Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

this book was written in such a convincing/interwoven way that I had to stop myself at several points and be like "no, opal & nev was not an actual musical duo"

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evaverm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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acecatlady's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm not a big music nerd, but I like punk and classic rock and R&B and jazz so this really sort of felt like it fit for me. Like if Opal and Nev were real, I'd love the hell out of them. The cover quote on my copy is Ta-Nehisi Cotes saying that it is one of the most immersive novels he's ever read and... Yeah. I feel that. I kept forgetting they WEREN'T real. Kept thinking I should know their music and their history.

Such a good book with great writing and amazing characters. Massive recommend.

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lochanreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The final revival of Opal & Nev is a fictitious biographical novel about the riotous rise to fame of an oddly compelling interracial Afropunk duo. The story imagines the 70s era music industry as it was but with the coupling of Opal & Nev as part of the canon. The narrative has an interesting interview style structure, encompassing several different testimonies from the artists, producers, industry experts, journalists, such as the main narrator and family members. I thought its style and musicality was conceptualised well and it has a loud activist voice, personified through its boldy daring and confident heroine.

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crodgers90's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

katewhite77's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really recommend consuming this novel via audio if at all possible as I should imagine it's the best way to differentiate between all the different colourful characters featured.

On one level this is very entertaining and upsetting in equal measure spoof aural history of a spoof of a 1970s Anglo American pop duo and on another it says something important about racism sexism and capitalism on both sides of the Atlantic.

I think fans of Daisy Jones and the Six would really like this as they are similar in both Audio and print. I would say The Final Rival of Opal And New has another strand to it though.

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