The Girl with the Sagittarius Tattoo's Reviews > The Ballad of Perilous Graves

New Orleans, Louisiana is a very, very special place for me. My husband brought me there for our first date (to convince me to go, he also invited my friend and her husband). I have never been there during Mardi Gras - believe me, you aren't missing anything if you haven't, either. The party goes on year-round. We go for the food, the music, the art and the culture, and we avoid Bourbon Street like the plague (yes, it actually smells like death).

In The Ballad of Perilous Graves, three children, Peaches, Brendy and Perilous (Perry for short), are attuned to the city in amazing ways. Peaches is especially sensitive to its magic, drawing the two siblings into supernatural adventures that are more and more dangerous. Some of these involve mind-altering 3D graffiti, haints, and dead cabs driven by sapient nutria - giant orange buckteeth and all.

And that doesn't begin to scratch the surface of how weird this book is.

The truth is, I loved this book for all its real-world locations, jazz and blues music shout-outs, and honest to God love for the city woven into the fabric of the story - warts and all. We all have a hometown or special city we hold in our hearts, don't we? Readers will absolutely recognize that and identify with the writer's sense of place, even if their own isn't NOLA. Alex Jennings does an amazing job capturing that feeling in every single line.

BUT... does there have to be so many lines? Gawd, this book felt long. As much as I enjoyed it, it could have used a stringent beta reading with no feelings spared. Too many characters and plotlines made the story feel confusing at times, and choppy with so many different things happening. To be brutally honest, I had to let go of consciously trying to follow along and embrace a more superficial read.

I freely admit I'm a somewhat lazy reader when it comes to busy plots. Others who perhaps read more for content will delve into this and celebrate finding a gem. It's my sincere hope this review doesn't turn people off from reading Perilous, but instead intrigues and challenges them. It deserves plenty of readers.