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A review by thespinalstack
The Gatekeeper's Staff: An Old Gods Story by Antoine Bandele
“TJ couldn’t deny what he sensed afterward, how he felt at that moment. Deep down, something within him had changed.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Magic school/camp novels are treated so unfairly in our community. The success of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson make everyone dismiss these books as repetitive. Hello? You liked it for a reason? Most of the time people choose to just love those series and ignore the rest of the genre. Not to mention the weird trend of people only saying “it’s played out” when BIPOC want to write it. How does that make sense? Here to save you from this terrible decision/opinion is TJ Young and the Orishas series!
TJ Young is a very special not-so-special kid. He comes from a very talented family of Diviners, but is magically-challenged himself. When his sister suddenly and mysteriously passes, he goes to Camp Olosa, where the threads around his sister’s death begin to unravel.
I really loved this book for a lot of reasons, but the biggest one that was make-or-break for me was liking TJ Young. With any book that has young protagonists, I can expect to dislike them a bit and I can blame it away on their youth and move along. TJ is such an earnest kid that it made me heart feel for him the whole way through. It was his narration and perspective that made me read straight through the book. From the beginning, he’s a kid who knows his strengths. He’s determined, observant, fun not flashy, and he really reminded me of who I would have liked to be at 14.
I also really loved the focus on family in this book. All kinds of families. A big focus on tradition. And not just tradition for the sake of it, but really focusing on what tradition and your culture brings to your family and to an individual. I felt like the book was really great at being introspective without trying to hard. That may just be me always looking deeper into things, but I think I’m valid.
I do especially love the way that this book follows tropes we love, but making them entirely it’s own. TJ is surrounded by family, loved ones supporting him in a way that we are taught heroes aren’t. I get tired of the “one man against the world-yes he has family, but he is alone!” thing. TJ’s a late bloomer kind of hero who knows all about the way the world really works, but hasn’t been able to access it himself. When he does, it’s like the world he’s always been able to see finally feels like it’s for him now, but he feels way more driven than ever to prove himself. I’ll honestly never get tired of stories like that. Under all the magic, it’s always about growing into yourself and learned self-confidence, which is a lesson that nobody ever stops learning.
The plot is very faced paced, you never really get a second to be bored with action, mystery, and drama in each chapter, which is a pretty big plus for this book. The only parts that ever got slow for me were the moments when people talk around TJ instead of talking to him. I just felt like since TJ didn’t fully get what was happening, it was hard for me to understand or get really into it. That was mostly only in the beginning of the book so beside that, the book was great at keeping my attention.
Learning about the Orishas was also really cool. The book doesn’t feel nor does it try to be a textbook, but you still gather a lot. And not just names as titles, but you also get a sense of what these deities mean to people. How they are intertwined in people’s daily lives through their songs, practices, even wardrobe. But if you’ve never heard of the Orishas before this, or like me, needed some refreshers, the book has a very helpful pronunciation guide and glossary at the beginning and back of the book, respectively. Also, there are illustrations throughout that are absolutely marvelous. The artist is Arthur Bowling and there are illustrations for the book on his website as well as social medias which are definitely worth a look!
The book also has a prequel short story and a short story epilogue to accompany the book which are pretty optional, but fun!
TL;DR: It’s a worthwhile ya fantasy that gives you an awesome adventure. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants some of their favorite classic hero tropes, but are also getting tired of their favorite classic hero tropes. Also, it’s just awesome to support indie publishing.
Finished Copy provided by Antoine Bandele and Bandele Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Magic school/camp novels are treated so unfairly in our community. The success of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson make everyone dismiss these books as repetitive. Hello? You liked it for a reason? Most of the time people choose to just love those series and ignore the rest of the genre. Not to mention the weird trend of people only saying “it’s played out” when BIPOC want to write it. How does that make sense? Here to save you from this terrible decision/opinion is TJ Young and the Orishas series!
TJ Young is a very special not-so-special kid. He comes from a very talented family of Diviners, but is magically-challenged himself. When his sister suddenly and mysteriously passes, he goes to Camp Olosa, where the threads around his sister’s death begin to unravel.
I really loved this book for a lot of reasons, but the biggest one that was make-or-break for me was liking TJ Young. With any book that has young protagonists, I can expect to dislike them a bit and I can blame it away on their youth and move along. TJ is such an earnest kid that it made me heart feel for him the whole way through. It was his narration and perspective that made me read straight through the book. From the beginning, he’s a kid who knows his strengths. He’s determined, observant, fun not flashy, and he really reminded me of who I would have liked to be at 14.
I also really loved the focus on family in this book. All kinds of families. A big focus on tradition. And not just tradition for the sake of it, but really focusing on what tradition and your culture brings to your family and to an individual. I felt like the book was really great at being introspective without trying to hard. That may just be me always looking deeper into things, but I think I’m valid.
I do especially love the way that this book follows tropes we love, but making them entirely it’s own. TJ is surrounded by family, loved ones supporting him in a way that we are taught heroes aren’t. I get tired of the “one man against the world-yes he has family, but he is alone!” thing. TJ’s a late bloomer kind of hero who knows all about the way the world really works, but hasn’t been able to access it himself. When he does, it’s like the world he’s always been able to see finally feels like it’s for him now, but he feels way more driven than ever to prove himself. I’ll honestly never get tired of stories like that. Under all the magic, it’s always about growing into yourself and learned self-confidence, which is a lesson that nobody ever stops learning.
The plot is very faced paced, you never really get a second to be bored with action, mystery, and drama in each chapter, which is a pretty big plus for this book. The only parts that ever got slow for me were the moments when people talk around TJ instead of talking to him. I just felt like since TJ didn’t fully get what was happening, it was hard for me to understand or get really into it. That was mostly only in the beginning of the book so beside that, the book was great at keeping my attention.
Learning about the Orishas was also really cool. The book doesn’t feel nor does it try to be a textbook, but you still gather a lot. And not just names as titles, but you also get a sense of what these deities mean to people. How they are intertwined in people’s daily lives through their songs, practices, even wardrobe. But if you’ve never heard of the Orishas before this, or like me, needed some refreshers, the book has a very helpful pronunciation guide and glossary at the beginning and back of the book, respectively. Also, there are illustrations throughout that are absolutely marvelous. The artist is Arthur Bowling and there are illustrations for the book on his website as well as social medias which are definitely worth a look!
The book also has a prequel short story and a short story epilogue to accompany the book which are pretty optional, but fun!
TL;DR: It’s a worthwhile ya fantasy that gives you an awesome adventure. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants some of their favorite classic hero tropes, but are also getting tired of their favorite classic hero tropes. Also, it’s just awesome to support indie publishing.
Finished Copy provided by Antoine Bandele and Bandele Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.