I tell you what, I’ve really been putting off writing this review. I just don’t want to try and put words to the subconscious magic this book can work upon a reader. And also the literal magic that is in the book. (An old woman turns into a tree! Flowers grow out of people’s bodies!)
I’m really not going to talk much about the plot here because it’s way better to be surprised, but I will say that the book starts out with all of Orquídea Divina’s living descendants receiving an invitation to her death.
I don’t read a lot of magical realism as a genre (or fabulism) because a lot of people are not good at writing it but get published anyway. Ahem. At least in my experience. Also, when combined with literary fiction, and/or when written by a man, I tend to get very, very aggravated by it. All that to say, this book is very good and handles the magical realism perfectly. No aggravation whatsoever, just the joy of a good story told well.
This was my first book by Zoraida Córdova, but it won’t be my last! All her other books are YA, though, and while I’m interested in the Brooklyn Brujas series, I hope she writes more adult books in the future, because she’s really good at it. (Wait, she is writing a Star Wars book and I think that’s adult, but also I feel like Star Wars books are in a category all their own.)
P.S. That’s not Orquídea Divina on the cover! It’s totally our protagonist, Miramar, one of Orquídea’s many grandchildren. It took me a very long time to realize this.