Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Lobizona

While featuring a lot of (justified) fear around being undocumented and deported, this book also has a ton of complex fantasy world and some fascinating character development. Great fun.

Content Warnings

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Enchanting and well developed, I loved every page. Manu is such an interesting character, and I love the idea of a space-loving werewolf going to the moon. I would also like to make out with a boy in his secret illegal library. Javier was a red herring, I thought the queer rep would just be him as a closeted side character, but NOPE. I love how many layers of metaphors you can fit in a werewolf. This could have been just an incredible fantasy story that happened to feature a magical school, but it had to go and reference Harry Potter over and over again. Girlie, you're better than that in every way. Big sad my library doesn't have the sequel because I'm trying not to buy more books rn.

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thejuliebookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

LOBIZONA can be summed up in one word: lush. The writing is beautiful, the worldbuilding is detailed, the plot is engaging, and the Argentine folklore is rich.

Garber has written excellent YA fantasy. This story discusses issues of sexism, binaries, gender roles and expectations, culture, and being undocumented with nuance, empathy, and anger. You’re definitely going to want to check the content warnings for this book.

I enjoy reading books with untranslated Spanish dialogue, phrases, or sentences. LOBIZONA was particularly fun for me, because it made me realize that I was unfamiliar with Argentine Spanish, and I went down a huge internet rabbit hole after reading the first chapter.

The most important stuff for plot or character development is translated, and non-Spanish speakers can easily use Google Translate for the rest. If this makes you frustrated, remember that language is an essential part of identity and culture – the Spanish is intrinsic to the novel and LOBIZONA would feel incomplete without it!

I’m not going to say too much else for fear of spoiling, as the synopsis for this book is quite vague. But know that I really loved this book and immediately purchased the duology.

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ellythequeen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book understood the assignment!!! Could not have been better, lovable characters, enticing plot, amazing setting, writing style is like nothing I've ever read!!! Has great messages around feminism and equality! Why are you still reading this review? Go read this book.

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melinabarbuto's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

foreverinastory's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved this so much!!

Rep: Undocumented Argentinian female MC, Latine male love interest, Latine WLW couple, Latine cast.

CWs: Abandonment, blood, body shaming (for unusual eye color), confinement, drug use (sedatives), homophobia/homomisia, injury/injury detail, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, misogyny, outing, racism, sexism, transphobia/transmisia, violence, xenophobia.

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meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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bookishandlegal's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

People are not illegal! That’s definitely an overarching theme of the book and I love that it worked on the actual, present day US immigration level as well as the fantasy level in the book. The world building was great and the story meshed our actual world with the fantasy world really nicely. The pace of the book was good and the relationships that were built throughout felt realistic and relatable. The ending felt a tad rushed, but big questions were mostly answered and the book left off in a great spot to start the second one. This book is stunning and any fantasy reader (or not tbh) should read it. I absolutely cannot wait until the second book in this series comes out later this year.

CW: ICE raid/detention, misogyny/sexism, casual mentions of Harry Potter books/world throughout

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