Makeda is the only one in her supernatural family who has no powers, now she has to navigate her complicated relationships and help find her missing godling father. Makeda and Abby are twins born from the union of a mortal woman and a Celestial godling. As punishment for their transgression their mother was transformed into a lake monster and their father forced to live out a moral life in a human body.
Click here to see the rest of this review
Conjoined at birth, they were magically separated by their Uncle. Although Abby ended up physically weaker, walking with crutches, she retained all the magical ability, or "mojo". As a result, powerless Makeda is a bit of a pariah in the family, with her relatives dismissing her as a mere mortal.
At the start of the book, Makeda is moving out of the house she has shared with her sister since childhood. She finds a place in a cool loft called Cheerful Rest where she meets Brie, the lead singer in a band. She stays to listen to them play and gets swept up in the music. The next day she wakes up in a city park with no memory of how she got there.
As she heads back, she gets a phone call from her sister, Abby. Their father is missing from the rest home he has been living in since getting Alzheimers. Eventually he is found near death, which brings the whole family together and reveals things neither of the sisters knew.
Turns out that their Uncle, in an effort to protect their father, hid his brother's mojo inside of the infant Makeda, whom he believed to be an empty vessel. Her own mojo was discarded in the belief that it was vestigial and useless.
When their father's human body dies, his confused spirit animates a giant kudzu plant and seeks out his mojo in order to become whole again. Makeda flees across the city with the help of her sister and tries to figure out what happened to her own mojo, in the hopes that finding it will allow her to survive the removal of her father's.
Meanwhile, things at Cheerful Rest are strange as well. Brie seems to have some supernatural abilities of his own, and the behavior of several of the tenants strikes Makeda as odd.
Best part of story, including ending:
Makeda's quest to belong while also striking out on her own was compelling.
Best scene in story:
The scene where we see Brie's band play was magical in a nice and subtle way.
Opinion about the main character:
Makeda is believable as a slightly rebellious girl with a huge chip on her shoulder, but the bickering with her sister did get a bit repetitive.
