SYNOPSIS

Yadriel’s family is blesssd by Lady Death, who defeated Balam to help spirits pass peacefully to the afterlife. In his family, there are brujos, who release spirits, and brujas, who heal people.

Yadriel is transgender and wants to be accepted as a brujo in his community. Since his father, the leader of the community, won’t let him go through the ritual of becoming a brujo, his cousin, Maritza, steps in and performs the ritual with him.

Meanwhile, another brujo, Miguel goes missing. When looking for him or his spirit, Yadriel ends up releasing another spirit named Julian. Now they must figure out what happened to Miguel and Julian while keeping Julian hidden so that they can release his spirit and prove to the community once and for all that Yadriel is a brujo. What can possibly happen?

RECAP AND REVIEW

This book is told in the third person, mostly from Yadriel’s perspective. It’s a mystery and fantasy set around Dia de los Muertos.

I had trouble getting through the first part of the book. I have been in a slump so it could definitely just be me. Once I saw it was a layered story, being that the main character is transgender and was accepted by their god as proof of his identity, I wanted to keep going. Then Julian entered the story and I got curious on where this was going. It still took me a while to want to keep going.

I would also argue that this is a romance book. It’s not the main storyline, however there are a few scenes that lend themselves to being about a relationship developing and getting to know the characters more. Julian helps Yadriel become more confident in himself and his identity. Yadriel helps Julian check in on the people he loves.

The answer to the mystery wasn’t surprising. I guessed who was behind it and what was going on halfway through. There is a little twist that I didn’t see coming. The end of the book made me emotional, so it’s fair to say at some point I did get invested in the characters.

OVERALL

Overall, I give this book a 3 out of 5 stars. I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would, but the concept is interesting.

I didn’t like how the main plot of looking for Miguel got pushed to the back burner. I also could’ve done without the school scenes. I felt like there was a lot of fluff in the middle of the story. I don’t think the story reads so much as young adult.

I like the relationship dynamics between Yadriel, Julian, and Maritza. I like the three main characters and I feel like their backgrounds were well thought out and written. Yadriel’s struggles with being accepted in his family feels authentic. The book also had a satisfying, happy ending. There’s a second book coming out. I’m not really sure what it’s about since everything got wrapped up, so it’s up in the air if I’ll read it.