Reading Popisho felt like a tripping headfirst into an adult version of The Phantom Tollbooth set to a soundtrack of "For The Benefit of Mr. Kite."

Set in a fictional Caribbean archipelago called Popisho, this delightful and kaleidoscopic book takes place over the course of a day and follows a chorus of magical characters as the impending wedding of the Governor’s daughter approaches. At the center of it all is Xavier Redchoose, the macaenus (a role appointed-by-the-gods to prepare a meal for every Popisho resident over his tenure). 

This was easily one of the most creative books I’ve ever read. Everyone in Popisho is born with “cors,” another word for some sort of magical endowment. But not in a predictable witchcraft/sorcery way. Cors are as varied as people; some people have extremely long limbs, others can detect when you lie, others can change the colors of random objects. Author Leone Ross also committed impressively to world-building. There were so many invented words that I gave up on looking up definitions and just leaned in to the disorientation. And every plot turn felt completely original and entrancingly chaotic.