Rating: Not for me (the occult, voodoo)

Reading Level: High School

I was excited and expecting to read basically Harry Potter but with black heroes and heroines. But this was not that simple. The magic is darker and more closely representing the occult. Also, parents may need to study up on critical race theory, bullying, and systematic racism, because themes of racism and its effects are strong. Parents should be ready for your kids to encounter:

  • Occult. Palm/card reading, Crystal balls, divination, conjuring dead souls to come tell a story, “channeling the light within”
  • Ancestor Worship, and something to do with soul being fallen stars? Not quite sure but stars were more than burning balls of fuel. “The sky binds us all together” is a motto.
  • Voodoo, Juju, and more. Charms, conjuring spells and plants, frequent travel in and out of the underworld. “Sweeping out” bad spirits with a broom, using a magic tree to receive warnings and to catch bad spiritual forces, holding back the rain with dancing and stomping spells.
  • Underworld theology. A whole new theology about life after death, humans as “keepers”/guides for dead souls, and various sections for where people go when they die.There us also a prison for (living) criminals in the underworld. No positioned as hell, and no mention of heaven.
  • Idol Worship. Lighting incense in an altar.

Parents should also be aware this book includes:

  • Issues of race, slavery. The main thrust is overcoming racism while defeating a villain. The main character has a different kind of magic because she is a descendant of a former American slave (and slavery changed their magic). I don’t know much about critical race theory, but there definitely was an agenda here.
  • White and Asian and Indian kids are bullies, and even another black family doesn’t want to associate with this other kind of magic with roots in slavery.

What I’m trying to say here is that this book is not just an ethnically diverse version of Harry Potter. The issues go much deeper than good vs evil, and the magic is less childish. So be prepared to have some tough conversations with your kid about voodoo/the occult as well as how slavery, though outlawed in the US, still has lasting effects on people and culture and systems.

Other possible concerns:

  • Mild body/potty humor, usually as fart jokes
  • Luck
  • Magical creatures, fairies, walking plants, leviathan beast.
  • A villain kidnapping a former comrade, keeping him in a cage for months, holding him hostage for his magic
  • The main character’s dad is head keeper of the dead, and he has dead skulls hanging from his hat.
  • A genie that freely moves in and out of a bottle, called a djinn
  • Conservatives in family structure should know there are several references to “my moms” or multiple dads
  • Conservatives on gender identity should know there is a character that uses they/them pronouns who lives in a separate, hidden dorm neither for boys nor girls.
  • Living little statues that are dead saints giving warnings and opinions.
  • Much like witchcraft, putting magical powers on spices and perfumes, conjuring elixirs and potions and charms with magical properties.

See also my review of Book 2 in the series: The Memory Thieves