genre: middle grade
Cece's life is dominated by the reality of the creatures (criatura) that live in the desert on the outskirts of her home. Every year, these powerful beings will try to create mayhem and even kidnappings among the humans in Cece's town and so going out into the desert by yourself is forbidden. For Cece, though, the pull of that wild place is too great and when one day her choices lead to tragedy, Cece will have to be brave enough to face who she thinks she is - and what she's capable of doing - to save the people she loves.
This is another book I read out loud to my fifth grade twins as part of our prep for the Battle of the Books. I would never have chosen it for myself or them as it's really long, and by the end, I decided TOO long. The world building here feels clunky and almost too multi-dimensional, too many details to keep straight. I did like the legends tied in and I have to say, even though I thought it was too micromanaged of a plot with way too many requirements to suspend my disbelief, my boys really enjoyed it.
The strong Latin American feel between the setting, the characters and the legends sprinkled throughout definitely grounded this story in a different culture. The fantastical criaturas were intriguing to them. They were into it enough that by the end, we read out loud for over two hours to finish it, so that has to count for something. I liked Cece as a character though, that I need to make sure I mention. She wants to be brave, she wants to be a helper, she leans into her compassion all while knowing she has to do hard things sometimes to get what she wants.
I'd probably give it 2 stars for just myself but the actual target audience probably liked it at a 4 so I'll give it a 3 :)
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