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A review by anastasiac
A Chorus Rises by Bethany C. Morrow
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
the stoning changed things for Naema who suddenly being cast as the villain. But as she rebuilds again she realizes what it means to use her platform for good.
(I was given this book as a ARC or Advanced Reader Copy given through NetGalley as an audiobook for an honest Review. All of these thoughts are mine and at no point was I pressured or swayed in my opinion)
This book comes out on June 1st.
This is a solid 4.5 stars
I don’t know how the author did it but she did. she made me love Naema. That is to say, she made the antagonist from the first book fun and enjoyable to read while still making her the same character she was in the first book. All of this making this book enjoyable to read.
Naema life has turn itself the wrong way round
After the stoning it’s like she is in an alternate universe as suddenly she is being cast as the villian and being dragged online by her fans for calling out a siren.
And nobody. Not her friends, her boyfriend, or her fellow Eloko seems to understand what she is going through. The stoning affected her. And nobody seems to understand that.
And to sum up that is pretty annoying to deal with.
As she goes about her life things aren’t the way that she wants them to be
Naema isn’t living the life that she wants, but Tavia seems to be living it for her. And that’s just great, I mean the person who got her stoned is getting movie deals and all the attention? While she, the victim is getting dragged on the internet and losing her platform? Yeah that seems fair.
But it’s okay because Naema isn’t going to let that get her down. She is going to rise up. And Tavia? She’ll get what’s coming.
But as she builds her self and platform backup some realizations hit Naema
And that realization? As she starts to build herself up again back up again, the new fans that she is surrounding herself with are starting to become a little suspect.
And when they start to targeting fellow black girls Naema realizes that has to use her platform for good. and doing that? being able to make changes in the world that can actually do some good might actually be the way that Naema wants to go.
The audiobook was great to listen to.
The audio side of listening to this book was great for immersing into the story. This book is narrated by Cherise Boothe and Eboni Flowers and they did the perfect job with this story.
The voice actors brought life to this story. As a result the voice of Naema was perfectly used in a way that fit the character. Able to perfectly portray the character in all her mean girl glory without making her completely hateable in a way that would make me want to quit listening.
And I am not even getting into how the narrators are perfectly able to use the slang that is filled within this book and feel the age that they where. So the audiobook is definitely recomendable.
I Loved Naema even if I kind of hated her at times.
Naema is a perfectly hateable character. For the things that she did in the previous book. And for her self obsessed parts of herself in this book. Though Bethany C. Morrow was able to write Naema in a way that still made her likable and someone that I wanted to succeed in life and grow to be a great person that I felt she could become.
Not to mention that Naema had depth to her that showed more of what she goes through and shows some of the reasons that she grew into the person that she is today. A lot of those reasons? The world that she grew up in.
Speaking of the world
I loved the world in the first book. Filled to the brim with magic and lore that I wanted to sink my teeth into. And this one was just as filled the last one.
In this book we got more insight into the Eloko, who in the first book we saw as the people that everyone couldn’t help but just love.
This book goes more into depth into them as people along their magic. We learned more lore on how there magic works, and into them as people. All of which was a joy to learn.
I mean I am always down for more lore.
The conclusion was also satisfying to say the least
throughout this book I wanted to see Naema grow as a person. I wanted to see Naema be the person that I knew that she could be.
And really, I wanted to see her succeed.
And the ending didn’t disappoint on that front. I loved how it ended and how everything was wrapped up. Everything that I hoped the ending would be? It was that and more.
So if you’re looking for more from A Song Bellow Water that give this book a change. Maybe even pick up the audiobook.
And you can find out where to pick up this book HERE
(I was given this book as a ARC or Advanced Reader Copy given through NetGalley as an audiobook for an honest Review. All of these thoughts are mine and at no point was I pressured or swayed in my opinion)
This book comes out on June 1st.
This is a solid 4.5 stars
I don’t know how the author did it but she did. she made me love Naema. That is to say, she made the antagonist from the first book fun and enjoyable to read while still making her the same character she was in the first book. All of this making this book enjoyable to read.
Naema life has turn itself the wrong way round
After the stoning it’s like she is in an alternate universe as suddenly she is being cast as the villian and being dragged online by her fans for calling out a siren.
And nobody. Not her friends, her boyfriend, or her fellow Eloko seems to understand what she is going through. The stoning affected her. And nobody seems to understand that.
And to sum up that is pretty annoying to deal with.
As she goes about her life things aren’t the way that she wants them to be
Naema isn’t living the life that she wants, but Tavia seems to be living it for her. And that’s just great, I mean the person who got her stoned is getting movie deals and all the attention? While she, the victim is getting dragged on the internet and losing her platform? Yeah that seems fair.
But it’s okay because Naema isn’t going to let that get her down. She is going to rise up. And Tavia? She’ll get what’s coming.
But as she builds her self and platform backup some realizations hit Naema
And that realization? As she starts to build herself up again back up again, the new fans that she is surrounding herself with are starting to become a little suspect.
And when they start to targeting fellow black girls Naema realizes that has to use her platform for good. and doing that? being able to make changes in the world that can actually do some good might actually be the way that Naema wants to go.
The audiobook was great to listen to.
The audio side of listening to this book was great for immersing into the story. This book is narrated by Cherise Boothe and Eboni Flowers and they did the perfect job with this story.
The voice actors brought life to this story. As a result the voice of Naema was perfectly used in a way that fit the character. Able to perfectly portray the character in all her mean girl glory without making her completely hateable in a way that would make me want to quit listening.
And I am not even getting into how the narrators are perfectly able to use the slang that is filled within this book and feel the age that they where. So the audiobook is definitely recomendable.
I Loved Naema even if I kind of hated her at times.
Naema is a perfectly hateable character. For the things that she did in the previous book. And for her self obsessed parts of herself in this book. Though Bethany C. Morrow was able to write Naema in a way that still made her likable and someone that I wanted to succeed in life and grow to be a great person that I felt she could become.
Not to mention that Naema had depth to her that showed more of what she goes through and shows some of the reasons that she grew into the person that she is today. A lot of those reasons? The world that she grew up in.
Speaking of the world
I loved the world in the first book. Filled to the brim with magic and lore that I wanted to sink my teeth into. And this one was just as filled the last one.
In this book we got more insight into the Eloko, who in the first book we saw as the people that everyone couldn’t help but just love.
This book goes more into depth into them as people along their magic. We learned more lore on how there magic works, and into them as people. All of which was a joy to learn.
I mean I am always down for more lore.
The conclusion was also satisfying to say the least
throughout this book I wanted to see Naema grow as a person. I wanted to see Naema be the person that I knew that she could be.
And really, I wanted to see her succeed.
And the ending didn’t disappoint on that front. I loved how it ended and how everything was wrapped up. Everything that I hoped the ending would be? It was that and more.
So if you’re looking for more from A Song Bellow Water that give this book a change. Maybe even pick up the audiobook.
And you can find out where to pick up this book HERE
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism