MAJOR DETOURS

See what your cards reveal....

Before parting for different colleges, four friends spend their last summer together on a road trip through California, with a deck of tarot cards deciding their specific route. At their first stop, they discover that the unique deck is actually the last work of a prestigious artist. He hid the four missing cards, and the deck’s owner can only locate them by deciphering clues. The friends—brash, anxious Amelia, who inherited the deck from her beloved grandmother; Amelia’s best friend, Chase, the analytical planner; Logan, Chase’s athletic boyfriend; Cleo, the maybe-nonbinary artist—alter their trip in order to complete this elaborate scavenger hunt. The story follows the symbolic journey of the tarot’s major arcana, one of setting out and discovering truths, facing obstacles, and eventually arriving at deeper understanding. Sergi has folded the concept of the tarot into the structure of the book itself in a creative and entertaining way, as readers follow a choose-your-own-adventure style of page turns. Although some destinations are predetermined, each decision shapes the journey and the ultimate outcome. For those less familiar with the tarot, the book helpfully includes descriptions of card meanings as well as various perspectives on how to read them. Amelia is Jewish, Chase seems to be White by default, multiracial Logan is Trinidadian, and Cleo is cued as biracial (Japanese/White).

A fascinating journey for fun and introspection—just like the inspirational tarot.