readers will enjoy immensely in The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings.

Perry Graves, the protagonist, is a sweet and somewhat naïve native New Orleanian who, along with his younger sister, has been through some things in his time. He’s about to undergo more. He has a crush on a girl, Peaches, who lives down the street, and goes to a place called Dryades Academy for school. He initially sees a parade with a character he recognizes from television, Doctor Professor, but there’s more to it than it seems at first. Perry’s grandfather, Daddy Deke (Deacon), unveils a world completely unbeknownst to him before. He encounters paintbodies, which are like zombies, but worse… he doesn’t know much about magic or spirits, but gets heaps more than he wanted as the novel goes on. And in case that isn’t enough to tickle your fancy, music lovers will be delighted to find that both Stagger Lee and Jelly Roll Morton play a part in this novel. I’m not going to say more because I don’t want to spoil anything, but as I was reading, the excitement was palpable.

The dialects of the characters throughout are so unique, and in many places, The Ballad of Perilous Graves is such a funny book with so much heart. But there’s a serious, darker side to things as well. When we meet another viewpoint character, Casey Bridgewater, we see a completely different side of New Orleans—the parts that aren’t in the travel brochures and tourism videos. Jennings takes readers from places like Carondelet, one of my favourite streets, to Frenchman Street, the Marigny Brasserie, and so many other distinctive places. This is why the book called to mind for me a fusion of The Princess and the Frog with the gritty HBO television series Tremé.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves, the debut novel by Alex Jennings, comes out on June 21, 2022. Redhook Books provided me an early galley in exchange for this honest review.

What instantly attracted me to this book was its wonderful cover and very intriguing title. Just from those two, I knew this was going to be a rather unique story. And the first few chapters definitely confirmed my supposition.

I must admit that the introduction to the world of Nola was a bit disorienting. It is both familiar in some ways and yet also like looking at our own world through a funhouse mirror. It has its own rhythm, its own frequency. It takes a bit to get used to. By contrast, the parts of the book that deal with Casey and his life in New Orleans, in our world, are more grounded and accessible. There is a dichotomy here when the two are put side-by-side, and the transitions back and forth can be jarring. That might be a turnoff for some readers.

The first part of the book is very much set-up - introducing the characters and the worldbuilding. At times, I will admit, it was a bit overwhelming. I was wrestling if whether I was missing symbolism or what. I do, however, enjoy Jennings' love of pop culture which is something we both share. So, I got all of the obscure references. A general audience might not follow them though. By the end of the second part, I realized that this was very much a fantastical urban "super-hero" style adventure which is when it started to click for me.

This is a book that is an acquired taste. It might have to work a bit to find its audience, but the audience for whom it clicks are going to love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I thought that the heart and love put into this makes The Ballad of Perilous Graves really special. It's funny and sharp and a love letter to New Orleans. It was also a very neat take on urban fantasy, and I found that Jennings' NOLA was very lived in. I thought that making the main problem—saving the city from the Storm and also saving its songs—was a very clever way of using things we already associate with the city and turning it into something really interesting.

I liked all of the main characters we were given, and thought they were all valuable to the story, but I also thought at times their story lines became a bit muddled together, especially when the POV would switch during a chapter. The occasional time jumps to the past threw me off guard, but I found that it was usually pretty easy to figure out if it was a flashback bit or not after a couple of sentences. I did spend a fair amount of time confused, if only because I struggled to see how the different threads would all weave together—I thought that for the first two thirds, Casey's story line and Perry + Brendy + Peaches' story line felt fairly separate—but it did all come together by the end, you've just got to work for it a bit harder than some other books (but I found the payout worth it).

All in all, while I thought some parts were confusing or bloated, I still think this was a good debut, and I'm curious to see what Alex Jennings writes next.

This book was very underwhelming to me. While the magic and the setting were really interesting, I didn’t feel invested in any of the characters (especially Casey who was just…fine) and I felt as though the villain was pretty cheesy.

This book was so high- energy, it was honestly unlike anything I have read before. The world and the characters were so richly imagined and really vivid within the pages of the story, it really felt alive. I will say one thing I had a bit of a hard time with was the pacing of the plot--it felt a bit inconsistent where sometimes we were going really fast and doing a lot and sometimes it was really slow/meandering. I will say, though, that the good outweighs the bad and I would definitely give this one a read!

HIGHLIGHTS
~music is magic
~there’s more than one New Orleans
~family’s always got your back
~friends stand by your side against the Storm
~beware the sack

I started this book excited. By the middle I was confused. By the end, I hated and resented it.

I probably should have DNF-ed it instead of pushing on through, but I was so sure it was going to smooth out and become epic. But while it tapped into some big, mythic-level themes, it was much too complicated, confusing, and over-full to be epic-like-awesome.

Outside, sunlight fell like rain. It was so thick, so powerful that Perry expected it to ring as it bounced onto Esplande Avenue.

What you need to know going into Ballad is that there are two New Orleanses: the New Orleans of our world, and Nola, which is New Orleans but magic, attached to our world as a kind of pocket dimension. The biggest, most frustrating thing about Ballad is that this is not explained or clear for the first half of the book. We jump seemingly at random between a city that has flying trams, zombies, and Mardi Gras beads growing from trees, to the mundane New Orleans (if NO can ever be described as mundane) where we follow a Black trans man named Casey living a pretty normal life with no apparent relevance to the plot going on in the magical city. I had no idea why Casey mattered, and to be honest, I still think his character and plotline could and should have been entirely cut from the book – it’s boring, it doesn’t add to the story, and it’s confusing in context.

In Nola, the magical city, three Black kids – Perry, Brendy, and Peaches – are tasked with tracking down and recovering the Nine Songs that, to keep it short, power Nola. The songs have escaped – or possibly been set free by some dangerous enemy – and are now manifesting in human shape. They have to be gathered together again as quickly as possible for everyone’s safety – including their own. For Perry and Brendy, this means discovering and tapping into the gifts of their bloodline; Peaches, on the other hand, has had superpowers for as long as anyone can remember and is absolutely ready to mess some bad guys up.

Warning bells started going off for me around this point, because the title is The Ballad of Perilous Graves, aka Perry – but although this is definitely a coming-of-age story for Perry, he’s far from the only one doing the hero-ing. Brendy even says as much at one point, saying it’s not fair that for no apparent reason Perry gets the better magic (or at least, what everyone thinks, at that point, is the better magic). Titles are not always up to authors, but whoever’s responsible for it, I side-eye headlining Perry when Brendy and Peaches are a lot more than helpful sidekicks.

“Perry. You ever try to pick up a car?”

“…No.”

“Then how you know you can’t?”

This would probably have been an excellent book if it went ahead like that; the problem is that it doesn’t. Jennings has stuffed this book with PoVs and an enormous cast of secondary characters, far too many for me to keep track of or care much about. Then more and more plot devices and quest objects kept coming out of the woodwork, and with all the music references, it was just too much for me. I was rapidly overwhelmed, which made me shut down and stop caring about any of it. I kept reading because I fell in love with Nola, but I grew more and more disenchanted (hah) with the quest.

“You know what your problem is? When a grown-up tell you something can’t be done, you just believe ’em. Don’t you know ain’t even no such thing as grown-ups?”

“What?”

“There ain’t,” she said. “They’re all just old kids, pretending.

The worldbuilding of Nola was delightful; I loved the sky-trolleys and music-magicians and capital-a Animals, the schools of magic and the zombies! Jennings’ imagination is amazing, and honestly I would have been so much happier if the entire story had taken place in Nola. But even then, Ballad would still feel so unbelievably overfull with things. All of which were individually awesome, but packed in together, there just wasn’t room for them all to shine; I couldn’t appreciate all of it because just as something new and fabulous appeared, we were whisked to the next thing.

And…I remain uncomfortable with who and what the villain turned out to be. I’m the whitest of snowflakes and am therefore not even a little bit qualified to talk about race, but I hope BIPOC reviewers talk about it and weigh in.

One thing I really do have to commend Jennings on, though, is the family. I hate stories where parents or guardians are either oblivious to what’s happening to their kids or just hand-wave it all as fine, but here we have a good number of awesome grown-ups who demand to know why their kids have to be the ones in danger; who step in to protect and assist as much as they can. This isn’t one of those adventures where kids are sneaking around trying to hide what’s going on; their family is a wonderful, strong support network, even if it’s the kids who take center stage.

By the end of Ballad, I was furious with it and desperate for the book to just be over. Writing this review a week and change later, I can acknowledge that there is an enormous amount of awesomeness in this book; Jennings has an incredible imagination and a great prose style, and Ballad is beautifully unique in a genre that tends to play with the same tropes over and over. I’m not surprised other early reviews are glowing, and I will be looking out for more from Jennings in the future.

I love a lot of what it does, but the reading experience was, by the end, awful. I encourage other people to give it a go, though, if it sounds at all interesting to you. I really do think Ballad is something special. Maybe I’ll come back to it in a year and adore it.

For now, it’s three stars.

4/5 Stars on this one, friends.

Ooooee!

The Ballad of Perilous Graves is a riveting, wild, magical ride of an urban fantasy. Chock full of New Orleans charm and mayhem alike, I was happy to get lost (and I was certainly lost some of the time) in the beautiful town of Nola and follow Perry as he risks everything to return the lost songs of power.

Okay, the actual conception of this? Bananas. We switch POVs so often, that it's really hard to wrap your head around what's going on at first. Add in a dialect that you don't often see on the page(Aaamazing), and the fact that you often end up in the heads of children as they try to explain to you their strange and magical world and, well, there might be some turning the pages back and forth. I know this is going to put some people off, and it definitely did for me at first, but I was really glad I pressed on. I won't say I didn't struggle for the first half of the book. I put the book down a few times, unsure if I was going to be able to find my way back in, but I managed every time. And it was worth it.

It was like the silly thrill the Addams Family was met with the native nature of New Orleans—and it really made this story shine. Floating graffiti? Giant rats? Ghosts? Spells and mages and music that evokes power? Listen, the lore of this place is something I need its own book on. I was absolutely enthralled by the way power worked here.

It is usually strange, as an adulty adult, to read through the eyes of a child, but honestly, I think that added to a lot of the magic here. The wonder was still so fresh, even from the gaze of someone who had lived in Nola their whole lives. The way that music was described as its own force of nature; something that could both create and destroy, was so fascinating and I just cannot rant about it more. If you read this book for anything, read it for Nola itself. The plot was shaky at first, but once you find your footing, it's a wonderful and wild ride.

*My thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Book Group for gifting me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A highly energetic books whose characters and prose are as fluid and spirited as the swinging soul of New Orleans from which this story was born. The city is very much alive with the pages of this novel, almost as much a character as Perry or Brendy or Peaches. I'm sad I've never had the chance to visit this city, and when I finally do make it down there I know there will be a small part of me that will be missing the ghosts, zombies, and magic of Jennings' mind The plot and pacing are a bit all over the place, but the strong sense of location, thoughtful dialect, and eclectic cast of characters balances out the story's faults.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Redhook for sharing this digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest review*

A fantasy/paranormal driven book that takes place in Nola, a fantastical version of New Orleans where music is magic. Perry and his sister Brendy need to save their city from a Haint that is chasing down nine personified songs and causing issues to their city.

The book has a large cast of characters, main and minor, and they're all so different and greatly written. It switches POVs between characters, mainly Perry in Nola and Casey in New Orleans. Perry has all the self-doubt of your typical reluctant teenager hero while Brendy is the self-assured little sister. I enjoyed reading about their relationship while they tried saving the world. Peaches, their best friend, rounds out their little group and it was fun reading about her story as it unfolded. Casey, the adult of the group, lives in our version of New Orleans. I was curious to learn how everyone fit into the story and I think Jennings' used a fresh take on it. Of course the city of Nola itself felt like a character as well. It felt fully livid in and I really liked reading about this fantastical version where zombies drove taxis. The slew of other side characters really added to the story but sometimes it was a lot of characters to keep track of.

I think the plot and pacing might be the shakiest part of the book for me. I enjoyed the overall story but it took awhile for the story to get going. Sometimes it was also hard to follow along as the story switches between Nola and New Orleans, jumps between different years, and different characters. At times it was a bit chaotic to digest and keep straight. There were a lot of moving pieces and I did enjoy how they all fit together at the end. Jennings did a great of showing and not telling and I did appreciate that. It's hard to talk in depth about the plot without spoiling the story but it's a hell of a ride.

I felt like this book was a love letter to New Orleans. As someone who has visited New Orleans numerous times and fell in love with it, it was easy to see the love and care that Jennings took for others to see how special it is. The way Jennings described music was so intimate and beautiful to read. New Orleans does feel like a magical place and I loved reading about it in this book.

We didn't get a lot of how the magic system worked in Nola but I loved the fresh spin on the overall magic system in general. It was based on music and I loved that concept. I haven't read anything quite like it and it was super refreshing.

I would recommend this book to most people. It's an imaginative, chaotic, character-driven book with a beautiful take on a new magic system where New Orleans' vibe really shines. If you want a new take on magic or just love New Orleans like I do, you'll definitely want to pick up this book!

I love urban fantasy stories full of interesting characters and settings, so unsurprisingly, I absolutely adored this book!
At first I found all the characters and storylines a little confusing, but I wouldn't say I liked the story less because of that.
I think fantasy fans are going to absolutely love this book!