This was a typical "strange boy turns out to be powerful and special" story but I love that it wasn't a farm boy from a preindustrial, same-but-slightly-different-from-our-own civilization. I've never read an African-American hero before and, though I don't relate culturally, it was interesting and I hope to find more of them. The whole book was pretty chill, nothing happened very fast and the crazy parts didn't come across as bizarre as I thought they should have, but maybe that was just a side effect of listening to it while doing manual labor. (I was building a low rock wall in my yard) Maybe if I'd been curled up on my cozy couch and totally focused on it it would have been more engaging?

I enjoyed all the characters except the two side supernatural man and woman. They were nebulous for too long and when I found out who they were I'd been confused so long, not curious, confused, that I couldn't retroactively fit them into their roles/personalities. And there were some places where even I could tell the lingo was unrealistic.

Despite the weird spots I'm glad I listened to it while working in the yard and have found myself curious about what the characters did after they flew off into the sunset.