This is what I love about the Tournament of Books. Every year, it introduces me to a writer I didn't know about that I'm thrilled to discover.
This book showed up in the comments at the end of this year's Tournament. And boy, am I glad it did.
Sister Mine is the story of two sisters, Makeda (the narrator) and Abby. They're twins; but more unusual than that, they're conjoined twins who were separated. But the uniqueness doesn't end there--they're half-human, half-demigod.Their unusual birth has not left them evenly accounted for; Abby has her own form of magic that becomes stronger as she grows up, while Makeda has more of the human side of the equation--as in, no magic or mojo of her own, and thus an object of scorn to the demigod side of the family.
Their mother is long gone under somewhat mysterious circumstances, and they're beloved father, from the demigod side, is failing. One day he disappears. Makeda and Abby, who struggle mightily with sisterly bonds and dysfunctional family gatherings (the demigod side is referred to, amusingly, as "the Family", as it was a mafia group), must find him before dire things happen--and as they search, they realize that things are far more dire than they already supposed.
So, it's magical realism, or fantasy, or whatever you'd like to call it. It's also a raucous wild ride. Makeda is a prickly, spitfire narrator with a warped sense of humor who has to keep looking over her shoulder for the haint that is determined to stalk her down. She's fierce and fragile at the same time. She wants more than anything to build a life separate from Abby and escape the feelings of mediocrity that having no mojo gives her. But she needs Abby to find their dad.
There's also a person who used to be Jimi Hendrix's guitar, cats that act as security guards, and--for the knitters in the crowd--knitting that plays a key role in the story.
I really loved this book. It's a bit uneven in places--it's a little slow to get going in the beginning, and at times the writing is clunky. But other times, it's soaring, and the plot flies along at a briskly entertaining pace. For all her prickliness and thin skin, Makeda is a wonderful narrator to hang out with.