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Latinx Book Bingo Report
The challenge officially ended yesterday, so I want to report my progress even though I neither made a bingo nor finished all the books I intended to read.
Of the six books I bought for this challenge, I read three and am about halfway through a fourth. They are:
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova: A YA book about Alex, a bruja from New York City who tries to reject her immense power and loses her family in the process. The book is about her quest to get them back, with some help from her best friend (and love interest) Rishi and mysterious local boy (and other love interest) Nova. An enjoyable portal fantasy with family feels and a convincing romance, although sometimes it felt more episodic than I think the author was going for. Bingo Square: Bisexual main character.
State Tectonics by Malka Older: The third and final book in The Centenal Cycle wraps up this political thriller about microdemocracy in a highly satisfying way. I want to write a real review of this trilogy soon (I think it could make a fascinating compare/contrast with Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire), so I'll hold off on saying much more for now. But there is a very good chance that this will be my top pick for Best Series this year. Bingo Square: Wild card.
Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera: A young woman named Malika travels from Mexico to the United States to find out what happened to her brother, who immigrated some time before her. This is not by any means a bad book, but it wasn't my kind of book -- more poetic, almost allegorical, less telling a straightfoward story about some characters. The narrative got choppy in many places, and the use of poetic language was too often a barrier. Also it felt very much like a man writing a female character through the male gaze, which is never my favorite mode. But maybe it doesn't strike everyone that way. Bingo Square: Immigrant story.
The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales: This is the one I haven't finished yet, so I can't say much yet. But it's an intriguing tale so far, apparently about the downfall of a secret society. Also a twisty and non-linear narrative, but in this case it's working for me. We'll see how I feel at the end.
I'll finish Regional Office before moving on to anything else, and I do intend to read the last two books on the stack before the end of the year, even if I might read other things first. For now, though, I'm really glad I took on this challenge, and many thanks to![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
bookish_di for letting me know about the challenge, and especially to the challenge creators who inspired me to try new books, authors, and genres!
Of the six books I bought for this challenge, I read three and am about halfway through a fourth. They are:
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova: A YA book about Alex, a bruja from New York City who tries to reject her immense power and loses her family in the process. The book is about her quest to get them back, with some help from her best friend (and love interest) Rishi and mysterious local boy (and other love interest) Nova. An enjoyable portal fantasy with family feels and a convincing romance, although sometimes it felt more episodic than I think the author was going for. Bingo Square: Bisexual main character.
State Tectonics by Malka Older: The third and final book in The Centenal Cycle wraps up this political thriller about microdemocracy in a highly satisfying way. I want to write a real review of this trilogy soon (I think it could make a fascinating compare/contrast with Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire), so I'll hold off on saying much more for now. But there is a very good chance that this will be my top pick for Best Series this year. Bingo Square: Wild card.
Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera: A young woman named Malika travels from Mexico to the United States to find out what happened to her brother, who immigrated some time before her. This is not by any means a bad book, but it wasn't my kind of book -- more poetic, almost allegorical, less telling a straightfoward story about some characters. The narrative got choppy in many places, and the use of poetic language was too often a barrier. Also it felt very much like a man writing a female character through the male gaze, which is never my favorite mode. But maybe it doesn't strike everyone that way. Bingo Square: Immigrant story.
The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales: This is the one I haven't finished yet, so I can't say much yet. But it's an intriguing tale so far, apparently about the downfall of a secret society. Also a twisty and non-linear narrative, but in this case it's working for me. We'll see how I feel at the end.
I'll finish Regional Office before moving on to anything else, and I do intend to read the last two books on the stack before the end of the year, even if I might read other things first. For now, though, I'm really glad I took on this challenge, and many thanks to