★★★★
"I'm just human. Our task is to try. Being a death warrior is all in the trying."
After
the recent death of his father and older sister, seventeen-year-old Pancho
arrives at St. Anthony’s Home for orphaned boys with one thing on his mind - to
leave as soon as he gets the chance. He
aims to find the man that killed his mentally disabled sister and bring her
death to justice. Then he meets D.Q., a
high-spirited teenager that is dying from cancer and his plans change. Pancho is hired by the priest at the home to
help D.Q. and travel with him while he is going through experimental
chemotherapy treatment. During treatment, D.Q. focuses on writing his “Death
Warrior’s Manifesto” and spending time with the beautiful Marisol, the girl of
his dreams. Pancho soon finds himself
forming and unexpected bond with D.Q. and begins to question his decision to
find his sister’s killer.
I wasn’t really expecting to like this book, but
I ended up really enjoying it. Typical
novels involving the dying and death of young adults tend to be overly
dramatic, but the author told this story in a way that was beautiful and
compelling. The main characters of
Pancho, D.Q., and Marisol as well as the supporting characters were well
developed and complex as individual characters and in their relationships with
one another. This was a wonderfully
written story and heartbreaking story of faith, love, and friendship that I
would highly recommend to young adults.
