Adult author O.O. Sangoyomi's first YA fantasy, Dreamweaving, is an exhilarating occult mystery about five teens investigating the death of a former student at their prestigious prep school.
The women in Black 16-year-old Deja Freeman's family are magic workers who "heal or physically alter themselves." To be a "weaver," an older woman must induct a girl into "The Web," a mystical energy source. Deja's mother, Renée, "sacrificed her spot at the best secondary school in the United States for... drugs," gave birth to Deja as a teen, and died before passing on the tradition. When Deja, who has a 4.2 GPA, receives a scholarship and enrolls at the illustrious Tanglewood Preparatory School, she finds herself walking the same halls as her mother once did. There Deja meets Eden, a brilliant, shy Black computer whiz from Louisiana; Tóbi, an ambitious, high-achieving Nigerian American junior; Tóbi's academic rival, Monte, a white boy with Rockefeller-esque wealth; and trumpet player Fabien, "the biracial love child of the British royal family." After the quintet of students interacts with a meteorite that fell on school grounds, they experience strange, shared dreams that repeat the name of the school's first Black female student. The teens join forces to untangle the secrets around her disappearance.
Sangoyomi delivers an affecting, taut mystery that includes supernatural elements while exploring the pressures placed on teenagers to excel. The driven teens gradually learn to trust and support one another, developing their own found family. Fans of Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Boys series and Tracy Deonn's Legendborn Cycle will find familiar elements in Dreamweaving's mysterious school setting and close-knit group of friends, as well as an entrancing magic spun from Black traditions. --Natasha Harris, freelance reviewer