I am SOOOOO excited to be on the tour for BALLAD & DAGGER, one of my most anticipated reads of 2022! Check out the excerpt below and enter to win a copy!
Daniel José Older is a New York Times best-selling author and story architect. He has published fourteen novels and numerous short stories and essays, and he is a regular comics writer for Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures and Marvel. He won the International Latino Book Award and has been a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, the Mythopoeic Award, the Locus Award, the Andre Norton Award, and the World Fantasy Award. 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, as well as on YouTube, @djolder on Twitter, @danieljose1 on Instagram, and @danieljoseolder on TikTok. He and his family live in New Orleans.
Title: BALLAD & DAGGER (Outlaw Saints #1)
Author: Daniel José Older
Pub. Date: May 3, 2022
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
Pages: 384
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Daniel José Older's music-and-magic-filled YA urban
fantasy about two teens who discover each other and their powers during a political battle
within a unique diaspora community.
Almost sixteen years ago, Mateo Matisse's island homeland disappeared into the sea. Weary
and hopeless, the survivors of San Madrigal's sinking escaped to New York.
While the rest of his tight-knit Brooklyn diaspora community dreams of someday finding a way
back home, Mateo--now a high school junior and piano prodigy living with his two aunts (one
who's alive, the other not so much)--is focused on one thing: getting the attention of locally-
grown musical legend Gerval. Mateo finally gets his chance on the night of the Grand Fete, an
annual party celebrating the blended culture of pirates, Cuban Santeros, and Sephardic Jews
that created San Madrigal all those centuries ago.
But the evil that sank their island has finally caught up with them, and on the night of the
celebration, Mateo's life is forever changed when he witnesses a brutal murder by a person he
thought he knew.
Suddenly Mateo is thrust into an ancient battle that spans years and oceans. Deadly secrets are
unraveled and Mateo awakens a power within himself--a power that not only links him to the
killer but could also hold the key to unlocking the dark mystery behind his lost homeland.
From the author of the award-winning Shadowshaper Cypher series comes the first novel in
the Outlaw Saints duology--a brilliant story that will transport readers to a world where
magic, myth, and gods reign over the streets of Brooklyn.
CHAPTER ONE
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