Reviews tagging 'Violence'

LOTERIA by Cynthia Pelayo

4 reviews

bear_ridge_tarot's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

 Lotería is a Spanish word meaning lottery. It is a traditional Mexican board game of chance, much like Bingo, and is played with cards rather than numbered ping pong balls. In this collection of short stories, each of the 54 cards of the Lotería acts as inspiration. The stories range along the lines of paranormal to horrific and include ghosts, vampires, goblins, and ghouls. Latin American myth, folklore, superstition or belief bring each card to life with monsters.

This book holds stories that are representations of the 54 cards. Each story story is a telling of the way the card could be used. Loteria is something akin to a cross between Tarot and Bingo, and can be played as a game or used as a divination tool. These stories bring the cards to life. I particularly liked the longer stories and wish some of the shorter ones were longer. I would love to see some of these ideas develop further into novellas or full-length novels. 

 
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melodyseestrees's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Each of these chapters can be treated as separate short stories. Some of which really felt like they could have been a much longer story. Some had characters that were not at all loveable, while others had characters you could bond with. Quite a few of these stories are very very violent. The culture weaved into these tales is apparent, even though I was not fully aware of several of them.
I highly recommend the audiobook edition as the narrators did a fantastic job and several of the stories are reportedly longer than in the physical edition. 
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waterbear0821's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

This book has an interesting premise, a story for each Lotería card, and that was enough to get me through the book, but just barely. Many of the stories are bleak and violent but also feel superficial. I enjoyed the many takes on mythology but the majority of the stories just left me shrugging rather than thinking or feeling anything really. There were fewer twists and surprises than I was expecting for a horror collection. Only time will tell if these stories stick with me. The author says the book started as a thesis (dissertation?) and that is what it feels like much of the time - a project to just get through and check off. The last story, which was one of the most recently written, is probably the best and makes me curious to read more of this author’s later writing. 
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othersociologist's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious 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

5.0

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