Reviews

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

hagiasophia's review against another edition

2.75

I'm not quite sure why this didn't work for me. I love many of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books, but I think part of my issue with this one is that it felt much rougher than her more recent stuff. The prose felt incredibly clunky. While I've had issues with her writing in other books, it has improved greatly since this was published. We also didn't get a ton of character development, the characters felt the same in both timelines (in a bad way). The magic system was interesting and this was fairly easy to read, so I am giving it 2.75 stars for that alone.

jaredwill_'s review against another edition

4.0

Such an odd book. I'm not sure what I expected having read Moreno-Garca's more popular books but it wasn't this. I thought it would be some version of the Craft, a scary tale of witchcraft gone wrong. Any description on that vein is underselling this book.
It's a story about how awful we all were as teenagers, and lost love, and lost family and redemption even when we don't deserve it because, in the end, we all deserve it.

isabelle_rosewrites's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

I have a physical copy I will now be reading from later :) 

megsreading's review against another edition

2.0

DNF at 65%. I kept pushing and pushing, but I simply have zero interest in picking up the book anymore. For me, there was just nothing really appealing about it. I was intrigued by the magic and the music, but the magic was so bleh. And the characters were SO dislikable. I also wish we had explored Mexico City more. I was excited about the setting, but at no point did I feel or see it in my head. It felt like it could have taken place anywhere. Anyway, I Googled the end and I'm glad to be skipping the rest. I don't think I would have enjoyed it. That said, VERY excited to read her other works. I heard they're fantastic!

Thank you to Rebellion for the eBook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

carmenloveslibros's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

trilbynorton's review against another edition

2.0

"Most people would probably say the best concept album of all time was The Dark Side Of The Moon, but Meche preferred The Kinks’ Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)."

Whatever you might say about Silvia Moreno-Garcia's debut novel - too little magic, too much teen melodrama - at least it recognises the brilliance of The Kinks' farewell to the British empire.

allfawkesgiven's review against another edition

I have read several of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books (Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, Velvet Was the Night, Daughter of Doctor Moreau) and really enjoyed them; Signal to Noise felt choppy to me by comparison. I found myself getting into the story only to run into sections where I felt jolted out of the narrative because whatever scene I was reading would abruptly conclude on a strange beat before it had even started, then shift into the next scene...only to do the same thing again. Whenever this happened, it left me crinkling my brow over why that scene had been included in the first place. 

I learned this was actually an early writing of hers--that possibly pre-dates her other work--and was just published in 2023. So this may explain why the writing felt so much different than the other novels I've read of hers.

I think the story was enjoyable and many fans will enjoy this book! Ultimately, I decided to DNF because of the choppy scenes and move on to the next Moreno-Garcia book I have on my list. 

sarabz's review against another edition

4.0

This book started off a little slowly for me, but I was caught up in it by the end. I liked that the main character, Meche, was kind of a jerk. Everyone was flawed, but that didn't mean you hated them (except maybe Constantino and the literature teacher) - they made sense in their contexts. I also enjoyed that the magic was discovered by these regular kids. There was no "destiny" or special connection to the power, just a passion for music. Meche did have a talent for magic, but no more than she did for computer programming. The music embedded in the story was also a lot of fun.

the_enobee's review against another edition

4.0

Signal to Noise is a slam dunk 4 star read, with the added bonus of introducing me to some incredible music. Probably my favorite new (to me) song was El Algun Lugar by Duncan Dhu. I ended up making a playlist out of all the references and it's a blast between all the great '80s references from both US and Mexico in addition to some essential Jazz and Traditional. Loved the dynamic of Meche/Sebastian and the underlying story of the magic in music, belief, and family. Cool stuff, and definitely want to read more Silvia Moreno-Garcia.