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ninahuynh's review
- 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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Infidelity, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Bullying, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug abuse, Classism, Suicide, Addiction, Chronic illness, and Violence
mari1532's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
4.0
I read this audiobook through my local library.
Brief Summary: Montserrat, a brilliant sound engineer, is facing sexism where she is the only female sound editor. In addition to her struggles at work, she is trying to help her sister through her cancer treatments and be emotionally supportive of her childhood best friend, Tristán a charming but out-of-work soap opera star. However, Montserrat attempts to keep her life on track and her feelings for Tristán in check things are taken off the rails when she meets Tristán's mysterious neighbour Abel Urueta.
At first, Montserrat is intrigued by Abel as he is the director of a lost film that was never finished. As she and Tristán get to know Abel they learn that the film is shrouded in mystery because it's cursed. When Abel asks for assistance in removing the curse Tristán and Montserrat think no harm will come from helping him. That is until they start to see ghosts and shadows. Racing against the clock Montserrat and Tristán have to work together to untangle the intricate web of occultism that they've awakened.
Thoughts: First, I want to make it very clear that this book deals with Nazi ideology and cancer treatment. Both of these things permeate the book and at times could be very difficult to hear, so if these are topics you do not enjoy reading, I would not recommend this book.
Third, the book was a bit slow to build to the climax, but I found the story interesting throughout. Moreno-Garcia's writing is so engrossing that I didn't notice how long it was taking to get to the end of the book. I also found the mystery, occultist angle kept the story riveting.
Finally, I think that Moreno-Garcia dealt with several very difficult topics throughout this book and managed to do so in a way that made Montserrat and Tristán interesting and flawed human beings. Morally grey characters are so hard to get right in a book and I felt that Moreno-Garcia did just that throughout the book. I also learned a great deal about the film industry in general and loved how Montserrat was such a nerd (I mean this with great love) about movies and the film industry.
This is a good book that had me captivated until the end. I would recommend it.
Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Grief, Bullying, Cursing, Sexism, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Addiction, Classism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, and Murder
Nazi ideology, Nazi occultismjavafenn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Stalking, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Alcoholism, and Chronic illness
Minor: Classism, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Ableism
garrettcz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I struggled with this book. I really liked the occult and mysticism elements. I really liked the history tie-ins and details. I liked some of the details about the film industry.
I really disliked the characters. It felt like the author was going out of her way to make them unlikable and really awful to each other.
I felt the story spent way too much time on really boring, mundane things and far too little time on the cool things like mysticism, occultism, and the horror elements. The story would sometimes dip into horror but the scenes felt way too fast so the atmosphere didn’t build up enough to where I really felt anything from them. I couldn’t get immersed in the spooky/horror scenes to really care and I didn’t care about the characters enough to really be engaged by the action scenes, so there never really felt like there was enough tension.
Spoilers:
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I REALLY hated the romance ending thing. I saw it coming and was really hoping this wouldn’t happen. These characters felt like they really disliked each other and if romantic chemistry could be approximated with temperature theirs would be somewhere in the ballpark of absolute zero. Yuck.
3.5
Graphic: Sexism, Toxic friendship, Murder, Bullying, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Violence, Alcoholism, Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, Cancer, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Terminal illness
falchionm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Alcoholism, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Racism
tamara_joy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, and Death
Moderate: Classism and Murder
Minor: Bullying, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Homophobia, Misogyny, Ableism, Medical content, Infidelity, and Cancer
heather667's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Car accident, Misogyny, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Grief, Gore, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: War, Genocide, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Vomit
bessadams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Murder, and Racism
Moderate: Car accident, Ableism, and Bullying
Minor: Animal death and Death of parent
booksybookbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Antisemitism, Bullying, Racism, Suicide, Death, Gore, and Violence
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Murder, Death, and Colonisation
Minor: Ableism, War, and Bullying