Good book, non Spanish speaker narrator

There are quite a bit of Spanish words this narrator couldn't pronounce, which sometimes ruined the flow of the book. As a Spanish speaker, I think this is really important. Please cast someone who can pronounce Spanish words.

18 people found this helpful

Convoluted plot, unmotivated characters

Didn't make that much sense. I wanted to like it because of the diversity and culture behind it but all that rich mythology was squashed into obstacles for the (very whiny and not very smart) protagonist. Great idea, badly written.

5 people found this helpful

Fascinating urban fantasy

It's quite incredible that I actually enjoyed this book. You see, it started with three strikes against it.

1, it's urban fantasy, which I very rarely enjoy.

2, it's written in first person, which drives me nuts.

3, it's written in present tense, which is almost never done well and almost always feels like a gimmick to create artificial immediacy (and usually fails to do so).

So, you might ask, why did I read this book?

Well, 2 reasons.
1, I'm trying to branch out into books I wouldn't normally read.
And 2, I'm a long time listener of the Writing Excuses podcast and they recommended this book a while back.

So here we are.

To start things off, the narrator was quite good. She has a good assortment of voices, well chosen pacing and tempo, and skillful vocal inflections. My one complaint is the inconsistency (or, to be more accurate, global consistency) of her accents. Every character speaks the Spanish words with the correct accent, but no character speaks in accented English. In fairness, no one is described as doing so, by some characters felt to me as though they should/would.

Okay, the story did start a bit slowly with a slice of Alex's daily life. However, once the story starts moving there is a lot of action, intrigue, and fascinating mythology.

There is a relatively obvious twist near the end and a sweet, if predictable, romance.

I spent a fair portion of the book not being overly fond of Alex, as willful ignorance is something that really irritates me.

In the end, though, she redeems herself and becomes a wonderful character.

I'm not certain if I'll continue the series, as I'm still hesitant to willfully enter into a book with three strikes against it from the get go. But we shall see.

3 people found this helpful

engaging story

I loved it, but I admit I struggled with some parts. I loved that it was a story by, for and centered on latinx culture. I adored that Alex, the mc, was bisexual and liked both her love interests were of color, despite one of them being passing.

It was also cool that she was reluctant to be a receiver of her great power, and wasn't just "ready" like a bunch of ya books.

The parts I struggled with only centered on the way eurocentric features were exhaulted over the latter. Nova had blue-green eyes, and his features were often described with much more flattering tags than brown eyes and skin.

Alex even went as far to say she was plain because she had brown eyes. Sigh...

As an afro-latinx person, I totally understand our culture does blend a number of cultures, but a lot of the black people were in passing, had skin described as food or night, or were kind of magical negros(I'm sure it wasn't intentional).

It may not be as obvious to non-black latinx folx, but you can always tell by the description tags when an author isn't black.

I would've given it a five had it not been for that. I loved it so much, its just when it rubs you wrong, it affects your feeling about the story.

Before I go though, I loved that Rishi, Alex's bestie and crush was Indo-Guyanese, you hardly ever see desis of Guyanese origin in mainstream novels.

For those curious, Alex is Mexican and Puerto Rican (with Ecuadorian and Panamanian origin) because I'm Caribbean afro-latinx, so I like to know that kind of thing. This reminded me of Disney's Brave, and Brave was so amazing, do that's a testament to how much I enjoyed!

10 people found this helpful

enjoyable

This story is beautiful. I really like it a lot, I totally recommend it, also the performance was so good.

Beautiful and Powerful <3

This book is what I hoped for as a teenager. I'm just happy it came to be as an adult rather than never at all. The story has great action and tension. Although the characterization and occasional repetition makes it feel rough around the edges at times, it's not too distracting from the storyline. The narration is sassy at times, raw at others, and full of family dynamics. I'll keep looking out for other books from this author and hope she keeps getting published.

Lovely Read!

Had shocking twists o hadn’t expected. Overall enjoyable. Felt some places lagged but overall a great YA fantasy

Great book ..

It really draws you in with the storyline, can't wait to read the next book..

I love this book I hope there's a sequel !!!!!!!!!

I love this book I hope there is a sequel I would listen to as many books as this author writes it is a great combination of my Generations favorite movies books and all around fantasies thank you for the experience

Excellent story and performance

Really love the diversity in this book as well as the worldbuilding. The characters were interesting and the narrator did a great job of bringing them to life!