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pickfordm
, August 06, 2014
(view all comments by pickfordm)
Lyn Di Iorio's "Outside the Bones" is an intelligent read, fast-paced and packed with adventure. The narrator, Fina, is a bruja, a self described "spirit worker," who after the breakup of her marriage begins to take her gifts more seriously. When she casts a few spells in an attempt to win the heart of Chico,the sexy trumpet player who lives in her apartment building, and to get rid of her competition, she becomes enmeshed in an intricate web of intrigue and murder. As Fina gets to the core of the mystery, she also learns the secrets of her own long-buried past. Di Iorio also provides vivid descriptions of the rituals of Palo, an Afro-Caribbean religio-magical tradition, as Fina learns to cast spells and fly with the nfuiris, or spirits, which fill her world. Altogether, this is an accessible and entertaining novel, and an impressive literary debut.
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