The Hacienda review

A review of The Hacienda, by Isabel Canas

May 3, 2022

Horror, Speculative Fiction, Historical Fiction

forbidden romance, ghost story, haunting

This book hit all the right notes for me: historical, horror, ghost story and slow-burn romance. From the very beginning of this story, I wanted main character Beatriz to RUN from that house.

The Hacienda was enjoyable to read and full of lastingly creepy imagery (that scene with the doors slamming!). The romantic aspect was unexpected but almost felt logical, despite the danger. The good characters are oh-so human and sympathetic and the bad…I’ll leave you to figure them out. Note also that the story came to a close in a somewhat unusual place, so expect an open ending that will leave you with a sigh.

I highly recommend this book for spooky season, or a good entertaining scare that (probably) won’t cause you to lose sleep at night, unless you’re up reading late. That being said, I now think twice anytime I see glowing eyes at night (definitely a cat, right?!) or catch an optical illusion in the darkness.

My rating:
4.5/5

All the Horses of Iceland review

All the Horses of Iceland review

This little book took me by surprise. More the length of a novelette or novella, it’s written in the style of an Icelandic saga. For me, reading it lands somewhere between Tale of Genji and Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic. It has the mix of lyricism and opacity that comes with reading an old text, yet the story is a breath of fresh air.

All the Horses of Iceland cover

There were times where this epic journey gets a little lost (it would help if you know the names of ancient countries that no longer exist), but I had faith that it was leading somewhere I wanted to see. There are bizarre magical rituals, a horse that is said to hold a departed human’s spirit and, above all, the will to make the best of things.

I was so impressed with the ending of this book, which tied it all together. This is ultimately the story of legacy, and that it doesn’t have to take the usual form. For lovers of historical fiction and high fantasy, I highly recommend this short read.

 

To learn more about this author, visit sarahtolmie.ca.

Review: Velvet Was the Night (Moreno-Garcia)

Velvet Was the Night

I have something shocking to tell you. I read a book that does not contain magic!

Gasp.

That gasp is fitting for another reason: Velvet Was the Night lives in an interesting space between noir and historical fiction. Written by the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow (a heart-breaking favorite of mine) and Mexican Gothic (one of the best plot-twists I’ve read in a long time), this book’s atmosphere is relentlessly gloomy, full of the violent political underworld of one protagonist and dreams of Aztec sacrifice and dramatic romance in the jungle from the other.

Neither young protagonist of Velvet Was the Night have much of a future. There is El Elvis, an early-twenties (ish?) local tough taken in by a charismatic leader of the Hawks, a covert suppression group in late-1960s-early 1970s Mexico, and Maite, a deeply lonely secretary with money problems and an obsession with romantic comic books.

Velvet Was the Night Small Cover
Cover of Velvet Was the Night, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Maite also loves pilfering items from her unsuspecting neighbors, specifically because she’ll have a piece of their (better, in her imagination) lives. For Maite, part of the thrill of having a stolen object—everything from a single earring to a statue of a saint—is knowing her neighbor will never miss it.

Attention-starved and cash-strapped, she is easily pulled into her beautiful neighbor Leonora’s life when asked to watch her cat last minute. When Leonora doesn’t return and things get fishy, Maite gets sucked deeper into the mystery of her neighbor and a missing camera. Elvis, meanwhile, searches for both from the other side. Elvis and Maite are on a collision course, the depiction of which will feel pleasantly familiar for fans of Gods of Jade and Shadow.

Despite the violence of Elvis and the casual but elaborate lies of Maite, neither character is unsympathetic (though Maite crosses the line into pathetic for much of the book). Neither Elvis or Maite have families you could call supportive, or even nice, so it keeps them from being unlikable, if not particularly likeable, either. Maite is full of negative self-talk wants reality to be lovely and syrupy, and Elvis longs to earn the sophistication of his cultured leader, El Mago. The two characters earn the reader’s sympathy through their missteps.

Though I found the search for Maite’s rebellious, privileged neighbor wasn’t quite enough to sustain the whole book, as usual, Moreno-Garcia’s writing is wonderful and her characters are unforgettable. Read it on a rainy day, when you don’t mind sinking in to a bit of gloom; skip it if you need your mood to be brighter. But if you choose to go along for this book’s occasionally drawn out ride, the strangely moving, reservedly hopeful ending will leave you glad you did.

To learn more about this author, visit Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s website.