Reviews with content warning for Slavery - The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina

Absolutely loved this book. I highly recommend seeing if your local library has the audiobook as well.

I’ve now reread it multiple times and enjoy it more and more each reading. It’s such a poetic and circular story.

Content Warnings

ashlightgrayson's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This story had everything I love about magical realism in a nutshell. The Montoyas are a large family that travels to Ecuador to claim their inheritance from Orquidea. A series of events occur that lead to the deaths of some of the Montoyas. The surviving members try to find out who is behind the mythical magic is trying to kill them off. The relationships between the Montoyas feel genuine. I am not Ecuadorian, but I am first generation Latinx living in the United States and I felt incredibly represented by the Montoyas. Some of the members of the family don't speak Spanish despite having such strong ties to Ecuador. It is very representative of the experience of those part of the Latinx diaspora.

The story also is very nonchalant about the whimsical magic in this world, which I loved. I feel like a lot of newer fantasy books have much harder magic systems and it was nice to go back to the soft magic that is inherently a part of magical realism like this.

There is a lot of important commentary pertaining to colorism, sexism, and machismo culture in Orquidea's journey. We get flashbacks into her past that contributed to understanding how she became who she was in the present. It helped Orquidea become a much more sympathetic character. I wish we had gotten to know all of her husbands more and to see what those relationships looked like. There was a strong focus on her first husband and I feel like the story would have benefited from a point of comparison to her other romantic relationships.

I think that if you have never read magical realism this would be an excellent introduction. The story is easy to follow and feels like a magical murder mystery with a beautiful setting. The characters are diverse both in personality and life experiences which keeps you invested in their journeys. I am looking forward to more adult books written by this author in the future.

Content Warnings

readwithde's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was such a unique story that blurred the lines between fantasy and magical realism. I really want to love this story, but the pacing caused a lot of issues, including wiping out the theme.

Even now, through all the evocative descriptions and miracle/magical events, it's hard to figure out the point, the theme, the central tie of the narrative. Family? Protecting your family? Finding your family or found family that happens to be your actual family?

The start of the book moves so slowly and covers details and stories that don't provide anything -- not character development or mood or tension or anything tying to the plot at all. By the time the story picks up, the book is half over, leaving only 25% for the twist, turn, climax, and denouement. The ending moves so quickly, it's hard to keep up, to even picture what is happening, and then things end so abruptly -- it's jarring and feel disjointed from the rest of the slow narrative.

While still an okay book, what hurts most is that it had the potential to be an amazing, one-of-a-kind story.

Content Warnings

More...