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erks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gore, Medical content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Drug use
khaosinkspress's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Moderate: Animal death and Child death
Minor: Sexual content
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
- 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
"Monstrilio" is a heart wrenching horror book that follows a grieving mother, Magos. Following the death of her son, Santiago, Magos cuts a piece of his lung out and cares for it because of an old folktale. The lung grows and evolves into what the family names Monstrilio. They keep him hidden in their home in Mexico City until Monstrilio starts to resemble Santiago.
I really enjoyed this book as an exploration of grief and loss. Magos wants more than anything to have her son back, and her desperation drives her to allow the creation of Monstrilio. This creature is not human, and he causes great chaos, but Magos cannot bear to give up on the idea that he is a piece of her baby boy.
I have not read any horror like this, and I have not read much that explores a folktale quite like this. This story is rich with culture and hope.
I look forward to seeing what Gerardo Sámano Córdova writes in the future!
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Gore, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Pregnancy
monstersinspace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Spoiler: I thought it would have been about grief but then it went to this weird sex cannibalism route that I still don't understand. The first part was about grief, but after they cut of M's stump there was a whole lot of nothing, a time skip of like 7 years, and then M being even more of a horrible monster creature thing and everyone making excuses for him.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Grief, Cannibalism, Death, Sexual content, Drug use, Murder, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Child death
smuds2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The pacing is quite good - I think it pauses where it needs to pause and speeds where it needs to speed. I think I would have liked it to sit a bit more with Joseph - it felt like his chapter was stuck mostly with narrative and rapid character development to a climax.
There were some unnecessary sexual explicit scenes for my taste (I'm not quite sure the fact that they were sexually explicit added anything valuable to the importance of the scenes). I also think that at times, the first three chapters lapsed into kind of a generic voice.
I think that, thematically, this is a great work of weird-fiction? Magical realism? depicting the grieving process. Lucia, not really understanding monstrilio, but begrudgingly living with it (I'm thinking especially post attack). Lena just being supportive to both her friend(s) and the manifestation of their grief. Magos arc of basically saying "I can fix it", while it 'dragged' on her life (although, not for the worse - I'm thinking of her turning down the Valencia gig to stay with family could easily be interpreted as a reprioritization directly as a result of the strengthened bonds formed during grief).
I don't think Josephs arc is nearly as clean - and maybe that's the point?
And I'm not quite sure how to square away uncle luke in this setting - is he the enabler? Is that good? The safe place to act your worse during grief?
I also think that a major shortcoming of the book was not sitting with lucia's death and then just kind of ignoring jackie. is that because they were not supportive? And as a result faded out of their life? I feel like there could have been thematic commentary for how to grief for a "normal" death.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Animal death, Drug abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Drug use, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Gore, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, and Torture
rmgilchrist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Animal cruelty, Gore, Drug use, Sexual content, Animal death, Murder, Death, and Medical trauma
_cararichardson's review against another edition
- 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
are cringey. I don’t have a whole lot to say, I just enjoyed reading this book and its perspective!
Graphic: Gore and Sexual content
house_of_hannah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"Her son dies in a child-sized bed, big enough for him but barely enough to hold her and her husband who cling to the edges, folding themselves small so they fit one on each side of him."
What a way to open a story ! The first 50% of this book is written in such a gorgeous and haunting way. I really felt like I was there with the characters and sharing in their grief.
This book surprised me in many ways. Firstly, it's tagged as horror, but it's really not what you'd expect at first glance. I suppose it would be called literary horror ? We follow different points-of-view throughout the book, but it isn't a back and forth; instead when we switch to a new POV we never return to the original one. Finally, there is a time skip 50% into the book that caught me completely off guard, and took me a good 6-8 pages to understand what was happening.
The first half of this story completely captivated me, and I was honestly shocked that this is the author's debut. Unfortunately, I just wasn't as into it after the time skip. I would loved to have read more about Monstrilio's transformation, how they introduced him to the world and explained his existance to others.
I really enjoyed how this book explored grief and love. Now that I think of it, every character in this book could be considered queer, but it's not something that's ever commented on. The characters are just who they are.
This author is definitely on my radar now, and I will be looking forward to reading whatever they publish in the future.
Graphic: Grief, Animal cruelty, Child death, and Animal death
Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent and Excrement