Okay, so this rating makes it seem like I wasn’t a huge fan of this book, but I liked it, I really did! It’s been over a month now, and it’s still in my head and it feels good, hasn’t soured, haven’t forgotten it. But I had a bit of a hard time getting through it while reading, and the magic system was a bit too woobly for me.
This is fantasy horror book set in Mexico City in the 1990s, following Montserrat, a film editor and horror movie buff, and her best friend Tristán, a former telenovela star. A washed up horror movie director lives next door to Tristán in his new apartment, and Montserrat and Tristán become friendly with him. This director was famous in the 1960s but his last film fell apart and is now considered “lost” and a “cursed film”. In the process of learning more about the director and the history of his film, they accidentally become sucked into the magic and horror surrounding the film and have to find their way out of the mess, which does involve a NAZI and black magic, I am sad to say.
I really liked Montserrat and Tristán, who is dealing with PTSD from a traumatic car accident that scarred his face, killed his girlfriend, and ruined his career. Montserrat is a woman in a boys club industry, and she is currently being pushed out of her job to make way for younger men, men who will participate in the boys club culture that Montserrat disdains. At first the magic surrounding the movie seems to be making things better for both MCs but of course this is horror so things go very badly.
My issue with this book is that while it’s only about 300ish pages, it felt like 500. I kept having to pick it up and put it down after only a chapter or two. And I don’t think it was meant to be a slow burn, but that’s what it felt like. Maybe if I re-read it, I would feel differently. And this is just my fantasy nerd self talking here, but the magic system should either be unexplainable, or have very explainable rules that are consistent and always make sense. This one wanted it both ways, and the “rules” the characters were throwing out weren’t consistent and seemed to change as needed for the story. It just irked me, but there’s nothing really wrong with that approach.
I’m still not fully sold on SMG as an author. Some of her books sound very dull to me, and others seem vaguely intriguing, but I’ve never yet looked at a book of hers and said YES THAT IS FOR ME. I do like that she’s a genre-hopper, though. She’s clearly a creative person. Her newest book is an IRL book club pick for me, so we’ll see how that goes!
CBR BINGO: Disco (The filming of the lost horror movie was in the late 60s, and the two MCs are most definitely members of marginalized communities (they’re both bisexual) and the arts.)
