Gr 10 Up Eighteen-year-old Ricardo Gomes de Barros's extraordinary soccer skills have garnered him fame, but his disappearance after a critical game leads sportswriter Paul Faustino to investigate. When Faustino asks too many questions, he is kidnapped and taken into the rural countryside where Barros grew up; there he learns of the ancestor worship and "Veneration" that the displaced slaves brought with them to the New World. The narrative is divided between Paracleto, a Loma slave of the 1700s who has come to be thought of as a god, and Faustino. Peet uses Paracleto's voice to expound some vital information, but the divided narrative detracts from the modern-day mystery and reduces the cohesiveness of the work as a whole. The lack of background information leaves questions about ancestor worship and other religious traditions among displaced Africans. Similar to Tamora Pierce's "Immortals" quartet (S & S), Peet's god characters appear, provide cryptic insight, and fade back out; however, they are the most interesting characters in the book. The way in which Faustino eventually discovers Barros reduces the mysterious element of the story to a mere side note in the plot, which had previously suffered from a lack of suspense. Between the disjointed narrative and unappealing characters, this novel will have difficulty attracting readers, and should be a strictly supplemental purchase.-Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library
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Product Details
BN ID: | 2940172437540 |
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Publisher: | Brilliance Audio |
Publication date: | 02/28/2011 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
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