Publishers Weekly
01/05/2015
Moreno-Garcia takes readers back to the age of mixtapes and records in this sweet debut. In 1988 Mexico City, 15-year-old Meche and her only friends, book-loving Sebastian and dreamer Daniela, discover literal magic in Meche’s record collection. They use their newfound powers to raise their social status, but the emotional stresses of magic and adolescence test their friendships to the breaking point. In 2009, Meche returns to Mexico City for the funeral of her father, a radio deejay and washout performer who fed her love of music, and confronts her estranged friends, reopening old wounds. This accurate depiction of outcast teenage life cycles effortlessly between eras. Meche, Sebastian, and Daniela are deeply believable characters, and numerous ’80s musical references make this unusual story a welcome blast from the past. Agent: Eddie Schneider, Jabberwocky Literary Agency. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
“Haunting and beautifully nuanced, Signal to Noise is a magical first novel.” — The Guardian
“Plenty of books use magic to talk about coming-of-age stories and the secrets that people bury... but few of them are as sad, or as evocative, as Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s new novel Signal to Noise.” — io9
“Vibrantly new... one of the most important fantasy debuts of the year.” — Locus
The Barnes & Noble SF&F Blog
This charming literary fantasy will resonate for readers of all ages.” — Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog
NPR
In many ways, Signal to Noise is a coming-of-age tale, but it’s also the tale of what comes after – and what happens when forces beyond our control, magical or otherwise, are better left that way.” — NPR
io9
Plenty of books use magic to talk about coming-of-age stories and the secrets that people bury... but few of them are as sad, or as evocative, as Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s new novel Signal to Noise.” — io9
The Guardian
"Haunting and beautifully nuanced, Signal to Noise is a magical first novel." — The Guardian
Starburst Magazine
If you like well drawn characters, cool tunes and lashings and lashings of nostalgia, then you should check this out.” — Starburst Magazine
Locus Magazine
Vibrantly new... one of the most important fantasy debuts of the year.” — Locus
RT Book Reviews
“Refreshing, lively and unique, Moreno-Garcia’s debut novel is a triumph.”
Fantasy Faction
The book is also a love letter to the various formats people have listened to music with over the past thirty years.
i09
You’ve never read a book about Magic and Loss like Signal to Noise.
My Bookish Ways
Signal to Noise is an utterly gorgeous book, and will make you want to get out your old turntable and records and give them a spin or two (or three.) Don’t miss out on this one.
SFX Magazine
Suffused with the music – English-language and Spanish, pop and punk –that Meche and friends use to make their magic and soundtrack to their lives,this is both a spiky and charmingly sweet romance of making amends and startingagain. 4 stars.
the critical journal of the British Science Fictio Vector
It is a novel which doesn’t set out to shake the world but rather to present something that is personal and thoughtful; emotional but sometimes guarded. In this, it is much like the box of mixtapes I’ll always keep.
Publisher’s Weekly
This accurate depiction of outcast teenage life cycles effortlesslybetween eras. Meche, Sebastian, and Daniela are deeply believable characters,and numerous ’80s musical references make this unusual story a welcome blastfrom the past.
Tor.com
Moreno-Garcia has a solid and convincing prose style, robust and subtlein all the right places… a successful debut, and a very interesting book.
