By Aiden Thomas
This book is about magic and witches in the Latin culture, specifically dealing with the souls of the dead and Dios de Los Muertos. Yadriel is a trans boy who is unaccepted by his traditional culture, but driven to prove his worth regardless. I specifically did not name his gender in the first sentence, as that should not be the only thing that identifies him – though this is a powerful book for the Latinx community.
Yadirel, with his ever-present, take no crap from nobody cousin, Maritza, set out to prove he is worthy through a special ceremony for the brujo, wherein Lady Death decides who she will grant the special power known only to the secret brotherhood that has lasted generations. Luckily, she does recognize him as a boy, and grants him the power of the brujo, the ability to sever malignant spirits ties from this world to cross over to the next.
Almost immediately, the cousins realize one of their own has perished through a searing pain. Trying to summon his spirit to answer questions with his new-found power, Yadriel instead summons the recently deceased Julian, a boy from school. Julian is full of questions and anger, requiring Yadriel’s help to find out why he died. Yadriel needs Julian to agree to move on to prove he has the power to rest of the brujo.
Both of them accidentally stumble onto a series of disappearances that the authorities do not seem to care about, while more and more people go missing. They also challenge each other’s nerves, beliefs, and motivations. As they work to solve the mystery that will sever them permanently, Lady Fate seems to keep casting them closer and closer together.
Pros & Cons & Potential Spoilers
Pros
- A transgender main character that is not one-dimensional and doesn’t fall prey to all the stereotypes
- A greater look into the culture behind Dios de los Muertos
- A lot of miscommunication, but ultimately a family that respects and cares for each other as they are, not as they wish they each could be
Cons
- Saw the bad guy coming from his first entrance
- The bad-boy with a heart of gold is pretty stereotypical for the love interest
- Personally, would have liked more about the underworld than the people left to live explored