National Book Award finalist and Michael L. Printz Award winner Randy Ribay (Patron Saints of Nothing; Everything We Never Had) mines his Filipino heritage and its mythology for Nest of Tongues, an action-packed YA horror mystery about teen vampire siblings.
High school senior Lily and 15-year-old Caleb are manananggal, Filipino vampires who must keep their powers secret by living mediocre lives and hunting only enough small animals to survive. Their mother and their lola (grandmother) are also manananggal, and the teens currently live in California with Lola while their mother is away in the Philippines. But the Bayani, "the once-in-a-generation 'hero' blessed by the gods with supernatural skills and abilities... to track down and exterminate" the manananggal and other Ta'Li, or "hidden people," has left the Philippines and come to the Bay Area. When the Bayani marks Caleb for death, the whole family must decide whether to hide Caleb or fight for their people's survival.
Ribay employs the first-person perspectives of Caleb and Lily to present their complex internal lives and show the different ways both siblings navigate their understanding of their identities. The author skillfully combines Filipino community and home life with the realities of an older generation who fled a horrific historical regime while also artfully depicting and building on a folkloric foundation. Nest of Tongues uses mystery, thriller, and horror tropes to create a novel that is exhilarating and touching, a great read-alike for those who enjoyed Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro's The Sun and the Star or Ibi Zoboi's (S)kin. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer