Leopoldo Gout

The essence of Leopoldo Gout's Piñata is a story of possession, but it goes so much further than that. Tackling problems of colonialism, misogyny and sexism in the work place, and xenophobia, Gout creates a nuanced cultural study wrapped up in a horror-ific tale of possession, ancient Mexican gods, and the revenge they want to take on the world.

When architect Carmen Sanchez brings her daughters, Izel and Luna, with her on a project to her home country of Mexico, she is hopeful that she can show more share in her heritage with both girls while she oversees a renovation of an ancient cathedral into a modern hotel. Her youngest, Luna, is mesmerized by the sights around her, while her eldest, Izel, can't believe her mother pulled her away from her friends back home for the summer. During the excavation, there is a scaffolding collapse and a previously sealed, unknown room is discovered, filled with artifacts from the early days of the cathedral. Inside, an ancient piñata, used by the priests of the day to co-opt ancient Mexican traditions, calls out to Luna, and before the chamber can be properly closed off for study, Luna makes off with the piñata. Between the scaffolding collapse, the way the men Carmen is overseeing disrespect her, and the dangers of being kidnapped by local gangs, she decides she's had enough of Mexico and returns home with her daughters

Once home, the usually bright and cheerful Luna takes a drastic turn, becoming scornful and mean. As strange things begin to happen all around their home, Carmen begins to realize that there may be more to Luna's strange change in behavior than she first thought. With the help of some of their Nahua friends from Mexico, Carmen and Izel try to save Luna from the ancient forces consuming her, but it may be too late for everyone.

Gout creates some really incredible, gruesome visuals in this story, and I'm here for it. Luna's descent from cheerful and full of life to spiteful, hateful, and angry is quite the journey. With a large cast of characters, I was worried that some would be lost along the way creatively, but Gout fleshes everyone out nicely. While the last 1/4 or so of the book seems suddenly rushed, that does also convey the need to save Luna and keep the gods from consuming the Earth. Another excellent release from Nightfire, and a new author for me to discover more from.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Carmen Sanchez accepts a job overseeing the renovation of an old church near her hometown in Mexico. She sees this as the perfect opportunity to have her two daughters, Izel and Luna visit their home country and experience the culture. Soon after her arrival, Carmen begins to feel the hardships of being a woman running a construction site in the midst of men who don't trust her. The city is also more dangerous than she thought and Carmen feels bad for leaving Izel and Luna on their own all show more day. After an accident on the construction site that nearly injures Luna and opens up a part of the church with lost relics, Carmen and the girls head back to New York. However, while in Mexico, Carmen was warned of an evil that has attached to Luna and it seems that it might have followed her back to New York.

From the prologue, I was drawn into Piñata with the revenge of the Nahuas god and a culture that may not be as lost and forgotten as many believe. The story is very character driven and Carmen's character is very well done. I enjoyed her complexity and multiple viewpoints; she is a single mother, a Mexican woman, an immigrant and works in a male dominated field. Carmen was very aware of her position and the very real dangers that could be in front of her. The paranormal danger snuck in and built gradually throughout the story in a way that I wasn't quite sure if it was threatening or just a resurgence of what once was. Through the glimpses into the past, I did like learning about the Nahua culture, food and practices. There was horror built into the very real decimation of the culture by the Conquistadors as well as the story of the spirit that attached itself to Carmen's daughter. A gruesome and satisfying ending rounds out an intriguing novel of ancient retribution.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. show less

What an excellent book!
Though I didn't feel particularly scared, I became very very attached to the characters and truly wanted them to succeed. They were all so fleshed out and real and everything they did made total sense for their personality. Gout has an excellent way of writing characters and that was a huge highlight here.
Yoltzi and Quahutli were my favorites (though Izel and Luna reminded me of me and my younger sister as kids!)

Another highlight was the history! I'd never really show more delved deep into Aztec/Mexica/Nahua culture and history before but this book inspired me to go out and grab some books on it! I was absolutely fascinated by the tzitzimimeh. To the point I'm starting to incorporate Aztec art elements into my own work!

There were many moments in the book where I stopped to reread lines. Frequently Gout would write a line that was so incredible I had to take a picture- now and then a book will throw some stellar imagery at you and all you can do is sit there and love it.

I feel the only thing I would have preferred was an improvement in pace. It's slow to start, which made me struggle to pick the book up again- but the end felt like it was racing by! Within the last 50 pages so much happens and while it definitely made the action fast paced, I didn't feel like I had time to linger on the details or feel the emotions as deeply as I would have liked to.

I highly recommend this one! show less

Rex Huerta is an American teenager, and a coding genius. His brother Teo was, too, but Teo has disappeared, and Rex is working on a way to find them. His parents reported his disappearance, but an older teen, one old enough to have simply decided to leave, with no evidence at all of foul play, is not a major priority. The elder Huertas, unlike their two sons, are undocumented, and without real evidence, they can't afford to push harder and annoy the police.

So Rex continues with his show more schoolwork and his blogging activities, while working on software that will enable him to find Teo. Oh, his blogging activities--a blog called the Lodge, where he provides brilliant coding solutions, his friend Tunde, in Nigeria, answers questions about how to build practically anything out of, essentially, junk, and Cai, a Chinese girl they and everyone else only knows as Painted Wolf, exposes corruption. Her research skills and surreptitious videos have brought down some powerful figures.

Among their other activities, Rex is trading coding services to a company that makes, among other things, really high-end cleaning supplies for the school janitor, who enables him to have unauthorized extra time on the school mainframe. Tunde built, out of junk, or as he prefers to say, "repurposed materials," a solar power generator to provide electricity, cell service, and some internet access to his tiny village. Painted Wolf, we should not be surprised to learn, is an ace student in China's demanding system, and a expert at making tiny, high-end, remotely controlled cameras.

And then their tech guru hero, Kiran Biswas, announces a contest. The Game. Details not provided until competitors are at the Boston Collective, and there is no application process. It's invitation only.

Rex needs access to a quantum computer to run the program he's written to find Teo. Tunde has unhappily caught the attention of an ambitious and ruthless Nigerian general, who wants him to build a GPS jammer powerful enough to be a weapon. He needs the help of his friends to make some thing that will work, and save his now-hostage family and village, without helping the general become an even more dangerous monster. Painted Wolf is busy uncovering a new and disturbing corrupt plot, which may affect her father, and would rather skip the whole thing--but then she discovers that both Kiran Biswas, and Tunde's problem general, are both involved.

But only two of the three get invitations. They all need to be there.

We get the story in alternating sections from the viewpoint of each of the three teenagers. They are smart, interesting, each motivated and principled in their individual ways, and yes, convincingly individual characters. Although, of course, add the caveat that I've never known teenagers living in China or Nigeria. Only smart young people of Latino background, whose parents might or might not be documented, fall somewhat within my experience.

But I like them, and found them believable.

It's fast-paced, intriguing, and while you are asked to suspend your disbelief, I don't find it beyond reasonable suspension of disbelief. This is a lot of fun.

Although, in fairness to the reader, I should mention that while the main story of this book comes to a reasonably satisfying end, there is also a significant cliffhanger. I assume there's more to come.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from some source I don't remember and can't quickly find in my email. I'm reviewing it voluntarily. show less