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armontheroad's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Maya Motanye once again delivers an exquisite fantasy novel! I will say OCULTA reads more New Adult than YA, so be aware going into it. There are lots of great discussions had in this stunning sequel! From PTSD to dealing with blatant racism, we follow our three leads on a mission to bring peace to their kingdom as well as track down a group that will kill anyone to try and stop them. I adored the twists and turns in this! The characters were excellently written, the magic system is one of my favorites I’ve ever read, and the world was a delight to be back in. I’m a sucker for the way Fin and Alfie’s relationship is playing out. I’m hopeful the third book will finally allow Luka to have a happily ever after with a certain boy who was introduced in this sequel. Overall, OCULTA was an absolutely gripping and compelling read that I recommend you pick up!!
CWs: Racism, colonization, slavery, PTSD, depression, anxiety, domestic violence, eye gore, death, murder, suicidal ideation, mass suicide, childhood abuse/abusive parental figure, grief, etc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief
perpetualpages's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
CWs: Death, familial death, and grief; allusions to child abuse and domestic abuse; descriptions of violence, blood, and injury; hallucinations; racism; references to colonization and enslavement
I feel like I've waited so long for Oculta to finally come into being, and now I'm just as desperate for the next installment all over again.
Oculta is a slow boil full of court politics and political intrigue, underscored by political unrest and a slew of crimes stemming from the underworld. There's mystery, there's royal decorum, and a delicious slow burn romance between the two leads, and that's what makes it such a fun sequel to read.
What I enjoyed about Oculta most is that it does what most YA fantasies won't in that it actually explores and contends with the consequences of colonialism, and how the power imbalance between the colonizer and the colonized can be corrected, if at all. What I love about this series is that it frames language itself as power and as magic, and magic literally comes from Spanish in the kingdom of Castallan. When the colonizing kingdom of Englass tried to systemically wipe out their language, they nearly lost all connection to magic, and when the story begins, the Englassan kingdom is still functioning on slave labor of Castallanos whose magic has been forcibly stripped away. As Castallan enters very fraught International Peace Summit with Englass, it is with the aim of securing reparations and putting an end to those violent and dehumanizing systems of oppression.
There are so many great discussions in here about the relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor and what steps have to be taken in order to make amends, no matter how "inconvenient" or "uncomfortable" it may be. While many of the themes will already be familiar to marginalized readers, especially BIPOC readers, it's a great jumping off point for readers who strive to be "allies" by examining their own biases and privileges.
But also, just like the first book, the story has a lot to do with legacies—both those we inherit and those we create. This peace summit, for example, was the life-long dream of Alfie's late brother, Dez, which makes Alfie even more aware of how desperate he is to see it through at all costs. Finn suddenly finds herself as the new leader of one of Castallan’s powerful crime syndicates, a legacy she had never intended to take on, and has to learn how to work through her own trauma and help Alfie solve the mysteries threatening the peace summit as she tries to free herself from this responsibility she never wanted. So it's very much a story about the expectations and legacies they're fighting against, in some ways, as much as it's about what they're fighting for and the kind of world they want to leave behind.
My one issue with the story is that all the villainy (in this installment specifically) seems to boil down to A Few Bad Eggs, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but I think it slightly undermines the evils of systemic oppression perpetuated by entire groups and cultures that I think the story is striving to explore. However, the ending and the final cliffhanger really made up for both that and the occasional drop in pace, and I'm so curious to see how the third book is going to pick up and color the events of this sequel considering the new information we got on the very last page. While Book 2 is a completely different beast from Book 1, I really enjoy the range we see in both, and I appreciate how this sequel complicates what we were already given in the first book.
I think this is a phenomenal fantasy series that is wholly unique and does its Latinx-inspired world-building justice. It's one of my favorite YA fantasy series being published right now, and I would definitely recommend it.
I feel like I've waited so long for Oculta to finally come into being, and now I'm just as desperate for the next installment all over again.
Oculta is a slow boil full of court politics and political intrigue, underscored by political unrest and a slew of crimes stemming from the underworld. There's mystery, there's royal decorum, and a delicious slow burn romance between the two leads, and that's what makes it such a fun sequel to read.
What I enjoyed about Oculta most is that it does what most YA fantasies won't in that it actually explores and contends with the consequences of colonialism, and how the power imbalance between the colonizer and the colonized can be corrected, if at all. What I love about this series is that it frames language itself as power and as magic, and magic literally comes from Spanish in the kingdom of Castallan. When the colonizing kingdom of Englass tried to systemically wipe out their language, they nearly lost all connection to magic, and when the story begins, the Englassan kingdom is still functioning on slave labor of Castallanos whose magic has been forcibly stripped away. As Castallan enters very fraught International Peace Summit with Englass, it is with the aim of securing reparations and putting an end to those violent and dehumanizing systems of oppression.
There are so many great discussions in here about the relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor and what steps have to be taken in order to make amends, no matter how "inconvenient" or "uncomfortable" it may be. While many of the themes will already be familiar to marginalized readers, especially BIPOC readers, it's a great jumping off point for readers who strive to be "allies" by examining their own biases and privileges.
But also, just like the first book, the story has a lot to do with legacies—both those we inherit and those we create. This peace summit, for example, was the life-long dream of Alfie's late brother, Dez, which makes Alfie even more aware of how desperate he is to see it through at all costs. Finn suddenly finds herself as the new leader of one of Castallan’s powerful crime syndicates, a legacy she had never intended to take on, and has to learn how to work through her own trauma and help Alfie solve the mysteries threatening the peace summit as she tries to free herself from this responsibility she never wanted. So it's very much a story about the expectations and legacies they're fighting against, in some ways, as much as it's about what they're fighting for and the kind of world they want to leave behind.
My one issue with the story is that all the villainy (in this installment specifically) seems to boil down to A Few Bad Eggs, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but I think it slightly undermines the evils of systemic oppression perpetuated by entire groups and cultures that I think the story is striving to explore. However, the ending and the final cliffhanger really made up for both that and the occasional drop in pace, and I'm so curious to see how the third book is going to pick up and color the events of this sequel considering the new information we got on the very last page. While Book 2 is a completely different beast from Book 1, I really enjoy the range we see in both, and I appreciate how this sequel complicates what we were already given in the first book.
I think this is a phenomenal fantasy series that is wholly unique and does its Latinx-inspired world-building justice. It's one of my favorite YA fantasy series being published right now, and I would definitely recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Racism, and Slavery
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