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Bone Street Rumba #2
Midnight Taxi Tango
The author of Half-Resurrection Blues returns in a new Bone Street Rumba Novel—a knife-edge, noir-shaded urban fantasy of crime after death.
The streets of New York are hungry tonight...
Carlos Delacruz straddles the line between the living and the not-so alive. As an agent for the Council of the Dead, he eliminates New York’s ghostlier problems. This time it’s a string of gruesome paranormal accidents in Brooklyn’s Von King Park that has already taken the lives of several locals—and is bound to take more.
The incidents in the park have put Kia on edge. When she first met Carlos, he was the weird guy who came to Baba Eddie's botánica, where she worked. But the closer they’ve gotten, the more she’s seeing the world from Carlos’s point of view. In fact, she’s starting to see ghosts. And the situation is far more sinister than that—because whatever is bringing out the dead, it’s only just getting started.
The streets of New York are hungry tonight...
Carlos Delacruz straddles the line between the living and the not-so alive. As an agent for the Council of the Dead, he eliminates New York’s ghostlier problems. This time it’s a string of gruesome paranormal accidents in Brooklyn’s Von King Park that has already taken the lives of several locals—and is bound to take more.
The incidents in the park have put Kia on edge. When she first met Carlos, he was the weird guy who came to Baba Eddie's botánica, where she worked. But the closer they’ve gotten, the more she’s seeing the world from Carlos’s point of view. In fact, she’s starting to see ghosts. And the situation is far more sinister than that—because whatever is bringing out the dead, it’s only just getting started.
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First published January 5, 2016
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About the author
Daniel José Older
178 books1,966 followersDaniel José Older is the New York Times bestselling author of the Young Adult series the Shadowshaper Cypher (Scholastic), the Bone Street Rumba urban fantasy series (Penguin), and the upcoming Middle Grade sci-fi adventure Flood City (Scholastic). He won the International Latino Book Award and has been nominated for the Kirkus Prize, the Mythopoeic Award, the Locus Award, the Andre Norton Award, and yes, the World Fantasy Award. Shadowshaper was named one of Esquire’s 80 Books Every Person Should Read. You can find his thoughts on writing, read dispatches from his decade-long career as an NYC paramedic and hear his music at http://danieljoseolder.net/, on youtube and @djolder on twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 190 reviews
March 25, 2016
Adult urban fantasy. Older's first Bone Street Rumba novel was very good. Midnight Taxi Tango kicks things up to the next level. It would have been easy and perfectly reasonable for Older to stay with his wisecracking, hard-boiled, half-dead hero Carlos Delacruz as the sole first-person narrator. Instead, Midnight Taxi Tango is told from three alternating perspectives: Carlos; his young friend Kia who works at Baba Eddie's Botanica; and Reza, an emotionally scarred and dangerous lady warrior who works for a shadowy organization called Medianoche: part escort service, part mercenary group, part we're-never-quite-sure-what-but-these-folks-are-badasses.
Pulling off three alternating first-person narrators is incredibly difficult. Older makes it look easy. Each narrator has a distinctive voice and gains our sympathy quickly. I especially loved Kia. She is one tough young lady and her chapters are both moving and hilarious. Her voice is authentic sixteen-year-old Brooklyn teen with attitude, heart and cynical savvy. I hope we'll be seeing more of her in future books.
As for the plot, we have sinister kidnappings, the ghosts of young children being weaponized for assassination, and magical death cockroaches . . . lots and lots of cockroaches. You may need to give the book five or six chapters to get into the rhythm of the three narrators, but once you do, this is a fast, engrossing story with characters you can't help falling in love with. And did I mention the cockroaches? Lots of cockroaches.
Just to be clear: this is a novel for adults. It pulls no punches when it comes to language, violence and sex. Kia is one of the most realistic teen narrators I've read in a long time, but this not really a book that will pop up on a lot of recommended reading lists for high school kids because it would get flack from teachers and parents. (Having said that, I have probably increased the number of YA readers who will pick up the series . . . :D ) If you like urban fantasy, especially fantasy with a wonderfully diverse cast of characters, you should check out this series.
Pulling off three alternating first-person narrators is incredibly difficult. Older makes it look easy. Each narrator has a distinctive voice and gains our sympathy quickly. I especially loved Kia. She is one tough young lady and her chapters are both moving and hilarious. Her voice is authentic sixteen-year-old Brooklyn teen with attitude, heart and cynical savvy. I hope we'll be seeing more of her in future books.
As for the plot, we have sinister kidnappings, the ghosts of young children being weaponized for assassination, and magical death cockroaches . . . lots and lots of cockroaches. You may need to give the book five or six chapters to get into the rhythm of the three narrators, but once you do, this is a fast, engrossing story with characters you can't help falling in love with. And did I mention the cockroaches? Lots of cockroaches.
Just to be clear: this is a novel for adults. It pulls no punches when it comes to language, violence and sex. Kia is one of the most realistic teen narrators I've read in a long time, but this not really a book that will pop up on a lot of recommended reading lists for high school kids because it would get flack from teachers and parents. (Having said that, I have probably increased the number of YA readers who will pick up the series . . . :D ) If you like urban fantasy, especially fantasy with a wonderfully diverse cast of characters, you should check out this series.
January 27, 2016
This was most EXCELLENT , i WANT SEVERAL MORE BOOKS PLEASE AND THANK YOU
January 7, 2016
3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2016/01/07/b...
Midnight Taxi Tango is the second book of the vividly imaginative Bone Street Rumba series. I can honestly say I’ve never encountered an urban fantasy quite like this, and I said as much in my review of the first book last year, which I enjoyed immensely! I knew as soon as I was finished reading Half-Resurrection Blues that I wanted to continue this cool and unique series.
But I won’t beat around the bush; while I had a good time with Midnight Taxi Tango and thought it was overall a fun and entertaining read, there were a few issues that I thought made this sequel weaker than its predecessor. First, a quick rundown of the story to provide context for my points below. The series’ main character is Carlos Delacruz, a man who is not quite alive and also not quite dead. His time before is a complete blank; all he knows is that he died and was brought back to life into this state of “in between”. Now he works as a kind of enforcer for the New York Council of the Dead, tasked to hunt down and execute the city’s errant ghosts or any supernatural denizens who misbehave.
Most recently, a string of paranormal-related murders have been occurring around Brooklyn’s Von King Park, and naturally Carlos is sent to investigate. On one such trip to the park, his team actually manages to catch and stop an attack in progress, and the would-be victim happens to be someone Carlos knows—Kia, a teenage girl who works for one of his good friends. The incident has terrified her, especially now that she has been touched by the ghost sight, opening her eyes to a whole other side of New York.
Carlos himself isn’t in the best frame of mind either. The events of the last year have left him heartbroken and depressed, even though he tries hard not to admit it. Sasha, the woman he loves had walked out of his life following his act of unspeakable betrayal, and he still lives with the guilt every day. And herein lies one of my biggest issues with this book. The coolheaded and capable Carlos I was first introduced to in Half-Resurrection Blues is a shadow of himself in Midnight Taxi Tango. As soon as he thinks about Sasha or anything related to her, he turns into a complete and utter mess. Even though I understood on multiple levels where he was coming from, he would have gotten himself killed many times over had others not stopped him from rushing headlong into danger. I knew something was wrong the moment Carlos became someone I could no longer root for, and in fact many times over the course of this book I silently hoped to myself that Sasha would never forgive him.
Initially, I was also excited when I found out Kia was a POV character in this book. There was a real noticeable lack of female presence in the first book, so if nothing else, I was very happy that Daniel José Older beefed up this aspect in Midnight Taxi Tango. I also remember meeting Kia from Half-Resurrection Blues and she was one cool girl, so I was looking forward to getting to know her better. Turns out, I was right in that there were many things I loved about her, like her courage and her strength and resourcefulness. But Kia is also a teenager, and there were a lot of other things I found off-putting, like her petulance and her judgmental attitude. I also have no problem with profanity in books, especially in prose and in dialogue where they add feeling to the characters and story, but Kia’s chapters frequently quoted song lyrics riddled with F-bombs and I felt these served little purpose other than to make want to me skip through large swaths of her narrative, to be honest.
There was a surprise third POV in this book, however, and that was Reza. Now Reza, I adored! I loved absolutely everything about her, from her backstory to the way she talks and operates. I wish I could say more, but since this is the grand debut of her character and her colleagues’ “midnight taxi service”, it would be way more fun to discover her story for yourselves. Suffice to say, she is a force to be reckoned with—cool, calm and always prepared for anything. I loved her take-no-prisoners attitude and the way she pretty much took over Carlos’ role in this book as the one who got things done. I really hope she’ll return for future books; if not as a POV character again, then at least in a supporting role.
I have a few more minor quibbles, but in general they can be summed up by the fact I just didn’t feel this book was as well put together as the first one. I only found out after I finished that a few scenes in this novel were apparently drawn from a couple of previously published short stories by the author, and maybe that had something to do with it? In some ways, this story did feel like an amalgamation of several parts cobbled together, with the seams not too carefully hidden, and the final product needed some detailing and polish. For example, I felt the villains in this book were crudely sketched and had a “Monster-of-the-Week” feel to them like they were specifically written for this book and then meant to be thrown away, never to be dealt with again. Overall I also felt the prose in this sequel lost a lot of that “poetic” quality that made me fall in love with the writing in Half-Resurrection Blues.
Still, I thought Midnight Taxi Tango was a good book. Technically you can also jump into it without having read the first book because Older does a fantastic good job recapping the story. If you enjoy action, you might even prefer this sequel because it contains a lot more suspense and excitement. As a series, however, I think the next book will have to step up its game if Bone Street Rumba is to distinguish itself from all the urban fantasy available out there. No matter what though, I’m too invested in Carlos’ story to stop now so I definitely have plans to continue. I’m curious about the wider story arc, and I have to admit a part of me is really looking forward to see Carlos and his pals rain hell down on the NYCOD!
Midnight Taxi Tango is the second book of the vividly imaginative Bone Street Rumba series. I can honestly say I’ve never encountered an urban fantasy quite like this, and I said as much in my review of the first book last year, which I enjoyed immensely! I knew as soon as I was finished reading Half-Resurrection Blues that I wanted to continue this cool and unique series.
But I won’t beat around the bush; while I had a good time with Midnight Taxi Tango and thought it was overall a fun and entertaining read, there were a few issues that I thought made this sequel weaker than its predecessor. First, a quick rundown of the story to provide context for my points below. The series’ main character is Carlos Delacruz, a man who is not quite alive and also not quite dead. His time before is a complete blank; all he knows is that he died and was brought back to life into this state of “in between”. Now he works as a kind of enforcer for the New York Council of the Dead, tasked to hunt down and execute the city’s errant ghosts or any supernatural denizens who misbehave.
Most recently, a string of paranormal-related murders have been occurring around Brooklyn’s Von King Park, and naturally Carlos is sent to investigate. On one such trip to the park, his team actually manages to catch and stop an attack in progress, and the would-be victim happens to be someone Carlos knows—Kia, a teenage girl who works for one of his good friends. The incident has terrified her, especially now that she has been touched by the ghost sight, opening her eyes to a whole other side of New York.
Carlos himself isn’t in the best frame of mind either. The events of the last year have left him heartbroken and depressed, even though he tries hard not to admit it. Sasha, the woman he loves had walked out of his life following his act of unspeakable betrayal, and he still lives with the guilt every day. And herein lies one of my biggest issues with this book. The coolheaded and capable Carlos I was first introduced to in Half-Resurrection Blues is a shadow of himself in Midnight Taxi Tango. As soon as he thinks about Sasha or anything related to her, he turns into a complete and utter mess. Even though I understood on multiple levels where he was coming from, he would have gotten himself killed many times over had others not stopped him from rushing headlong into danger. I knew something was wrong the moment Carlos became someone I could no longer root for, and in fact many times over the course of this book I silently hoped to myself that Sasha would never forgive him.
Initially, I was also excited when I found out Kia was a POV character in this book. There was a real noticeable lack of female presence in the first book, so if nothing else, I was very happy that Daniel José Older beefed up this aspect in Midnight Taxi Tango. I also remember meeting Kia from Half-Resurrection Blues and she was one cool girl, so I was looking forward to getting to know her better. Turns out, I was right in that there were many things I loved about her, like her courage and her strength and resourcefulness. But Kia is also a teenager, and there were a lot of other things I found off-putting, like her petulance and her judgmental attitude. I also have no problem with profanity in books, especially in prose and in dialogue where they add feeling to the characters and story, but Kia’s chapters frequently quoted song lyrics riddled with F-bombs and I felt these served little purpose other than to make want to me skip through large swaths of her narrative, to be honest.
There was a surprise third POV in this book, however, and that was Reza. Now Reza, I adored! I loved absolutely everything about her, from her backstory to the way she talks and operates. I wish I could say more, but since this is the grand debut of her character and her colleagues’ “midnight taxi service”, it would be way more fun to discover her story for yourselves. Suffice to say, she is a force to be reckoned with—cool, calm and always prepared for anything. I loved her take-no-prisoners attitude and the way she pretty much took over Carlos’ role in this book as the one who got things done. I really hope she’ll return for future books; if not as a POV character again, then at least in a supporting role.
I have a few more minor quibbles, but in general they can be summed up by the fact I just didn’t feel this book was as well put together as the first one. I only found out after I finished that a few scenes in this novel were apparently drawn from a couple of previously published short stories by the author, and maybe that had something to do with it? In some ways, this story did feel like an amalgamation of several parts cobbled together, with the seams not too carefully hidden, and the final product needed some detailing and polish. For example, I felt the villains in this book were crudely sketched and had a “Monster-of-the-Week” feel to them like they were specifically written for this book and then meant to be thrown away, never to be dealt with again. Overall I also felt the prose in this sequel lost a lot of that “poetic” quality that made me fall in love with the writing in Half-Resurrection Blues.
Still, I thought Midnight Taxi Tango was a good book. Technically you can also jump into it without having read the first book because Older does a fantastic good job recapping the story. If you enjoy action, you might even prefer this sequel because it contains a lot more suspense and excitement. As a series, however, I think the next book will have to step up its game if Bone Street Rumba is to distinguish itself from all the urban fantasy available out there. No matter what though, I’m too invested in Carlos’ story to stop now so I definitely have plans to continue. I’m curious about the wider story arc, and I have to admit a part of me is really looking forward to see Carlos and his pals rain hell down on the NYCOD!
Read
February 26, 2019The world of Bone Street Rumba gets more complicated, gnarly, and gross. There's some serious gore and ick in this one, not unrelated to the villains who are basically people being used as hosts for cockroaches oh god.
Lots of fantastic characters, developing teams, the story of Carlos and his ex lover Sasha takes a few more turns, and we have new POV characters with a stroppy teenager and a dapper lesbian superfighter. It's all fantastic, if dark and occasionally messy, with terrific dialogue giving a strong sense of place. A great UF series.
Lots of fantastic characters, developing teams, the story of Carlos and his ex lover Sasha takes a few more turns, and we have new POV characters with a stroppy teenager and a dapper lesbian superfighter. It's all fantastic, if dark and occasionally messy, with terrific dialogue giving a strong sense of place. A great UF series.
February 1, 2016
"The streets is hungry."It's official: Daniel José Older is now on my authors-to-watch list. I first encountered Older through his YA book, Shadowshaper. While Shadowshaper is a rich, vibrant story, Bone Street Rumba is right down my alley. I love urban fantasy, underpowered protagonists, and political skirmishes in the magical world. Add to that a set of complex, interesting characters, a gritty plot, and some seriously creepy roach dudes, and I was sold. TL;DR: Half-Resurrection Blues (Bone Street Rumba#1) just became my first book purchase of the year.
The story is narrated by Carlos, a half-dead agent for the Council for the Dead and the protagonist of the previous book, Reza, a driver/hitter for a local gang, and Kia, a mischievous teenager who works at a botánica and finds herself pulled inextricably into the center of events. There's a reason why Kia is on the front of the cover (and have I mentioned i loved the cover?) instead of Carlos, who is pretty much worse than useless for the whole book. One of the reasons I picked up the first book is that I'm rather interested to see what Carlos was like when he was actually effective and didn't just spend all his time angsting and moping. Kia, on the other hand, is a lot of fun. I loved her constant banter with Carlos:
"I smile. “Things will go much easier for you when you realize that I know everything.”
"We’ve been through this already, C, and we don’t have time to go through it again. If you leave me behind, I’ll do something stupid like follow you all by myself and get killed and then you’ll feel guilty. Let’s save ourselves an argument we both already know I’m gonna win.”She has some interesting depths as a character, from a traumatic childhood experience to her insight while navigating a biased world.
The politics of Midnight Taxi Tango are less overt and more nuanced than Shadowshaper, but all the more interesting and effective for it. One of the subplots involves Capoeira, which, as the instructor notes,
"Is how my people survived European domination in Brazil [...] It is a martial art disguised as a dance, but it is also a dance disguised as a martial art. Why? Because we were not allowed to train to fight. We had to disguise our training as dancing, yes? We had to become clandestine warriors in a system that did not believe we are human, yes? Maybe this is something you can understand today, or maybe not."Kia's perspective illuminates the pervasive racism she experiences:
"I’d never been to this neighborhood before. Maybe driven past once or twice with my dad, but it was all white folks, and the feeling of don’t belong, don’t belong hung heavy in the air, like all the molecules wanted me to leave too."She perceives, and is angered by, the constant assaults on diversity surrounding her, from the white policeman who feels it is acceptable to harass her on the street to her realization that she, as a black woman, can get shot for carrying a sandwich, let alone a ghost-killing knife. One of my favourite moments was her reaction to a conversation between a group of white teenagers in the botánica:
"Kenny, what’s this mean, a love potion?”
“Yeah, that’s supposed to be bring the ladies right to you, man.”
“Let’s get it for Bill. Maybe Christine will stop friend zoning his ass.”
Wild laughter. Because really, what’s funnier than other people’s cultures and sexual coercion?"
Another aspect where I felt this book improved upon Shadowshaper was the humor. Midnight Taxi Tango was constantly, quotably funny. Carlos, Reza, and Tia each have their own unique narrative flair, and while I loved them all, the dialogue and situational humor tickled me to death; for example:
“So you brought the demon-child assassin to my house and locked him into the bathroom across from the girl he’s trying to kill?” My whisper is more like a strained cough.
“The fuck else was I sposta do with him, man?"
I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately, but while I felt like the plot was a bit of a mess, I just didn't care.
Like Shadowshaper, Midnight Taxi Tango is a complex, vibrant, refreshing change from cookie-cutter urban fantasy. Add to that a set of villainous magical roaches--and who doesn't find roaches creepy, particularly when they crawl into your mouth or peel off your skin-- and a constant barrage of banter and situational comedy and I was utterly sold. Count me in for the sequel. And the prequel. And anything else Older has in store.
~4.5
~~I received this book through Netgalley from the publisher, Berkley Group Publishing, in exchange for my honest review. Quotes are taken from an advanced reader copy and while they may not reflect the final phrasing, I believe they speak to the spirit of the novel as a whole.~~
Cross-posted on BookLikes.
Read
January 6, 2016Yes, it's a sequel, but Daniel José Older's books are so much fun, I couldn't leave it out. If you have read the first one - HOORAY THERE'S A NEW BOOK! And if you haven't - GET ON THAT. These books are pure delight. Ghost detectives = awesomesauce.
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/category/all-the-...
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/category/all-the-...
July 3, 2020
Squeamish alert: Thar be cockroaches. So. Many. Cockroaches.
A lot of interesting things get revealed in this one, including who killed Carlos and it was not what I was expecting at all. It makes some things even harder to swallow, actually, and makes me curious about what else is going on. Was Carlos chosen for a reason?
I enjoyed getting the POVs of Kia and Riza and learning more about them. Riza is not one to mess with, and Kia really comes into her own here. This is a complex world, and getting these POVs helps expand it more.
I do with that Older had bothered changing the voices a bit more for them. Since Carlos, Kia and Riza all have 1st-person POV narratives, it made it difficult sometimes to tell whose head I was in, unless I happened to catch it at the start of the chapter. Since he had a female doing the raps (which were cringe-worthy, but thankfully short and sparse), I wonder why she didn't simply do the female character POV chapters. Ordinarily, I don't care for dual narration, but it would've helped here. It's the only issue I had with Older's narration, which was smooth, lively and engaging.
A lot of interesting things get revealed in this one, including who killed Carlos and it was not what I was expecting at all. It makes some things even harder to swallow, actually, and makes me curious about what else is going on. Was Carlos chosen for a reason?
I enjoyed getting the POVs of Kia and Riza and learning more about them. Riza is not one to mess with, and Kia really comes into her own here. This is a complex world, and getting these POVs helps expand it more.
I do with that Older had bothered changing the voices a bit more for them. Since Carlos, Kia and Riza all have 1st-person POV narratives, it made it difficult sometimes to tell whose head I was in, unless I happened to catch it at the start of the chapter. Since he had a female doing the raps (which were cringe-worthy, but thankfully short and sparse), I wonder why she didn't simply do the female character POV chapters. Ordinarily, I don't care for dual narration, but it would've helped here. It's the only issue I had with Older's narration, which was smooth, lively and engaging.
March 28, 2016
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
********
That sentiment remains even still, now that I've finished the book. OH MAN. I loved it. Thanks, Older, for using roaches for the persistent creep-out factor--even if there weren't any zombies or freaky long-limbed High Priests, the roaches still would have done the trick. *shudder*
It was funny...I'm so used to Reza being a male Persian name--even when it was made clear that Reza was Puerto Rican--I still just assumed Reza was a he. I laughed so hard when I figured out otherwise, the second Reza chapter into it, then shouted, "Hell yeah!" and would've high-fived myself if that was a thing.
In this immediate aftermath, it's difficult for me to go through everything I loved without just recounting the entire damn thing...maybe I can come back to it. I've got a strong hunch about what's in store for Carlos next, judging from "Tenderfoot" in Salsa Nocturna: Stories, AND I AM SO HAPPY. I am so glad we got more of Kia in MTT; I'm going to keep my fingers crossed to see Gordo again and/or more of Baba Eddie on the next go-around. Kudos, DJO--you're on fire.
Excuse me while I go dig up some old school tango.
********
That sentiment remains even still, now that I've finished the book. OH MAN. I loved it. Thanks, Older, for using roaches for the persistent creep-out factor--even if there weren't any zombies or freaky long-limbed High Priests, the roaches still would have done the trick. *shudder*
It was funny...I'm so used to Reza being a male Persian name--even when it was made clear that Reza was Puerto Rican--I still just assumed Reza was a he. I laughed so hard when I figured out otherwise, the second Reza chapter into it, then shouted, "Hell yeah!" and would've high-fived myself if that was a thing.
In this immediate aftermath, it's difficult for me to go through everything I loved without just recounting the entire damn thing...maybe I can come back to it. I've got a strong hunch about what's in store for Carlos next, judging from "Tenderfoot" in Salsa Nocturna: Stories, AND I AM SO HAPPY. I am so glad we got more of Kia in MTT; I'm going to keep my fingers crossed to see Gordo again and/or more of Baba Eddie on the next go-around. Kudos, DJO--you're on fire.
Excuse me while I go dig up some old school tango.
January 3, 2016
Look! This man- Daniel José Older- put his FOOT in this one! Wanted to hit him with the book after finishing, it was so damn good! Geez! I was here for Half Resurrection Blues (the prequel- though, it should be noted, MTT can be read as a standalone) even with how he had me reeling emotionally at the end- He been won me over as a fan of his writing but, believe it or not, his writing got even better with this one. Kia Summers (the melanin-filled goddess depicted on the cover) is the badass we all need! Kia is EVERYTHING and listen to me when I tell you she is coming to take over! Please get your copy and get ready! Get ready, I said! Kia is one of the three characters whose POV we get in this book. The departure from one person to three really works here. I was on edge almost the entire time, just STRESSED about what would happen tot the characters next but it was the good kind of stress. I can't wait to see what happens in book 3. This is the downside of getting books early. Quite the downside to have, eh? I'll take it!
Note: it's quite creepy in some parts because, well, that's what this author likes. But it's so worth it. I'd recommend reading in the daytime if you're easy to freak out.
This book being dedicated to me has no bearing on my review. I would have requested that the dedication be removed if I didn't like it. Trust. Technically, my name is on the line and I don't play about that. I do hope you love it as much as I do.
Note: it's quite creepy in some parts because, well, that's what this author likes. But it's so worth it. I'd recommend reading in the daytime if you're easy to freak out.
This book being dedicated to me has no bearing on my review. I would have requested that the dedication be removed if I didn't like it. Trust. Technically, my name is on the line and I don't play about that. I do hope you love it as much as I do.
September 7, 2020
What a bunch of wonderful women in this second instalment, as super icky cockroach things begin investing different locations around the city. And Kia and fantastic Reza and their experiences and pasts become integral parts of the larger narrative.
The Council, and their past and current decisions, are looking increasingly suspect, and was I ever glad to see how all these different characters fighting evil separately became a strong, cohesive and dangerous team. I also really liked seeing a few of the characters in this and Older’s Shadowshapers series work together.
On to the short story collection!
The Council, and their past and current decisions, are looking increasingly suspect, and was I ever glad to see how all these different characters fighting evil separately became a strong, cohesive and dangerous team. I also really liked seeing a few of the characters in this and Older’s Shadowshapers series work together.
On to the short story collection!
February 7, 2021
3.5 stars bumped up for pulling all the threads together.
January 31, 2016
I enjoyed the ghost-hunting adventures of Carlos Delacruz in
Half-Resurrection Blues
and
Salsa Nocturna: Stories
, but to be honest, I was a bit hesitant to continue simply because SO MANY SERIES. But people were raving about Midnight Taxi Tango (and saying that it addressed the issues I had with the first book), so I picked it up.
Honesty time again! It took me like a hundred pages to really get into this book. Midnight Taxi Tango splits the POV between three characters. Carlos, that same half-dead motherfucker we know and love, who's investigating a series of mysterious accidents. Kia, an unambiguously black teenage girl who's flashbacking about her dead cousin she crushed on and currently crushing on her hot-ass capoeira instructor. Reza, a badass lesbian who spends most of her time blowing bad folks away with a shotgun. Now, I love multiple POVs, but I found it really hard to get a grasp on these because they were so unconnected at first. Since each person was living in their own story, I couldn't tell what the fuck the main story was supposed to be, what portion of each story I was meant to care about.
But eventually they all get together and fight a bunch of fucking roach men and then it's fun.
Yeah, I said roach men. If you're entomophobic, maybe stay the fuck away from this book.
What kept me reading was the voice of the novel, which is refreshingly unlike anything else on the market. It's fun, it's profane, it's natural, it's just people—and not white people—shooting the shit about how fucking fucked up it is that they've got to deal with all this dead shit. Also some of them are dead themselves. The language is so vibrant, the setting is so alive, the characters are so colorful...it just feels like everything is exploding on the page even when there are no actual explosions. (Sometimes there are actual explosions.)
And speaking of the characters, I discovered that...apparently I don't care about Carlos?? I mean, he's a good dude and all, but KIA AND REZA OH MY GOD. Kia is a delight and deserves her own spinoff YA series, maybe she can go hang out in the Shadowshaper world. Also I want to listen to some King Impervious, the rapper who gives Kia her drive. Kia! She's the best. She gives Carlos shit and she admires the hell out of Reza, who, as I said, blows people away with a shotgun. She's a stone-cold motherfucker, and also she drives a taxi. Like. She's the best.
Once the plot kicks into gear and everyone's fighting roach men, Daniel José Older whips out his horror skills and there are bugs crawling everywhere and gross ghost people and lots of action (reminiscent of some of the scenes in Shadowshaper, actually). The plot in general is less all over the place than the first book (at least after the first hundred pages), and it really moves. Carlos has some character beats, but the last half of the book really focuses on a lot of mythology and killin'. But then there's that goddamn epilogue that drops in some hooks for the next book.
Midnight Taxi Tango takes the world set up in Half-Resurrection Blues and really kicks things into overdrive. I'm just saying, one section of the book is called "Burn the Whole Shit Down."
Honesty time again! It took me like a hundred pages to really get into this book. Midnight Taxi Tango splits the POV between three characters. Carlos, that same half-dead motherfucker we know and love, who's investigating a series of mysterious accidents. Kia, an unambiguously black teenage girl who's flashbacking about her dead cousin she crushed on and currently crushing on her hot-ass capoeira instructor. Reza, a badass lesbian who spends most of her time blowing bad folks away with a shotgun. Now, I love multiple POVs, but I found it really hard to get a grasp on these because they were so unconnected at first. Since each person was living in their own story, I couldn't tell what the fuck the main story was supposed to be, what portion of each story I was meant to care about.
But eventually they all get together and fight a bunch of fucking roach men and then it's fun.
Yeah, I said roach men. If you're entomophobic, maybe stay the fuck away from this book.
What kept me reading was the voice of the novel, which is refreshingly unlike anything else on the market. It's fun, it's profane, it's natural, it's just people—and not white people—shooting the shit about how fucking fucked up it is that they've got to deal with all this dead shit. Also some of them are dead themselves. The language is so vibrant, the setting is so alive, the characters are so colorful...it just feels like everything is exploding on the page even when there are no actual explosions. (Sometimes there are actual explosions.)
And speaking of the characters, I discovered that...apparently I don't care about Carlos?? I mean, he's a good dude and all, but KIA AND REZA OH MY GOD. Kia is a delight and deserves her own spinoff YA series, maybe she can go hang out in the Shadowshaper world. Also I want to listen to some King Impervious, the rapper who gives Kia her drive. Kia! She's the best. She gives Carlos shit and she admires the hell out of Reza, who, as I said, blows people away with a shotgun. She's a stone-cold motherfucker, and also she drives a taxi. Like. She's the best.
Once the plot kicks into gear and everyone's fighting roach men, Daniel José Older whips out his horror skills and there are bugs crawling everywhere and gross ghost people and lots of action (reminiscent of some of the scenes in Shadowshaper, actually). The plot in general is less all over the place than the first book (at least after the first hundred pages), and it really moves. Carlos has some character beats, but the last half of the book really focuses on a lot of mythology and killin'. But then there's that goddamn epilogue that drops in some hooks for the next book.
Midnight Taxi Tango takes the world set up in Half-Resurrection Blues and really kicks things into overdrive. I'm just saying, one section of the book is called "Burn the Whole Shit Down."
March 2, 2017
The second in the Bone Street Rumba series.
Older is an expert at creating a cast of complex, diverse characters. I loved them all; Reza was my favorite. Five stars for that.
However, I couldn't follow the plot of this one as well as Half-Resurrection Blues. I didn't truly understand how the super-natural foolishness was sorted out. It just seemed like one minute beings were wrecking havoc and the next it was all done and everyone was eating breakfast. I'm going to go back and re-read at some point, maybe I'll understand better the second time.
My struggles with the conflict solution though, only apply to about the last 50 pages. The first 270 are fantastic and it was still a very enjoyable read and I highly anticipate book three. Really 3.75 stars total.
Edited: I think I just rushed through this book the first time. This time I understood the plot just fine. Another solid winner from DJO. I hope for a lot more Reza in Battle Hill Bolero.
Older is an expert at creating a cast of complex, diverse characters. I loved them all; Reza was my favorite. Five stars for that.
However, I couldn't follow the plot of this one as well as Half-Resurrection Blues. I didn't truly understand how the super-natural foolishness was sorted out. It just seemed like one minute beings were wrecking havoc and the next it was all done and everyone was eating breakfast. I'm going to go back and re-read at some point, maybe I'll understand better the second time.
My struggles with the conflict solution though, only apply to about the last 50 pages. The first 270 are fantastic and it was still a very enjoyable read and I highly anticipate book three. Really 3.75 stars total.
Edited: I think I just rushed through this book the first time. This time I understood the plot just fine. Another solid winner from DJO. I hope for a lot more Reza in Battle Hill Bolero.
January 17, 2016
Midnight Taxi Tango, which was published today, is the second book in Daniel José Older’s BONE STREET RUMBA series. Things have changed dramatically for Carlos Delacruz, the half-alive agent of the Council of the Dead, who monitors badly-behaving ghosts and spirits in Brooklyn. Carlos has learned a bit more about his pre-death existence, and the love of his life has left him.
Carlos and his senior partner the ghost Riley are charged with investigating several strange “random” accidents at a local park, and it is clear that they are not random. Soon he is fighting weaponized child ghosts and trying to keep his friends alive.
Jana and I both read Midnight Taxi Tango and we are commenting on it jointly here.
Marion: I liked this book, although I found the point of view ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
Carlos and his senior partner the ghost Riley are charged with investigating several strange “random” accidents at a local park, and it is clear that they are not random. Soon he is fighting weaponized child ghosts and trying to keep his friends alive.
Jana and I both read Midnight Taxi Tango and we are commenting on it jointly here.
Marion: I liked this book, although I found the point of view ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
January 28, 2016
My adoration for this book has rendered me even more inarticulate than usual, but GODDAMN it is good.
Multiple, wildly diverse narrators, disgusting cockroach creatures, a soundtrack led by a ferocious female rapper, babies being born, relationships being repaired, relationships starting, no one giving a fuck about what anyone else does in bed, and a magnificent teenager who teaches all of her white babysitting charges the following call and response routine to check in: “WHAT WE GON’ DO WHEN DI REVOLUTION COME?” An eerie choir of high-pitched voices rises in the night around me. “Burn dem houses and kill dem sons.”
I ask you. What more could anyone want from life, let alone a book? My only complaint is that there's not more THIS INSTANT.
Multiple, wildly diverse narrators, disgusting cockroach creatures, a soundtrack led by a ferocious female rapper, babies being born, relationships being repaired, relationships starting, no one giving a fuck about what anyone else does in bed, and a magnificent teenager who teaches all of her white babysitting charges the following call and response routine to check in: “WHAT WE GON’ DO WHEN DI REVOLUTION COME?” An eerie choir of high-pitched voices rises in the night around me. “Burn dem houses and kill dem sons.”
I ask you. What more could anyone want from life, let alone a book? My only complaint is that there's not more THIS INSTANT.
March 26, 2017
Really enjoyed hearing Older read the book himself.....I think listening to the author is so much better than most (other) readers.
January 5, 2016
Note: I received an advance reading proof of this book from the author for the purposes of research assistance for rights clearance of Argentine song lyrics. No spoilers contained below.
I was already a fan of Daniel José Older's work, from his dreamy, lyrical short stories to his sharper, grittier noir-style work as part of the Bone Street Rumba series to his essays on the world of publishing, popular culture and activism. I found out that he began writing in order to contribute more characters not often seen in speculative fiction, and to encourage further writing by those who suffered from "self-rejection" because they're not yet adequately reflected in publishing overall, particularly in the mainstream.
Of Older's fiction, I first read his short story Dust, published in Lightspeed Magazine, which isn't a part of this series. It is, however, a beautifully written piece of literary fiction set in space, with a potentially vast world behind it, and I wanted more. I picked up Half-Resurrection Blues right afterwards, as it was just released at the time I came to notice his work. I fell instantly for Carlos as a character, and his self-deprecating humor mixed with utter bad-assery in the dispatching of bad guys in the course of his work was immediately accessible, familiar enough, and novel enough to keep me reading. I love noir as a genre and seeing this kind of character in a noir style was a bolt from the blue with which I immediately identified as a longtime fan of horror and suspense. I went back and read Salsa Nocturna, his book of short stories set in the same world, and then to my delight, found that Shadowshaper, his first YA novel in the same series, was about to come out. Shadowshaper created an impressive ripple in the YA world and emerged to high praise, as had Half-Resurrection Blues. My hopes for Midnight Taxi Tango were high, and when the author reached out for a speck of help in securing Argentine song rights, he graciously sent me a reading copy with his blessing to dive in. I read Cycle One in one night, then the entire rest of the book two nights later, in one sitting, on my day off.
Broadly speaking, Older has taken hold of speculative fiction (collecting what's been traditionally known as sci-fi, fantasy, horror) and has mixed in stories of people that are like those around him in his life in Brooklyn - not of one background or ethnicity but a multitude, each vibrantly alive (no offense to the dead and half-dead) and utterly relatable due to their depth and their humanity. It's this more realistic mix of characters that have opened spec fic to a lot of readers that could never get behind its perceived monolithic point of view, and have allowed these new readers to swing over to more established "fringe" authors who may not be known outside the die-hard fans of spec fic.
It's also given some satisfaction to long-time readers of the genre(s) by not only putting in characters that reflect them but also their friends and neighbors, and doing so with a modernity that makes the world in these stories more real. By then allowing the fantastic elements - ghosts, off-world creatures, vast libraries of hidden knowledge and other supernatural delights - to mingle with the world that is real to millions rather than the sterilized, white or ethnically ambiguous "Everyman" world that doesn't fully exist to anyone, this makes the horror more horrifying, the reality becoming even heavier through recognition of living, breathing foes with largely unchallenged power, being amplified into villains with access to ancient magic and off-world influence. Rather than asking you to put everything you know on hold and accept a magical world, you're already standing next to Kia and Carlos when the bad guys kick down the door into your world, put their cigars out in your drink, sit on your lap and tell you how shit is going to go down. It's gripping, it's slickly told, it's full of cool confidence and genuine humor. It's definitely (modern) noir, and it's definitely fucking terrifying.
It's not necessary to have read previous stories in the series to get a hold of the story in this book. Older is great about explaining what needs to be explained to orient new readers, without boring those familiar with his characters and this world. In fact, these periodic reminders help refresh those returning readers without dwindling into a "previously on blah blah blah" flashback sequence. For once, I didn't find myself skipping over the explanations, as I've noticed that Older writes them differently each time, always in-character, always at the right pace.
The most striking difference about this book from the others in the series is that it's told through the points of view of different characters, chapter by chapter, and though they're cohesive and clearly laid out, each of those chapters has a slightly different feel, with young Kia's style being the most literary of Older's work so far in the Bone Street Rumba series. Older allows Kia to evoke some of the dreamy otherworldliness present in his short stories that are not in this series, while remaining very much a child of this modern world with her cultural references, music and her friends. He allows this teenage girl to be a deep, complicated character that is emerging from this series as a powerful force that will clearly be present in, and probably leading, a lot of stories to come. But all of the characters telling their parts are potently present: Carlos and the newly introduced Reza will take you along just as engagingly as Kia will. They're all forces of nature in their own rights, and their different takes on what's going on allow you to round out the action without tripping over lengthy descriptions.
The result of all of this switching is an excellently paced story that has moments of genuine, deep suspense and horror. The narratives aren't broken up by the exposition so often needed to get you to a point of understanding with a complicated story. Nor do you rely on an omniscient narrator to tell you about these characters - they tell you what you need to know as you get to know them. There is no stony silence to figure out when you're getting their own running dialogue, and this transports you quickly through the plot without a feeling of confusion. While there are a few scenes establishing normalcy in order for characters to be rooted in some reality, you'll embrace them as a very effective contrast to the skin-crawling mess about to knock on the door. There's a lot of humor in the book, but at no point do you get the feeling that you're seeing a scene written purely to "make you care." Everything is vital to the plot, even if you don't get why at first. All threads are pulled tight and all threads are necessary to complete the piece.
The story begins with Carlos, "fixer" for The Council of the Dead and our main protagonist from Half-Resurrection Blues, and his ride-along with his EMT friend Victor and Victor's partner Del, who is from Grenada but speaks in a thick Russian accent peppered with Russian curse words since he got hit by a bus in the '90s. Victor tells Carlos that there's been a spate of mysterious and gruesome deaths in a particular park and Victor, knowing what he knows about Carlos and his Weird Dealings with Weird Shit, figures he might be able to help, or at least would want to know. While they're in the ambulance, Carlos gets a return call from his recently-made friend Kia, the wise-beyond-her-years 16-year-old manager of Baba Eddie's botánica. She says that she used to hang around the park and knows it well, but hasn't been back for a while. She sets up a meeting with Carlos and her best friend who babysits in that park, to get some answers, and suddenly they're off on a routine 911 call that's interrupted by one far less routine, and Carlos is confronted by an awful death scene, and a little old lady that informs him, to our mutual horror, that "The street is hungry."
As we move into Kia's first chapter, we learn about her long lost and most beloved cousin Giovanni, who disappeared into himself and then disappeared entirely, breaking her world in two and haunting her ever since. Haunting. If he's haunting her now, he must be dead and she might as well accept that. But he won't leave her mind and these memories are ripping holes in the fabric of her daily life and spilling into her lap, making it difficult to concentrate on the day-to-day.
We move back and forth between Kia and Carlos, knitting together a story big enough that Carlos once again reaches out to his new-but-now-trusted friends and allies rather than his usual method of working solo.
By Chapter Six, we meet the astonishing Reza, a dapper driver/bodyguard for a well-networked car service that transports and protects their escorts, as well as, we are led to assume, whatever is necessary to keep things handled in a potentially explosive part of a criminal underworld. Reza's doing a routine drive of one of their girls, Shelly, to a big house in a suburb. She's calm, heavily armed, ready for anything, but she doesn't like this place. Then, in one half of one of the most suspenseful scenes since Agent Starling's pitch black stumble through Buffalo Bill's lair, she goes in after Shelly.
We're then mercifully given to Kia while we smooth our hair back into place and embrace the levity of this scene that introduces us to Kia's "fine" Brazilian capoeira teacher Rigo, who's going to be instrumental to Kia's world getting flipped upside down in the chapters to come. We get a couple more chapters to move the plot into more menacing territory and by the time we're back with Reza, shit gets real.
If you're prone to nightmares, this is the chapter you don't want to read right before bedtime. This is the half of the scene that answers your gut's screaming question of why that first half was so worrying. And that's the end of Cycle One.
Cycle Two is called Burn the Whole Shit Down, and you will not wonder why.
As we move through the story, more outstanding characters join us and there's the better part of a whole action movie packed into one of Reza's chapters that establishes her crew in a way that you're ready to ride with them wherever they go next. When Reza and Carlos meet, the tension is ridiculous and a hard won respect evolves into a trust that sees them into what would be a great buddy comedy-action flick - except there has never been this kind of underlying horror in any of Hollywood's better comedy-action flicks thus far. The ending of their first outing together may leave you slapping at phantom itches.
In Cycle Three, you get a little time to breathe, and to laugh, as those who have been in the thick of it come together with those who have been on the fringes. And those who didn't have to deal with this kind of unholy shitstorm are just beginning to realize that they're not going to be able to avoid it from now on and it's time to get their shit together. And they realize that they can handle it. The strong find their own weaknesses and those who didn't know they were strong learn just how much power they really have. What had been complicated situations are made simple by the different approaches of the youngbloods, and as readers, we find love for each element of this strange network of people. Cycle Three finishes with a harrowing scene with Reza's crew, and since we know that Kia and the rest are on their way into it, the whole thing escalates. (And don't make the mistake of thinking everyone survives.)
We hit Cycle Four running, shots fired, and the pacing quickens, the heart rates go up, EVERYONE is in the shit and the quicker switching of points of view lets you see the whole scene in agonizing detail without getting bogged down in a lot of words. In fact, one of the most effective chapters of the second part of Cycle Four consists of just one three-word sentence. And you know what's about to happen because of that single, taut sentence.
By the end, there is some beautiful deliverance, some soothing of old wounds that readers of previous stories will find extra relief in. Decisions are made that will turn the course of some long-suffering employees of the Council of the Dead, and Kia decides she's got to do something big to get her world to make sense. The stories that arise in the Epilogue are tantalizing, and show that Older's world has the potential to grow for decades to come without even approaching repetition. We want to run off with each of these characters and see what they do, and each of them has a whole crew that you want to run with, too. The very last page was an unexpected bit of story, not a typical cliffhanger or cheap shot at a hook. It was an intriguing and beautiful scene of sighs that gives you the little fist pump you probably need after some intense shit, and I can't think of a single other story that gives you that sort of last morsel when you didn't know you needed it.
The story central to Midnight Taxi Tango is huge. It's enough to make a hell of a ride and if Older had approached it in the usual way of one protagonist leading us through, it would have been a good read. But the threads he wove in so masterfully, and the well-done POV switches made this book his biggest and best, with so many paths carved in that we aren't left wondering who these people are, but rather what ELSE is happening with them, what happens next, what happened before. I already loved Carlos and Kia - this makes me love Kia even more, and meeting Reza has given me a new action hero to root for, who could easily have her own series. She has everything you love about The Walking Dead's Michonne, but there is no filter, not one moment where Reza does something that Reza wouldn't do, and no reliance on any other character to approve or disapprove of her actions. She doesn't stay in the background in this story and while all the main characters are loud and proud and beautiful to know - genuinely, every single one including the villainous and frighteningly realistic Caitlin Fern - I found myself walking with Reza whenever I wasn't walking with Kia.
And "walking with" these characters is what this book allows in a way that few authors ever achieve. You're not watching, you're there, hoping you don't get in the way of the shot, hoping you don't get got and cause anyone to have to go and get you. You want to get an ethereal hug from Mama Esther. You want to help brush some gore from Reza's perfectly fitted suit. You want to light Carlos's Malagueña, buy a drink for Riley to sip on the sly, get coffee with Kia and her friends to catch up on their lives and make sure they're feeling fine.
We've heard from those authors who feel that stories about people that are not like them are trivial, unnecessary, not universal, not relatable, not what books should be. We've come to understand that they believe that universal means only White folks with at most, peripheral others, some even made brown but written White. But good writing means that readers of any background can step into these worlds, understand these characters and their motivations, and come along for the ride without any jolt of disbelief reminding them who they're not. If this were a pedestrian little tale written to pander to the mere notion of diversity, it might be at most an easy read, noted for the novelty and quickly forgotten. It might indeed be a frivolous vanity project that won't appeal to the masses, that would alienate "mainstream" readers.
But what we have in Midnight Taxi Tango is not only Older's best work in the Bone Street Rumba series, it's the best spec fic novel to appear in quite some time. This is the stuff that creates voracious fandoms. Reading this, you will find a world as vast and inclusive to the reader as Rowling's, with a vastly different but incredibly engaging and easy narrative style that will hook anyone that likes a good tale of horror, suspense and humor. We didn't have to be English children to "get" Harry Potter. We didn't have to be space cowboys to "get" Han Solo. We don't have to be Latinx or Black American or African or Indigenous to "get" any character in this book, or this series. But for those that are, the extra hand on your back that you ALSO belong among the readers of speculative fiction will give you the rare and precious acknowledgement that you are seen, heard, and reflected.
Regardless of who you are, if you're intrigued by this story, clear your calendar for the day you open this book and brace yourself. You're about to make some friends and go through some shit with them that are going to stay with you to the point that you may join the ranks of those lovingly harassing Daniel to hurry up with the next story.
Midnight Taxi Tango is available for pre-order now and will be released on January 5th, 2016.
Update: It's out! http://www.penguin.com/book/midnight-...
Further reading:
Salsa Nocturna is a collection of short stories in the Bone Street Rumba series which involve some of the characters in MTT. Timeless in setting.
Half-Resurrection Blues is a novel with Carlos as the main protagonist, and ends as MTT begins.
Shadowshaper is a YA book in the Bone Street Rumba series that tells another part of this world and which is briefly referenced in MTT.
I was already a fan of Daniel José Older's work, from his dreamy, lyrical short stories to his sharper, grittier noir-style work as part of the Bone Street Rumba series to his essays on the world of publishing, popular culture and activism. I found out that he began writing in order to contribute more characters not often seen in speculative fiction, and to encourage further writing by those who suffered from "self-rejection" because they're not yet adequately reflected in publishing overall, particularly in the mainstream.
Of Older's fiction, I first read his short story Dust, published in Lightspeed Magazine, which isn't a part of this series. It is, however, a beautifully written piece of literary fiction set in space, with a potentially vast world behind it, and I wanted more. I picked up Half-Resurrection Blues right afterwards, as it was just released at the time I came to notice his work. I fell instantly for Carlos as a character, and his self-deprecating humor mixed with utter bad-assery in the dispatching of bad guys in the course of his work was immediately accessible, familiar enough, and novel enough to keep me reading. I love noir as a genre and seeing this kind of character in a noir style was a bolt from the blue with which I immediately identified as a longtime fan of horror and suspense. I went back and read Salsa Nocturna, his book of short stories set in the same world, and then to my delight, found that Shadowshaper, his first YA novel in the same series, was about to come out. Shadowshaper created an impressive ripple in the YA world and emerged to high praise, as had Half-Resurrection Blues. My hopes for Midnight Taxi Tango were high, and when the author reached out for a speck of help in securing Argentine song rights, he graciously sent me a reading copy with his blessing to dive in. I read Cycle One in one night, then the entire rest of the book two nights later, in one sitting, on my day off.
Broadly speaking, Older has taken hold of speculative fiction (collecting what's been traditionally known as sci-fi, fantasy, horror) and has mixed in stories of people that are like those around him in his life in Brooklyn - not of one background or ethnicity but a multitude, each vibrantly alive (no offense to the dead and half-dead) and utterly relatable due to their depth and their humanity. It's this more realistic mix of characters that have opened spec fic to a lot of readers that could never get behind its perceived monolithic point of view, and have allowed these new readers to swing over to more established "fringe" authors who may not be known outside the die-hard fans of spec fic.
It's also given some satisfaction to long-time readers of the genre(s) by not only putting in characters that reflect them but also their friends and neighbors, and doing so with a modernity that makes the world in these stories more real. By then allowing the fantastic elements - ghosts, off-world creatures, vast libraries of hidden knowledge and other supernatural delights - to mingle with the world that is real to millions rather than the sterilized, white or ethnically ambiguous "Everyman" world that doesn't fully exist to anyone, this makes the horror more horrifying, the reality becoming even heavier through recognition of living, breathing foes with largely unchallenged power, being amplified into villains with access to ancient magic and off-world influence. Rather than asking you to put everything you know on hold and accept a magical world, you're already standing next to Kia and Carlos when the bad guys kick down the door into your world, put their cigars out in your drink, sit on your lap and tell you how shit is going to go down. It's gripping, it's slickly told, it's full of cool confidence and genuine humor. It's definitely (modern) noir, and it's definitely fucking terrifying.
It's not necessary to have read previous stories in the series to get a hold of the story in this book. Older is great about explaining what needs to be explained to orient new readers, without boring those familiar with his characters and this world. In fact, these periodic reminders help refresh those returning readers without dwindling into a "previously on blah blah blah" flashback sequence. For once, I didn't find myself skipping over the explanations, as I've noticed that Older writes them differently each time, always in-character, always at the right pace.
The most striking difference about this book from the others in the series is that it's told through the points of view of different characters, chapter by chapter, and though they're cohesive and clearly laid out, each of those chapters has a slightly different feel, with young Kia's style being the most literary of Older's work so far in the Bone Street Rumba series. Older allows Kia to evoke some of the dreamy otherworldliness present in his short stories that are not in this series, while remaining very much a child of this modern world with her cultural references, music and her friends. He allows this teenage girl to be a deep, complicated character that is emerging from this series as a powerful force that will clearly be present in, and probably leading, a lot of stories to come. But all of the characters telling their parts are potently present: Carlos and the newly introduced Reza will take you along just as engagingly as Kia will. They're all forces of nature in their own rights, and their different takes on what's going on allow you to round out the action without tripping over lengthy descriptions.
The result of all of this switching is an excellently paced story that has moments of genuine, deep suspense and horror. The narratives aren't broken up by the exposition so often needed to get you to a point of understanding with a complicated story. Nor do you rely on an omniscient narrator to tell you about these characters - they tell you what you need to know as you get to know them. There is no stony silence to figure out when you're getting their own running dialogue, and this transports you quickly through the plot without a feeling of confusion. While there are a few scenes establishing normalcy in order for characters to be rooted in some reality, you'll embrace them as a very effective contrast to the skin-crawling mess about to knock on the door. There's a lot of humor in the book, but at no point do you get the feeling that you're seeing a scene written purely to "make you care." Everything is vital to the plot, even if you don't get why at first. All threads are pulled tight and all threads are necessary to complete the piece.
The story begins with Carlos, "fixer" for The Council of the Dead and our main protagonist from Half-Resurrection Blues, and his ride-along with his EMT friend Victor and Victor's partner Del, who is from Grenada but speaks in a thick Russian accent peppered with Russian curse words since he got hit by a bus in the '90s. Victor tells Carlos that there's been a spate of mysterious and gruesome deaths in a particular park and Victor, knowing what he knows about Carlos and his Weird Dealings with Weird Shit, figures he might be able to help, or at least would want to know. While they're in the ambulance, Carlos gets a return call from his recently-made friend Kia, the wise-beyond-her-years 16-year-old manager of Baba Eddie's botánica. She says that she used to hang around the park and knows it well, but hasn't been back for a while. She sets up a meeting with Carlos and her best friend who babysits in that park, to get some answers, and suddenly they're off on a routine 911 call that's interrupted by one far less routine, and Carlos is confronted by an awful death scene, and a little old lady that informs him, to our mutual horror, that "The street is hungry."
As we move into Kia's first chapter, we learn about her long lost and most beloved cousin Giovanni, who disappeared into himself and then disappeared entirely, breaking her world in two and haunting her ever since. Haunting. If he's haunting her now, he must be dead and she might as well accept that. But he won't leave her mind and these memories are ripping holes in the fabric of her daily life and spilling into her lap, making it difficult to concentrate on the day-to-day.
We move back and forth between Kia and Carlos, knitting together a story big enough that Carlos once again reaches out to his new-but-now-trusted friends and allies rather than his usual method of working solo.
By Chapter Six, we meet the astonishing Reza, a dapper driver/bodyguard for a well-networked car service that transports and protects their escorts, as well as, we are led to assume, whatever is necessary to keep things handled in a potentially explosive part of a criminal underworld. Reza's doing a routine drive of one of their girls, Shelly, to a big house in a suburb. She's calm, heavily armed, ready for anything, but she doesn't like this place. Then, in one half of one of the most suspenseful scenes since Agent Starling's pitch black stumble through Buffalo Bill's lair, she goes in after Shelly.
We're then mercifully given to Kia while we smooth our hair back into place and embrace the levity of this scene that introduces us to Kia's "fine" Brazilian capoeira teacher Rigo, who's going to be instrumental to Kia's world getting flipped upside down in the chapters to come. We get a couple more chapters to move the plot into more menacing territory and by the time we're back with Reza, shit gets real.
If you're prone to nightmares, this is the chapter you don't want to read right before bedtime. This is the half of the scene that answers your gut's screaming question of why that first half was so worrying. And that's the end of Cycle One.
Cycle Two is called Burn the Whole Shit Down, and you will not wonder why.
As we move through the story, more outstanding characters join us and there's the better part of a whole action movie packed into one of Reza's chapters that establishes her crew in a way that you're ready to ride with them wherever they go next. When Reza and Carlos meet, the tension is ridiculous and a hard won respect evolves into a trust that sees them into what would be a great buddy comedy-action flick - except there has never been this kind of underlying horror in any of Hollywood's better comedy-action flicks thus far. The ending of their first outing together may leave you slapping at phantom itches.
In Cycle Three, you get a little time to breathe, and to laugh, as those who have been in the thick of it come together with those who have been on the fringes. And those who didn't have to deal with this kind of unholy shitstorm are just beginning to realize that they're not going to be able to avoid it from now on and it's time to get their shit together. And they realize that they can handle it. The strong find their own weaknesses and those who didn't know they were strong learn just how much power they really have. What had been complicated situations are made simple by the different approaches of the youngbloods, and as readers, we find love for each element of this strange network of people. Cycle Three finishes with a harrowing scene with Reza's crew, and since we know that Kia and the rest are on their way into it, the whole thing escalates. (And don't make the mistake of thinking everyone survives.)
We hit Cycle Four running, shots fired, and the pacing quickens, the heart rates go up, EVERYONE is in the shit and the quicker switching of points of view lets you see the whole scene in agonizing detail without getting bogged down in a lot of words. In fact, one of the most effective chapters of the second part of Cycle Four consists of just one three-word sentence. And you know what's about to happen because of that single, taut sentence.
By the end, there is some beautiful deliverance, some soothing of old wounds that readers of previous stories will find extra relief in. Decisions are made that will turn the course of some long-suffering employees of the Council of the Dead, and Kia decides she's got to do something big to get her world to make sense. The stories that arise in the Epilogue are tantalizing, and show that Older's world has the potential to grow for decades to come without even approaching repetition. We want to run off with each of these characters and see what they do, and each of them has a whole crew that you want to run with, too. The very last page was an unexpected bit of story, not a typical cliffhanger or cheap shot at a hook. It was an intriguing and beautiful scene of sighs that gives you the little fist pump you probably need after some intense shit, and I can't think of a single other story that gives you that sort of last morsel when you didn't know you needed it.
The story central to Midnight Taxi Tango is huge. It's enough to make a hell of a ride and if Older had approached it in the usual way of one protagonist leading us through, it would have been a good read. But the threads he wove in so masterfully, and the well-done POV switches made this book his biggest and best, with so many paths carved in that we aren't left wondering who these people are, but rather what ELSE is happening with them, what happens next, what happened before. I already loved Carlos and Kia - this makes me love Kia even more, and meeting Reza has given me a new action hero to root for, who could easily have her own series. She has everything you love about The Walking Dead's Michonne, but there is no filter, not one moment where Reza does something that Reza wouldn't do, and no reliance on any other character to approve or disapprove of her actions. She doesn't stay in the background in this story and while all the main characters are loud and proud and beautiful to know - genuinely, every single one including the villainous and frighteningly realistic Caitlin Fern - I found myself walking with Reza whenever I wasn't walking with Kia.
And "walking with" these characters is what this book allows in a way that few authors ever achieve. You're not watching, you're there, hoping you don't get in the way of the shot, hoping you don't get got and cause anyone to have to go and get you. You want to get an ethereal hug from Mama Esther. You want to help brush some gore from Reza's perfectly fitted suit. You want to light Carlos's Malagueña, buy a drink for Riley to sip on the sly, get coffee with Kia and her friends to catch up on their lives and make sure they're feeling fine.
We've heard from those authors who feel that stories about people that are not like them are trivial, unnecessary, not universal, not relatable, not what books should be. We've come to understand that they believe that universal means only White folks with at most, peripheral others, some even made brown but written White. But good writing means that readers of any background can step into these worlds, understand these characters and their motivations, and come along for the ride without any jolt of disbelief reminding them who they're not. If this were a pedestrian little tale written to pander to the mere notion of diversity, it might be at most an easy read, noted for the novelty and quickly forgotten. It might indeed be a frivolous vanity project that won't appeal to the masses, that would alienate "mainstream" readers.
But what we have in Midnight Taxi Tango is not only Older's best work in the Bone Street Rumba series, it's the best spec fic novel to appear in quite some time. This is the stuff that creates voracious fandoms. Reading this, you will find a world as vast and inclusive to the reader as Rowling's, with a vastly different but incredibly engaging and easy narrative style that will hook anyone that likes a good tale of horror, suspense and humor. We didn't have to be English children to "get" Harry Potter. We didn't have to be space cowboys to "get" Han Solo. We don't have to be Latinx or Black American or African or Indigenous to "get" any character in this book, or this series. But for those that are, the extra hand on your back that you ALSO belong among the readers of speculative fiction will give you the rare and precious acknowledgement that you are seen, heard, and reflected.
Regardless of who you are, if you're intrigued by this story, clear your calendar for the day you open this book and brace yourself. You're about to make some friends and go through some shit with them that are going to stay with you to the point that you may join the ranks of those lovingly harassing Daniel to hurry up with the next story.
Midnight Taxi Tango is available for pre-order now and will be released on January 5th, 2016.
Update: It's out! http://www.penguin.com/book/midnight-...
Further reading:
Salsa Nocturna is a collection of short stories in the Bone Street Rumba series which involve some of the characters in MTT. Timeless in setting.
Half-Resurrection Blues is a novel with Carlos as the main protagonist, and ends as MTT begins.
Shadowshaper is a YA book in the Bone Street Rumba series that tells another part of this world and which is briefly referenced in MTT.
February 28, 2017
I love that Older's characters are so well-realized: they are crisp in your mind, well-rounded, complex characters. The men and women who populate his fantasy worlds are real men and women--the men can love and the women can kick ass, and vice versa. They drink, they have sex, they love. This realness and rawness (also reflected in his dialogue) makes the fantasy elements somehow seem more possible.
January 25, 2016
https://koeur.wordpress.com/2016/01/2...
Publisher: Roc
Publishing Date: January 2016
ISBN:9780425275993
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 2.5/5
Publishers Description: Carlos Delacruz straddles the line between the living and the not-so alive. As an
agent for the Council of the Dead, he eliminates New York’s ghostlier problems. This time it’s a string of gruesome paranormal accidents in Brooklyn’s Von King Park that has already taken the lives of several locals—and is bound to take more.
Review: This writer must have a problem with old people as every referent to the aged has malignant commentary. Not that I really care, just seemed odd. He also seems to be hung up on skin color because you just cant get away from the “white skin bad/ brown skin good ” shtick that plagues this book. Racist? Maybe. He sure brushes at the edge of racial poignancy veiled as cultural diversity. But he makes it ok with a white manly lesbian masquerading as a competent assassin.
“So why you give 2.5 stars!?” Despite the racial bias the story line was interesting up to a point. The characters developed nicely with the movement yet some of the scenes and chapters lacked logical progression. Chapters didn’t flow very well into the next in some instances and it didn’t help that the character perspectives changed with each new chapter. The ending just didn’t fit with the overall theme. The fight scene was even more contrived and it seemed like it was a rush to an ending. Overall, ‘meh’.
Publisher: Roc
Publishing Date: January 2016
ISBN:9780425275993
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 2.5/5
Publishers Description: Carlos Delacruz straddles the line between the living and the not-so alive. As an
agent for the Council of the Dead, he eliminates New York’s ghostlier problems. This time it’s a string of gruesome paranormal accidents in Brooklyn’s Von King Park that has already taken the lives of several locals—and is bound to take more.
Review: This writer must have a problem with old people as every referent to the aged has malignant commentary. Not that I really care, just seemed odd. He also seems to be hung up on skin color because you just cant get away from the “white skin bad/ brown skin good ” shtick that plagues this book. Racist? Maybe. He sure brushes at the edge of racial poignancy veiled as cultural diversity. But he makes it ok with a white manly lesbian masquerading as a competent assassin.
“So why you give 2.5 stars!?” Despite the racial bias the story line was interesting up to a point. The characters developed nicely with the movement yet some of the scenes and chapters lacked logical progression. Chapters didn’t flow very well into the next in some instances and it didn’t help that the character perspectives changed with each new chapter. The ending just didn’t fit with the overall theme. The fight scene was even more contrived and it seemed like it was a rush to an ending. Overall, ‘meh’.
January 8, 2016
Got this book & would have devoured it overnight, but being social got in the way. So it took me a day and a half to read instead.
That said, it's the much-anticipated sequel to Half-Resurrection Blues, but I'm curious as to how this is going to connect with Salsa Nocturna: Stories, which is how I originally learned about (and learned to love) Older's brand of storytelling.
That said, it's the much-anticipated sequel to Half-Resurrection Blues, but I'm curious as to how this is going to connect with Salsa Nocturna: Stories, which is how I originally learned about (and learned to love) Older's brand of storytelling.
January 8, 2016
I will not "OMG YASSSSSS" like I want to. I will restrain myself.
I will say that this does not have nearly the cultural references that the previous had, but Older knows how to intertwine the lives and actions of three very different people into a scintillating read. This is more action-oriented than the last, but that's welcome. The surprise ending, the personalities...this adds up to a great story.
I will say that this does not have nearly the cultural references that the previous had, but Older knows how to intertwine the lives and actions of three very different people into a scintillating read. This is more action-oriented than the last, but that's welcome. The surprise ending, the personalities...this adds up to a great story.
January 23, 2016
My goodness! I read this from cover to cover in half a day. And it only took that long because I had to have a nap and dinner. This is a brilliant, pacey, clever read, that builds on the brilliance of Half-Resurrection Blues and adds in even more wonderful characters.
This is proper urban fantasy folks, diverse, engaging and breathtaking. So treat yourself. Read Half-Resurrection Blues if you haven't already then dive into this and watch you tea get cold as you get lost in the pages.
This is proper urban fantasy folks, diverse, engaging and breathtaking. So treat yourself. Read Half-Resurrection Blues if you haven't already then dive into this and watch you tea get cold as you get lost in the pages.
May 6, 2017
Only a voice like Daniel Jose Older's could have brought me back to reading horror after 30+ years, especially gory, bug monster kind of horror. This deliciously rich, nuanced, funny, twisty, vivid writing is worth every nightmare it gave me.
January 22, 2016
This handled ALL the pacing and man pain quibbles I had with the first entry in this series, kept all the good stuff, and kept on world-building this "urban fantasy" Brooklyn. It was just great and entertaining and made me excited for the third book in the series.
March 13, 2016
4.5 stars
August 24, 2016
Duuuuuuuuuudddeeeeee.
March 29, 2017
Good continuation of the series - this adds several other points of view, which was good, as Carlos definitely wasn't my favorite of the book.
January 16, 2018
The book was high action and full of charismatic characters and earthy Brooklyn-ness. But I still found myself throughout the story seeking a raison d’etre for this piece. I couldn’t get the point exactly.
It’s as if a well-dressed and engaging stranger just walked up and started telling you about how rainbows are formed. And while the information is interesting, you’re missing the key component: what exactly is this barrage of information in reply to?
Also, Older narrated his own book. His voice is compelling but he over-emphasises a lot. Reminds me of spoken word/slam poets. Some bits seem to be accorded significance and tension by dint of the tone in which they’re read when they aren’t really that pivotal at all. Somewhat less in this area may be more.
Overall, a good experience, though, that kept my attention while I worked.
Ps: I get the whole culture etc but the cursing was a bit too much and somewhat gratuitous for me here. It was more measured and effective in book 1.
It’s as if a well-dressed and engaging stranger just walked up and started telling you about how rainbows are formed. And while the information is interesting, you’re missing the key component: what exactly is this barrage of information in reply to?
Also, Older narrated his own book. His voice is compelling but he over-emphasises a lot. Reminds me of spoken word/slam poets. Some bits seem to be accorded significance and tension by dint of the tone in which they’re read when they aren’t really that pivotal at all. Somewhat less in this area may be more.
Overall, a good experience, though, that kept my attention while I worked.
Ps: I get the whole culture etc but the cursing was a bit too much and somewhat gratuitous for me here. It was more measured and effective in book 1.
October 13, 2018
3.5 stars. This was a good continuation of the series. I really liked the characters we were introduced to and seeing things from their point of view instead of just Carlos, even though I love Carlos. Daniel José Older narrated the audiobook and I love his style. My only complaint is that he does such an amazing job of differentiating so many of the characters but when it came to the 2 main characters, Carlos and Kia, I couldn’t tell them apart. I continued to get lost in the story because of this and would have rated higher otherwise. Lots of intense action which was enjoyable. A very timely and culturally relevant story even with all its otherworldly elements.
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