A review by leonalikesliterature
Obsidian Feathers by N. Cáceres

challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I feel very conflicted about this book because there was a lot I loved about it but there was a lot that I hated about it.

The first thing I loved was the world building and fantasy elements in this book. The fantasy is so beautiful and greatly represents Latine Indigenous mythology and culture. I loved the cadejos! Their powers and communities were so interesting and unlike anything I’ve read before, it was like a twist on werewolves but also so much better!

Next, the writing was beautiful. Although I started to get frustrated with the pacing as it was really, really slow, the descriptive imagery was very poetic.

Onto the things I hated.

The relationship between Xochi and Sal was painful to read. Although I liked Sal at the start of the book, the more I read, the more I disliked him.
He was possessive, controlling, and sexually aggressive. Aside from the fact that he threw out her birth control and ADHD meds, treats her like a prisoner, and basically assaults her multiple times, Xochi was also genuinely terrified of him in multiple chapters.  Her fear of him is never even addressed, it’s just forgotten about, and then they just reach a lovey dovey stage which solves all their problems.
I feel like a big problem was that Xochi was described as a sassy, plus sized mc, but she really isn’t sassy until the end of the book. She is easily manipulated by both her mother and Sal and it’s kind of just sad. Only later does Xochi gain any independence. Although it’s framed that life in the compound is freeing for Xochi, in the beginning, her life in the compound really isn’t any different than her living with her abusive and controlling mother.

The sex stuff was getting WAY out of hand for me. Xochi and Sal were sooooo cringe sometimes. They would be arguing with some literal random person and share the most graphic, pornographic details about their sex life as a flex? and I was so confused why. 😭 It was so painful to read. Not even to mention that they literally
fuck on a dead body as revenge. That was so weird and nasty. Hated it.
I never thought I would read a book where I would think that there’s too much sex, but this book made me a prude lol.

There’s too much going on in this book that just gets dropped, which was disappointing and frustrating, especially for how damn long this book is. There are multiple subplots
with Xochi’s family, this medical cadejo torture slave ring, and this broken goddess
that literally just gets dropped and forgotten about and I’m not reading the next book to figure that shit out.

I was frustrated that this was called a Dark Fantasy Romance because I think that led to confusion for me. I would have preferred this to be a romance with dark fantasy elements, rather than a dark romance with fantasy elements. I think the dark romance was what I hated the most about this book. Anyways, I am just glad this book is over. I feel like 2.5 stars is generous.  There was a lot I really liked, despite what I hated. I think I would’ve really loved this book if like 4-5 scenes were just taken out of it. 
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