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A review by tigger89
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a split narrative, with one plot thread following Orquidea Montoya through her childhood and into adulthood, and the other following her grandchildren in the wake of her...passing, for lack of a better verb. I often found myself bothered by the shift in narrative, but in a good way; I wanted to know what happened next, and by the time I reached the end of the chapter that had stolen me away I felt the exact same way about the other narrative.
As far as the central mystery goes, most of the plot threads resolved to my satisfaction. Provided you can accept some of the magical things that just are, the elements of tension and mystery are mostly explained in the end. The two questions I was left with werewho/what was responsible for the illness that took Rhinnanon's parents(Bolivar? the Buenasuertes? Mike's fault for not believing Tatinelly?), and why was Rey's rose losing petals? It didn't seem to signify any loss of faith or motivation, and if it was mentioned again after the final confrontation(where it was losing petals as he expended power), I missed it. Maybe I'm just not thinking about it hard enough, but everything else seemed to be spelled out pretty well so the omissions there stood out to me.
While this book had plenty of feelings and occasionally even brought tears to my eyes, I have to mention that it's funny. Rey's wisecracking was the perfect balance to the occasional seriousness of the narrative, and he wasn't the only one, though he was by far the most prolific.
I would not recommend listening to this in an audio format unless you're very good with names. While most of them don't matter much anymore once the cousins travel to Equador, the first part of the book involves a very large family gathering, and I had one finger back on the family tree at the front of the book so that I could jog my memory for who was who.
For those wondering about the LGBTQ content, it's not a major focus. Rey is gay, and I found him to be well-rounded. He's depicted in three different relationships over the course of the book. Ultimately,they seem to be far less important to him than the main plot, all apparently fizzle, and he doesn't get an explicit happily-ever-after. I didn't hate it, but if you're looking for something that's queer-focused this probably isn't it.
As far as the central mystery goes, most of the plot threads resolved to my satisfaction. Provided you can accept some of the magical things that just are, the elements of tension and mystery are mostly explained in the end. The two questions I was left with were
While this book had plenty of feelings and occasionally even brought tears to my eyes, I have to mention that it's funny. Rey's wisecracking was the perfect balance to the occasional seriousness of the narrative, and he wasn't the only one, though he was by far the most prolific.
I would not recommend listening to this in an audio format unless you're very good with names. While most of them don't matter much anymore once the cousins travel to Equador, the first part of the book involves a very large family gathering, and I had one finger back on the family tree at the front of the book so that I could jog my memory for who was who.
For those wondering about the LGBTQ content, it's not a major focus. Rey is gay, and I found him to be well-rounded. He's depicted in three different relationships over the course of the book. Ultimately,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Sexual content
Moderate: Body horror