Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Gótico

I adored Gods of Jade and Shadow and was excited to read this, especially considering the level of buzz it received. I also love Gothic literature and was curious to see how Moreno-Garcia approached the genre and adapted it into a Mexican context.

Overall I think this is an accomplished entry into the Gothic literary canon. It takes many of the tropes of the genre (e.g. young female protagonist who wonders if she's going mad, scary house, mean old lady who hates protagonist) and weaves them into a new story.

I was surprised at first at how much the setting is literally a transplanted English Gothic setting into the Mexican countryside, however as I kept reading I was very impressed at how this was used to explore themes of colonisation, misogyny, and the subjugation of poor and female bodies.

The atmosphere in the book begins with low level, constant dread which slowly ratchets up the tension into full panic, and the body horror is incredibly visceral and stomach-turning.

I did however find it dragged in some moments, and the plot became a bit convoluted towards the end. I felt like the book was trying to fence sit on whether or not the cause was supernatural, and having it end up being

semi-sentient, consciousness-trapping mushrooms pushed my suspension of disbelief by not leaning hard enough into either.

I also found

the romance plot weak and the ending very unearned, however I also found it funny how often she took care to mention how uggo the love interest was.

Overall I think this is is a more polished book than Gods of Jade and Shadow, but I found that to be a more enjoyable and emotionally engaging read, hence it receiving a higher rating.

I also think this is a book that would benefit from a second reading once all of the plot twists are revealed.

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

What a wonderful book to start the new year with. Not only did this book make me appreciate Gothic novels a tad more, the inclusion of fungi horror was something I didn’t realise I was craving for. And how gross and disgusting it was. But I do love

women killing bitches.

I also like it in a way that

there is still uncertainty on whether the gloom is really gone, leaving it to the beliefs of the reader. I personally like to think they did it, if only for my own peace of mind.

I also find it funny how I misconstrued the Doyles‘ plan before the reveal, as I thought

they were merely planning to slowly kill Catalina and have Virgil marry Noemí for whatever reason. I was kind of right I guess but still.

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