Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's a bit hard to gather my thoughts about this one because it's truly all over the place.
Firstly, I didn't like the writing style. Very tell not show. This happened then this happened and then this happened. Not a great way to tell a story. Also, the timelines were intertwined very chaotically, not in a way that made it hard to understand what was happening, but in an annoying, finish-the-thought-before-jumping-to-something-else way. The first timeline changes clarify when and where we are being taken to and later on she just doesn't clarify anymore, which feels like an editing mistake. Also the placement of each chapter was almost random.
I liked the concept of a horror novel about an urban legend and the story of Milagros was by far the best part of the whole book.
The present, though, was just not it. Belinda was not well fleshed out, and the attempts to tell her backstory were sprikled very clumsily througout the book. Neither were any of the other characters, all of them fell flat.
We start off with Milagros' perspective and yet she revealed nothing about herself, not even subtly so as to look back having read the book and thin "ahhh, this was clever". Clearly the author was purposely hiding information from us so as to create a bigger reveal later on.
The beginning especially was extremely sad and actually gave me quite a lot of anxiety. This was a win for the author in my opinion. The portrayal of racism was truly horrifying and poignant. The theme of racism is prevalent troughout the book and I think one of it's strongest qualities as a horror novel that blended quite well with the supernatural even when the latter was a miss for me.
Thing is, I'm not a spiritual person and this book is deeply spiritual, especially towrds the end, so it was hard for me to relate to the characters and understand their decisions. In the last third of the book, the plot takes a quite sudden turn and becomes fully about spirituality, with an aspect of special bloodlines and predetermined fates. It gave me such whiplash. I don't not enjoy when the direction a novel takes surprises me, but this one didn't handle it well imo.
For a horror novel, the tension is just not there. It doesn't build up to anything horrific, and maybe it shouldn't, it seems like that's not actually the point of the book, but it was marketed as a horror, as a revenge story, wrongly in my opinion. The horror/revenge felt a bit like an afterthought to the actual themes of the book which tend more towards spirituality, human connection and racism through a higher power that protects the vulnerable and punishes the wicked. I think maybe we should have started with the religious aspect and worked our way to reveal the origin story of the deity. Idk. It tried to tackle too much and failed to have true depth because of it.
Firstly, I didn't like the writing style. Very tell not show. This happened then this happened and then this happened. Not a great way to tell a story. Also, the timelines were intertwined very chaotically, not in a way that made it hard to understand what was happening, but in an annoying, finish-the-thought-before-jumping-to-something-else way. The first timeline changes clarify when and where we are being taken to and later on she just doesn't clarify anymore, which feels like an editing mistake. Also the placement of each chapter was almost random.
I liked the concept of a horror novel about an urban legend and the story of Milagros was by far the best part of the whole book.
The present, though, was just not it. Belinda was not well fleshed out, and the attempts to tell her backstory were sprikled very clumsily througout the book. Neither were any of the other characters, all of them fell flat.
We start off with Milagros' perspective and yet she revealed nothing about herself, not even subtly so as to look back having read the book and thin "ahhh, this was clever". Clearly the author was purposely hiding information from us so as to create a bigger reveal later on.
The beginning especially was extremely sad and actually gave me quite a lot of anxiety. This was a win for the author in my opinion. The portrayal of racism was truly horrifying and poignant. The theme of racism is prevalent troughout the book and I think one of it's strongest qualities as a horror novel that blended quite well with the supernatural even when the latter was a miss for me.
Thing is, I'm not a spiritual person and this book is deeply spiritual, especially towrds the end, so it was hard for me to relate to the characters and understand their decisions. In the last third of the book, the plot takes a quite sudden turn and becomes fully about spirituality, with an aspect of special bloodlines and predetermined fates. It gave me such whiplash. I don't not enjoy when the direction a novel takes surprises me, but this one didn't handle it well imo.
For a horror novel, the tension is just not there. It doesn't build up to anything horrific, and maybe it shouldn't, it seems like that's not actually the point of the book, but it was marketed as a horror, as a revenge story, wrongly in my opinion. The horror/revenge felt a bit like an afterthought to the actual themes of the book which tend more towards spirituality, human connection and racism through a higher power that protects the vulnerable and punishes the wicked. I think maybe we should have started with the religious aspect and worked our way to reveal the origin story of the deity. Idk. It tried to tackle too much and failed to have true depth because of it.
This book started off strong and I just knew I was going to love it, however once the initial characters found resolutions in the last half of the book it became muddled and rushed, the random sex was off putting and the ending to me didn’t make sense or tie in to the initial plot. It honestly felt like two different novels. Very disappointed with this book because it had so much potential.
dark
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
4.5 Stars
V. Castro's The Queen of the Cicadas is a gorgeously written, atmospheric tale that seamlessly blends horror & fantasy elements together with searing social justice commentary.
This was such a fresh & unique take on the classic urban legend trope - I loved how Castro weaved Aztec mythology all throughout the book, it was fascinating learning about Mictecacíhuatl & seeing how she'd play into the overall story. I'd consider this to be a slower burn, but Castro really draws you in with her beautiful prose, both haunting & lyrical. I truly had no idea where this was going to go, at all, & really enjoyed how the story kept peeling back layers to reveal deeper meanings behind everyone's role in Mictecacíhuatl's plan. & Castro wasn't afraid to go all out with the creep factor, either - there's a ton of great body horror here. I've said it before & will say it again, I love when horror is multifaceted & brings forth real world issues. This touches upon colonialism, conditions & treatment of migrant workers, femininity & sexuality (loved the queer rep here!), racism, religion - all issues still very prevalent throughout our world today.
I'd highly encourage everyone to give this a read, Castro is such a talented storyteller & I'm really looking forward to reading more of her work!
V. Castro's The Queen of the Cicadas is a gorgeously written, atmospheric tale that seamlessly blends horror & fantasy elements together with searing social justice commentary.
This was such a fresh & unique take on the classic urban legend trope - I loved how Castro weaved Aztec mythology all throughout the book, it was fascinating learning about Mictecacíhuatl & seeing how she'd play into the overall story. I'd consider this to be a slower burn, but Castro really draws you in with her beautiful prose, both haunting & lyrical. I truly had no idea where this was going to go, at all, & really enjoyed how the story kept peeling back layers to reveal deeper meanings behind everyone's role in Mictecacíhuatl's plan. & Castro wasn't afraid to go all out with the creep factor, either - there's a ton of great body horror here. I've said it before & will say it again, I love when horror is multifaceted & brings forth real world issues. This touches upon colonialism, conditions & treatment of migrant workers, femininity & sexuality (loved the queer rep here!), racism, religion - all issues still very prevalent throughout our world today.
I'd highly encourage everyone to give this a read, Castro is such a talented storyteller & I'm really looking forward to reading more of her work!
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
I really liked the multiple timelines, felt like they were all equally compelling and had a nice back and forth. Good spooky read.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes