This book fulfills the “border” square on CBR17 bingo; Sofia exists on the border of conquered and conqueror, and explores the complexities of her mixed heritage.
As soon as I saw the cover for Beasts of Carnaval, I knew I wanted to read it, and the synopsis just cemented it for me. I love stories that are about resistance and revolution and proving that the colonizers and oppressors won’t be the last ones standing. And this delivers so beautifully!
Sofia’s twin brother, Sol, vanished to La Isla de La Bestia many years ago with the man who enslaved them, but now that Sofia is free and feels she can leave her friend-who-once-enslaved-her (and yes, this is explored!) she decides she will go to the island and find him at last. Averina instead of meekly staying behind follows Sofia and as a result Sofia’s station on the island, instead of being seen as mestiza and servant, she is part of the revelry of the Carnaval.
While on the island, the revelry makes it so that Sofia sometimes forgets that she is there to find Sol and not just to enjoy the glitz and glamor, and eventually she starts to realize that all it is is in fact a glamor, a dream that she needs to wake up from.
I really loved the ways complicated relationships with self and loved ones was dealt with in Beasts of Carnaval. Sofia frequently thinks on how she is perceived – too much Taine to be colonizer, too much colonizer to be Taine – and the ways her relationship with Ave is shaped by how Sofia was gifted to her as a child. I also loved the shifts in Sofia and Sol’s relationship when they reunite because they’d always been bound together as twins, but their years of separation forced them to become individuals, and relearning but also recognizing their twin was very good.
This is a great book and the audio was such a great experience. I really loved the various themes it explored and the execution of storytelling. There are many nuanced emotions and relationships delved into, and all the characters felt fleshed out and interesting. This definitely feels like a solid standalone, though I wouldn’t mind seeing more in this world, especially as the world changes outside the Island.