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madscientistcat's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The tempo and plot feel very young adult, though the violence is certainly not. The familiar plot with a beautiful overlay of indigenous Mexican religion and magic will be appealing to romantasy fans who are interested in a different perspective than the well-tread Eurocentric-style worlds. I appreciated Lares’s introduction and explanation and loved that she used Spanish and Nahuatl unabashedly and with no in-text clarifications.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Murder, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Misogyny
jashanac's review
3.75
I'm leaning toward 4 stars still, but right now I'm going to go with the 3.75.
I REALLY loved the first 40% or so of this book. Then around the middle mark it started to get wonky for me and around 60% is when I feel like the plot and pacing got pretty muddled and clunky. In particular the mini quest that happens in the second half of the book... the pacing of that just felt really off to me.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed the mythology and just, this fantasy world that is entirely unique in the current adult fantasy market. More Latin American and South American mythology and fantasy, please!!!! There is so much THERE to pull from and create amazing stories from, and I really hope that the recent slight uptick in those kinds of stories getting attention from publishing is going to continue... !
I am intrigued by this story and will definitely be picking up the second book, because I think that this author has a solid foundation to build from and with some experience and practice the issues I had would be easily "fixed" and just, wouldn't be a problem in future installments probably. We shall see!
I did LOVE the characters, but I rarely LOVE characters -- I liked these characters well enough though. I felt more positively than negatively toward them and didn't just feel "meh" about that. I liked them and found them to be interesting in general.
I REALLY loved the first 40% or so of this book. Then around the middle mark it started to get wonky for me and around 60% is when I feel like the plot and pacing got pretty muddled and clunky. In particular the mini quest that happens in the second half of the book... the pacing of that just felt really off to me.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed the mythology and just, this fantasy world that is entirely unique in the current adult fantasy market. More Latin American and South American mythology and fantasy, please!!!! There is so much THERE to pull from and create amazing stories from, and I really hope that the recent slight uptick in those kinds of stories getting attention from publishing is going to continue... !
I am intrigued by this story and will definitely be picking up the second book, because I think that this author has a solid foundation to build from and with some experience and practice the issues I had would be easily "fixed" and just, wouldn't be a problem in future installments probably. We shall see!
I did LOVE the characters, but I rarely LOVE characters -- I liked these characters well enough though. I felt more positively than negatively toward them and didn't just feel "meh" about that. I liked them and found them to be interesting in general.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation
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