The Ballad of Perilous Graves

"Funny, wild, witty, and profound."―Victor LaValle

"A wild and wonderful debut, teeming with music, family and art."--New York Times

"Magical, lyrical, gritty, otherworldly...hype like Bayou Classic in the 90s."--P. Djèlí Clark

One of the Best Fantasy Books of 2022: New York Times; Oprah Daily; Vulture; Gizmodo; Boston Public Library

A fun and fantastical love letter to New Orleans unfolds when a battle for the city's soul brews between two young mages, a vengeful wraith, and one powerful song in this wildly imaginative debut.

Nola is a city full of wonders. A place of sky trolleys and dead cabs, where haints dance the night away and Wise Women help keep the order. To those from Away, Nola might seem strange. To Perilous Graves, it's simply home.

Perry knows Nola's rhythm as intimately as his own heartbeat. So when the city's Great Magician starts appearing in odd places and essential songs are forgotten, Perry knows trouble is afoot.

Nine songs of power have escaped from the piano that maintains the city's beat, and without them, Nola will fail. Unwilling to watch his home be destroyed, Perry will sacrifice everything to save it. But a storm is brewing, and the Haint of All Haints is awake. Nola's time might be coming to an end.

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465 pages

Average rating: 7.67

12 RATINGS

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margardenlady

Dec 27, 2023

6/10 stars

This fantastical trip through NOLA that is not wholly New Orleans was intriguing. Perry and his sister and their best friend Peaches are tasked with saving the city and the songs from magical attacks on the music. We adventure along with them in a slippery reality that seamlessly shifts into dream. I was never completely sure where we were. Then in another thread, Casey - a graffiti artist turned statistician is moving among these worlds as well, in search of his cousin Jaylon. Surreal. Creative.

Game of Tomes

Jun 14, 2023

8/10 stars

Almost meta, almost post-modern. As Portlandia is to Portland, Oregon, so is TBOPG to Nola. It cannot make sense without it. Illogical leaps are often made with people figuring things out. Also acts like the Force like thinking or saying something will help you know if it’s true. There’s a lot of things that you think will be explained that just aren’t. Plot and magical elements that are just left by the wayside. Yet I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s so unique, so fun. Sometimes I don’t need to know how everything works, sometimes I can just let art be art. It’s not for everyone. But I do have an obsession with New Orleans and with fantasy book, so my review is skewed and biased. 8/10 for me.

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