THE 66TH REBIRTH OF FRANKIE CARIDI

A convoluted exploration of lives past and present.

In this second series entry, siblings Frankie and Lucie are spending their summer as counselors at the Pythagorean Institute retreat. Listeners—acolytes from a time when the institute was “a cult of flying yogis”—participate in activities like tai chi and meditation and (more mysteriously) go “behind the veil,” something counselors are expressly excluded from doing. The counselors do get to work on learning to levitate on their own, however. Meanwhile, white-presenting Frankie is recovering memories—and they’re not from this life! She soon learns that she’s a reincarnation of Mother, a key player in the institute’s inception. This discovery takes her on internal and external journeys: Frankie must learn who she is, who she’s been, and what this all means for her lifetime. Unlike the strong first volume, this second book feels ponderous, focusing on Frankie’s past lives, the metaphysics of channeling and reincarnation, and the origins of the cult. Things are often confusing (and at times unsettling) as the aged Listeners relate to this 14-year-old incarnation of Mother; one of them, an elderly man named Cadmus, is Mother’s adopted son. Despite some interesting plot points, the action is light, and the time spent exploring past lives pulls the focus away from Frankie, lowering the emotional stakes.

An overly dense, highly conceptual journey.