Friday, April 22, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado

 


Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on May 3, 2022 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Burn Down, Rise Up is a young adult urban fantasy/horror novel from debut author Vincent Tirado.  The story is a combination of some classical young adult tropes - an urban legend/creepypasta type of game, a protagonist who doesn't realize what her feelings towards a friend mean and, upon realizing it, finds herself afraid to voice those feelings or to believe they're reciprocated, etc.  But what makes it different is that the story uses as its background the real history of the Bronx, from its burning in the 70s to issues with gentrification and slumlords and more.  

And the result is a very solid if a bit predictable YA novel, which hits most of the expected plot beats in the romance and the horror in the ways you'd expect, and in the ways that are relevant in its themes the book tires to go for.  There's little really special here, and you may be yelling at the protagonist for missing the romantic signs so blatantly for way too long, but it's a very solidly crafted novel that you couldn't go wrong in reading, whose Bronx setting and themes of prevailing by coming together do give it just a little bit of originality.

----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
For a year, the Bronx has been the location for mysterious disappearances that no one can explain - even of white kids who the press and police are usually determined to find.  For 16 year old Raquel, this isn't her problem, other than it being something that makes her be especially careful - after all, it's not like the police or authority would look for her if she goes missing.  But when the latest disappearance turns out to be Cisco, an acquaintance who happens to be the cousin of Charlize, one of Raquel's childhood friends (who Raquel has some strange feelings about she can't quite understand)....the matter begins to come to the forefront of Raquel's mind.  And this becomes even more so when Raquel's mother becomes sick with a mysterious but connected illness, and Raquel begins to see things in her dreams that seem to affect her physically.  

Raquel, Charlize, and Raquel's best friend Aaron will soon find themselves teaming up to try to investigate, only to discover the answer may lie both in an urban legend challenge known as the Echo Game along with the history of the Bronx - a history filled with fire, misery, and false promises.  For Raquel to save her mom and help her friend - and to realize perhaps how much closer she wants Charlize in particular to be - she will have to take on the challenge herself....if she can survive the horrors that lie behind it all....
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Burn Down, Rise Up is a novel following Raquel a high school teenager from a divorced family, who lives with her paramedic mom and only occasionally sees her bit backwards and more spiritual EMT father.  She's Afro-Latina and bilingual (and thus knows she has to avoid too much attention from the cops), although she mainly speaks English in this novel, and well isn't quite sure about her sexuality or what her feelings towards her childhood friend Charlize - a girl she hasn't been quite an active friend to in a while but feels like she wants to again - actually mean, and well spends a good amount of the first half of the book pining without realizing she's doing it.  And she cares deeply for her mother - and even her father who takes over when her mom gets sick, even if she's not quite as sure what to do with his strange beliefs - as well as her friends - like her best friend Aaron, whose crush on Charlize makes things even harder for her to put things into words.  All in all, all of this is pretty standard YA fantasy/horror protagonist stuff here.  

What makes Burn Down Rise Up stand out just a little is how it incorporates the history of the Bronx into its horrors story.  While the Echo Game copypasta horror that forms the basis for the horrors coming out is global, how it manifests here is by making the horrors and evils of what happened to the Bronx/South Bronx come back and manifest, to torture those who go into it.....and to spread through those who go into it and go out.  And so Raquel has to deal with the burning of the Bronx in the 70s, the gentrification by outsiders despite the wishes of the local people, and how slumlords preyed upon those living there by making them live in horrid conditions all for the sake of their own greed.  The book does an excellent job bringing these historical and current issues to the forefront, and centers it as Raquel faces a pretty standard YA horror-romance plot.  

And well that horror-romance plot holds up well, with the book's characters working pretty well - not just Raquel, but the unsure of her own feelings as well Charlize, Raquel's best friend Aaron, and Aaron's brother and slightly creepy (but turns out not to be a bad guy once told "no") Mario.  Events are sort of predictable at times, but not at others, and the book is short enough that it never really loses your interest or attention once you start it.  Again there's nothing really truly here special, either, and to be honest I'm having a hard time finding more things to say.  

But well, it's a solid YA Fantasy/Horror novel, featuring a pretty solid look at a real life setting in the Bronx, and that's certainly worth your time if you're interested.  
  

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