Reviews - The Queen of the Cicadas

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302 reviews for:

The Queen of the Cicadas

V. Castro

3.77 AVERAGE

salesforce's review against another edition

2.0

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Not a fan of this novel! Feels like an extreme version of "tell don't show" because details are constantly over-described to hammer home how bad the conditions are. It's strange because a few themes are really well-portrayed (womanhood gets 5 stars from me) but most of them are given entirely literally with no metaphorical or allegorical prose. Reading things like "brown skin" several times just felt like a slog to me. There's so much to get out of reading a text against or within a certain frame instead of having the text tell you explicitly how to read it... and besides, the whole point is that I can imagine what's going on! instead of having to adhere to every specific thing the author wants me to get right in my head. The prose wasn't fun or interesting to read either; the second half read like a compilation of plot points that had to be said but had no aesthetic consideration given to how they were said. I'm not a fan of heavy gore or revenge stories so that also skews my rating, but I think the book is poorly written and generally boring. Love the Aztec mythology (criminally underused in fiction) and references to the Chicano Movement... that's kind of about it though. The details are all there but the presentation is pretty forgettable. unfortunately mediocre...

turtletats's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 15%

The audiobook narrator was terrible. Monotonous and completely flat.

kelseygrey's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

exorcismemily's review against another edition

4.0

3.5⭐

Queen of the Cicadas is the newest release from V Castro, and it's a good read! There are alternating timelines between a character in the past and a character in the present. There's some difficult subject matter, and it can be a bit of a depressing read at times (it was always interesting, though!). I got confused about what was going on a couple times, and sometimes way the deaths were handled felt repetitive. I think I got it sorted out in the end, though, and I did enjoy the book. I'm excited to check out Goddess of Filth next!

Content notes - characters experience racism, torture, misogyny, hate crime

thekerrichasm's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Fuck! This book is so damn good and it had horror, sex, mythology, and still left you feeling so good in the end.

As a Hispanic women who doesn't no Spanish and never really delved into her ancestry, this book felt like home.

I have only read 2 books by V Castro, her short stories Mestiza Blood and now, The Queen of the Cicadas and they just might be my new favorite author.

Some quotes I love:
"I'm the kind of woman that harbors more ghosts and demons than Halloween, hell, and Dia De Los Muertos."

"...you will not profit from death. Death is my domain."

"We, the quiet women with a great rage on the verge of breaking loose to be something else."

"Sweat the size of rosary beads rolled down her neck and between her breasts."

"I am the one that fills the voids of your imagination. I'm neither evil nor good, kind or hateful. I just am."

"Don't Preach to me about wrong, not on this soil. The soil of this continent is a mound of congealed blood and shredded, whipped flash that is tilled century after century with an iron rake of hate. And the churches of the word. What chaos they have made!"

jmccarth's review against another edition

3.0

medium-paced

danireyne's review against another edition

3.75

I really want to love V. Castro because her stories are freaking amazing, but something about her writing style doesn't quite work for me.... it's a lot of telling not showing, and weirdly structured sentences.