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A review by hanarama
The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? No
3.0
Book at a Glance:
• Haunted house
• Gothic mystery
• Historic Mexico
• M/W pairing
• Witchcraft
• CWs: religious bigotry, racism, classism, colorism, blood, death, injury detail, psychological abuse, fire, sexual assault (mentioned), unwanted pregnancy (mentioned), abortion (mentioned)
Living in poverty following her father’s execution, Beatriz makes a bid for a better life by marrying the wealthy and handsome Don Rodolfo. Though his ancestral home San Isidro has seen better days, Beatriz is excited to begin repairs. She is confident that she can make the hacienda into a home for her and her mother.
However, San Isidro has more problems than general wear and tear. There is something possessing the land and which seems to hate Beatriz. Hunted by the darkness and pulled into the mysteries of San Isidro, Beatriz finds herself desperate for help. And the only person prepared to aid her is Padre Andrés, a strange priest whose history is also tied to the hacienda.
The Hacienda hits a lot of the typical gothic tropes. For people that love gothic stories, I think there will be a lot to love here. The feeling of isolation, the haunted house, dark family secrets, all play prominently within the story. However, it felt weak overall. Cañas does some things well, but struggles in others.
The atmosphere is beautifully written. Cañas crafts really beautiful scenes, with salient imagery that builds upon the emotions of the characters. As a result, San Isidro feels particularly lively, with even the weather reacting in accordance to the hacienda’s whims.
I have a soft spot for desert gothics. There’s something so isolating and haunting about dry expanses of rural deserts, and I am so happy that more authors are using this environment for their gothic tales.
Unfortunately, I did find the story really slow. I think this is in part due to Cañas’ over reliance on her prose. It felt like there was an inability to match the prose to the energy needed in every scene. As a result, scenes sometimes dragged much more than they should have. There were also descriptors that got overused. For example, emotions were often described as “curling” within a character’s chest/stomach/whatever. After the description occurred twice within one chapter, I found it distracting anytime I came across it.
The characters were mostly likeable, though I had issues with both of the leads. Of the two, Andrés is the more compelling. Cañas slowly reveals his backstory through flashbacks, making him feel more integral to the mystery. However, I don’t think he should have been a POV character as I felt like his knowledge of the situation took away from the danger. Further, I felt like his abilities made the haunting too easily solved.
Beatriz is better suited as a gothic protagonist, but often feels uninteresting when compared to Andrés. It felt like there wasn’t much to her personality beyond her initial desire to fix up the property. I also wasn’t very interested in their budding relationship. It didn’t add much to the story for me, and highlighted the issues I had with Beatriz as a character. Andrés frequently expounds her virtues, which weren’t really illustrated through the story. Overall, she just feels like a pretty face without a lot of personality or development.
The mystery was also fairly lackluster. I would have preferred for there to be a little more ambiguity with the mystery, which for how slowly it was developed reached a fairly manic end. This can be done well, but here it felt at odds with the rest of the story.
• Haunted house
• Gothic mystery
• Historic Mexico
• M/W pairing
• Witchcraft
• CWs: religious bigotry, racism, classism, colorism, blood, death, injury detail, psychological abuse, fire, sexual assault (mentioned), unwanted pregnancy (mentioned), abortion (mentioned)
Living in poverty following her father’s execution, Beatriz makes a bid for a better life by marrying the wealthy and handsome Don Rodolfo. Though his ancestral home San Isidro has seen better days, Beatriz is excited to begin repairs. She is confident that she can make the hacienda into a home for her and her mother.
However, San Isidro has more problems than general wear and tear. There is something possessing the land and which seems to hate Beatriz. Hunted by the darkness and pulled into the mysteries of San Isidro, Beatriz finds herself desperate for help. And the only person prepared to aid her is Padre Andrés, a strange priest whose history is also tied to the hacienda.
The Hacienda hits a lot of the typical gothic tropes. For people that love gothic stories, I think there will be a lot to love here. The feeling of isolation, the haunted house, dark family secrets, all play prominently within the story. However, it felt weak overall. Cañas does some things well, but struggles in others.
The atmosphere is beautifully written. Cañas crafts really beautiful scenes, with salient imagery that builds upon the emotions of the characters. As a result, San Isidro feels particularly lively, with even the weather reacting in accordance to the hacienda’s whims.
I have a soft spot for desert gothics. There’s something so isolating and haunting about dry expanses of rural deserts, and I am so happy that more authors are using this environment for their gothic tales.
Unfortunately, I did find the story really slow. I think this is in part due to Cañas’ over reliance on her prose. It felt like there was an inability to match the prose to the energy needed in every scene. As a result, scenes sometimes dragged much more than they should have. There were also descriptors that got overused. For example, emotions were often described as “curling” within a character’s chest/stomach/whatever. After the description occurred twice within one chapter, I found it distracting anytime I came across it.
The characters were mostly likeable, though I had issues with both of the leads. Of the two, Andrés is the more compelling. Cañas slowly reveals his backstory through flashbacks, making him feel more integral to the mystery. However, I don’t think he should have been a POV character as I felt like his knowledge of the situation took away from the danger. Further, I felt like his abilities made the haunting too easily solved.
Beatriz is better suited as a gothic protagonist, but often feels uninteresting when compared to Andrés. It felt like there wasn’t much to her personality beyond her initial desire to fix up the property. I also wasn’t very interested in their budding relationship. It didn’t add much to the story for me, and highlighted the issues I had with Beatriz as a character. Andrés frequently expounds her virtues, which weren’t really illustrated through the story. Overall, she just feels like a pretty face without a lot of personality or development.
The mystery was also fairly lackluster. I would have preferred for there to be a little more ambiguity with the mystery, which for how slowly it was developed reached a fairly manic end. This can be done well, but here it felt at odds with the rest of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual assault, Abortion, and Pregnancy
Minor: War