Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

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Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova is a book that has stuck with me. If you are a reader you likely know what I refer to – a book that lingers after you’re finished reading, one that leaves a mark. Monstrilio is that for me. In a past book review I mentioned that I have been exploring horror fiction, a genre that until recently, I didn’t really pick up. I’ve read a handful so far this year, Monstrilio being the most recent, and I am becoming more and more content with my new reading exploration. A debut novel, Monstrilio is a horror novel with literary leanings released in 2023 by Mexico City author Córdova. I think there are a lot of ways to describe this unique novel, it runs the gamut of emotions, but in essence this novel explores extreme sorrow and immense love through the story of a boy that becomes a monster that becomes a man.

The novel is told in four parts by four different main characters. It opens with Magos on the most devastating day for a parent: she and her husband, Joseph, lose their 11 year old son, Santiago, who dies from complications of living with one lung. In her grief, Magos opens the body of her son and removes a chunk of his lung. “One believes the stupidest things in grief,” Córdova writes, and this is one of those things. Magos believes if she cares for and feeds the piece of Santiago’s lung he will come back to her.

Much to her family’s surprise (and horror), it works…in a way. From the piece of lung grows a black furred, ferociously hungry being, or monster, if you’d like. However, he is not Santiago, although he carries some likeness in addition to the lung. Magos calls him Santiago, while Joseph and Lena (a good friend to Magos and Joseph) call him Monstrilio. 

What follows are short segments moving forward in time as Monstrilio matures, learning to adapt to his circumstance and live like a human. Following Magos’ narration is Lena’s, the friend and doctor in love with Magos who often helps care for Monstrilio’s not-so-human health. Then, Joseph takes over narration. Monstrilio is now a young adult living with Magos and going by his new name, M. Joseph and Magos have very different views on who M is, and have been separated since the death of Santiago. Yet something they have in common is their fierce love for M. 

Finally, the last part of the novel is told by M. The sections leading up to M’s are a slow burn, and M’s narration was my favorite part of the book. M is trying to figure out where he belongs in the shadow of someone else, but M has the added obstacle of not being completely human. He is battling his ever-present hunger for humans, the expectations of his loved ones, his desire to understand humans, and generally fitting in a world not created for him. M is the result of a monstrous decision made by someone else, in the throes of monstrous grief, and he does not know if he is M, Santiago, Monstrilio, a combination, or someone else entirely. 

Monstrilio is a stunning novel that wraps its characters in grief, love, and the persistence of both. It examines the lasting effects of grief and how, if we let it, our own grief can affect those we hold most dear and even turn us monstrous. The novel also explores the binding results of loyalty and acceptance of those we love. Monstrilio features dark themes and is the most gory horror novel I’ve personally read (I haven’t read many). That might be an immediate “no” for some readers, and an immediate “yes” for others; either way, the part horror, part literary meditation on emotions that makes up this novel was unexpected, unsettling, and simply wonderful. Córdova comes out swinging with this debut and I am looking forward to what he releases next. While Monstrilio did make me sad, it is a book that I won’t soon forget. 

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Review written by Sarah Turner-Hill, Adult Programming Coordinator

The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris

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The Summer Reading Program at Joplin Public Library comes to a close this weekend. What a summer! Altogether, we had almost 1,500 participants in the reading challenge. In the Children’s Department alone, we hosted almost 120 programs. Our theme this summer was “Adventure Begins at Your Library.” My last review was about an adventure-based picture book; with the end of summer reading on the horizon, I would like to share a rollicking adventure in graphic novel form.

I have intended to read The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza for several years now. The book began as a weekly virtual book club during the COVID lockdown. Mac Barnett hosted a weekly meeting called “Mac’s Book Club Book Show” where he would read from his books and bring in special guests; a dress code was always encouraged. During these meetings, Barnett and Shawn Harris began a series of live weekly cartoons. Thus, The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza was born. Thankfully, they turned it into a book that we can all enjoy.

The book is reminiscent of the ever popular Dog Man books but never derivative. The main character is a cat who doesn’t speak yet is tasked with saving the moon. His sidekick is a talkative robot (LOZ 4000) whose main job in life thus far has been to clip the toenails of an evil genius. When the cat and the robot arrive on the moon, they embark on a journey with the queen to stop the Rat King from eating the moon. The government official monitoring the situation from Earth regularly makes exclamations like “Oh my Uncle Tony’s Hot Calzoney” and “Oh my wrinkly pinkie toe.” This story is ridiculous in the best way. Some children’s humor is just for children— and that’s okay— but some transcends. The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza falls into the second camp.

Shawn Harris’ illustrations are perfect for this book. The facial expressions are humorous yet simple, and the color spreads throughout the different chapters typically use just a few colors but manage to bring the setting alive. I appreciate Harris’ depiction of light in various scenes. A scene featuring the queen talking to the man on the moon shows a shaft of light reflecting on pillars in an impressively realistic way.

Talking about this book is really fun and reading it is even more so. I would recommend this book to elementary-aged readers who enjoy funny books. I would especially recommend this to young Dog Man fans who have read and reread all 12 titles in the series. I would also recommend this to anyone who appreciates absurdist humor. I suppose I would recommend this to just about anyone. Lucky for us, the sequel The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom was recently published. Happy reading!

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Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present by Fareed Zakaria

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If you’re still on the prowl for this summer’s beach read, Fareed Zakaria has your back with his latest book, Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present. It’s a book for those with, shall we say, divergent beach-reading preferences. Using his Harvard-trained political scientist background along with his current role as a CNN political commentator, Zakaria expertly combines both breadth and accessibility to lay out how studying five centuries of revolutions can add context to our current challenges.

This was an ambitious project, to be sure. Zakaria’s targeted audience here is wide, including both the Foreign Affairs reader and the more casual news consumer. To start, Zakaria contends that liberal democratic capitalism has been a basic good. We’re looking at classical liberalism, where democracies are not about outcomes, but norms: rule of law, individual and economic freedom, checked power. The revolutions he explores fall under a fairly traditional social science definition. They are revolutions that embodied profound structural changes: social, political, and economic. Zakaria excludes the American Revolution as it was more or less a civil war among Englishmen. After American independence, life in the former colonies looked pretty much as it had before. The Founders certainly did much to further Enlightenment thinking regarding liberalism, nevertheless, as evidenced in the Federalist Papers.

Zakaria credits the Dutch with the building of liberalism’s foundation. They rejected absolute monarchy and promoted free trade. Separating themselves from the Hapsburg Empire, a national identity was established. To themselves, they were the Dutch, distinct and unique. In 1688, the Glorious Revolution—in which a Dutchman and his wife, William and Mary, were invited to assume the English throne—solidified Parliament as the ruling power of England. In other words, a social contract was made. According to Zakaria, “the moment Dutch commercialism was wedded to English power can be seen as the moment the medieval world came to a close.”

Any discussion of revolutions must include the quintessence of failed revolutions: the French Revolution. Given the calcified state of French society in 1789, Zakaria notes that there was an early liberal movement during the nascent stages of the revolution. But when the Reign of Terror commenced, the French republic became, in reality, a dictatorship. The illiberal movements that followed were so seismic, their effects are still with us. Are you a liberal or are you a conservative? Are you a friend of the republic or are you an enemy?

This is why Zakaria’s book title is the plural of revolution. A revolution begets a counter-revolution. The French Revolution undoubtedly rattled Europe, especially within the German states. There was “a ferocious backlash to the cold rationalism of the Enlightenment, and its monstrous child, the revolution.” So, the Right turned to a new movement: Romanticism. Modernity had so shaken the elites, there was a pining for some bygone yesteryear.

The Industrial Revolution is covered along with the 19th century U.S. industrialization boom, what Zakaria calls America’s real revolution. He points out that the British government leveled the same accusations against Americans as today’s American government levels against the Chinese. Ostensibly, such practices as product dumping and intellectual property theft are not new. Nonetheless, massive change spurred massive disruption. The reaction in Europe came in the form of socialism; in the U.S., it was populism.

In the 20th century, liberalism’s greatest threat was communism. Zakaria details how the Washington Consensus encouraged developing countries to privatize and embrace the market economy via free trade. It was seen by President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher as a win-win: good for defeating the Soviets and good for the respective nation. Neoliberalism was so prevalent that when the Tories finally lost in the 1990s, Labour’s new leader, Tony Blair, embraced this globalist view. In fact, when Thatcher was asked to name her greatest achievement, she said, “Tony Blair.” The message was clear. Labour espousing Tory economic practices meant that, to her, the matter had been settled.

After the Soviet Union fell, political scientist Francis Fukuyama famously wrote that the event marked “the end of history.” To Fukuyama, political evolution had reached its highest state. Liberal democracy had, in essence, won. But history wasn’t quite finished, for a democratic backsliding—a move to autocracy—commenced in some countries. This shouldn’t be a surprise, says Zakaria. Market reforms may open a nation, but the foundation of a democratic system takes time to develop. Napoleon may have dismissed England as a “nation of shopkeepers.” But those shopkeepers point to a dynamic nation of staked interests. In other words, there’s a vigorous Parliament precisely because it took centuries to mature.

As the second half of Zakaria’s book moves us to the present, we see continued constructive and disruptive changes by way of modernity. He goes through the numbers, and they are striking. China and India essentially “come online.” Just think of the sheer volume of people now participating in this global economy. Additionally, technological changes continue to disrupt just as much as they contribute. Nothing new here. The printing press played a part in a century of European religious wars. In so many ways, life is now easier and safer. But it’s also more isolating. As a rather benign but consequential example, Amazon.com has replaced your local bookshop.

The “red state vs. blue state” debate is now part of the zeitgeist. But urban vs. rural seems more to the point. We have, more or less, self-sorted ourselves. This is further exacerbated when one siloes news sources. If you so choose, you don’t have to worry about working through any complex national or global issue. You can find plenty of outlets telling you that the answers are simple, and that others are to blame for the problems, always. These are business models disguised as news organizations.

Abroad, the European Union has been an economic success, yet many Europeans feel alienated from its largesse, says Zakaria. Farther east, revanchist Russia is in the throes of its own curious grappling with identity. To add further complexity, we (in the West) tend to think of Enlightenment precepts as universal. But many countries tend to view them as a “legacy of Western dominance.”

Zakaria seems to take a rather sanguine view of our global economic interdependence. He wants the reader to consider the rather long relative peace that’s been in place among the great powers. But, he of course understands the challenges. He quotes Kierkegaard: “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” The book’s epigraph includes a famous Marx and Engels passage from The Communist Manifesto: “All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned…”

Anxiety and constant change are certainly a part of our modern political economy. In response, there are individuals who claim to be the vanguard of a movement to cure the ills that they have diagnosed, asserting that they are the only ones who can offer stability. Tribalism is often signaled over reality. Historically, followers of such individuals are willing to tolerate (or even advocate) realpolitik actions, thus eschewing institutions and democratic norms. In other words, such actions are illiberal. What happens when illiberal means are used in an attempt to restore some atavistic sense of national strength? Can liberal democracy survive when rules, procedures, and compromise are tossed aside? Perhaps we will see.

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Reviewed by Jason Sullivan

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

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A halt to her archeological dig and the vague mention from her brother that something seems off with their mother send Sam Montgomery across the country to her mother’s house in North Carolina.

The house on Lammergeier Lane was never her favorite place to be. It used to belong to Sam’s grandmother, Gran Mae – a harsh woman with exacting standards. When Sam was very young, her family lived with her grandmother briefly. Sam only has limited memories of that time, all unpleasant.

Her grandmother had strict rules for their behavior, requiring that they appear “nice and normal,” like a sitcom family. She used to threaten her grandchildren with stories of underground children who would come for them if they misbehaved. Her only joy came from her meticulously kept rose bushes.

When Sam arrives at her mother’s home, Edith does seem off. Her usually peppy mother is jumping at shadows, they now have to pray before dinner, and Edith will not hear a word against Gran Mae – who has been dead for many years.

The house itself is also different. When Edith moved in, she repainted all of the rooms and redecorated the house to match her own warm, chaotic style. Sam notices immediately that the house looks almost exactly the way it did when her grandmother was still alive: white-walled and sterile, devoid of all personal touches from her mother. There is also a large vulture living on the mailbox.

Stress about her mother’s condition and an inexplicable swarm of ladybugs in her bedroom have Sam on edge. She is not sleeping well, and she has been having strange dreams about someone whispering in her ear.

Determined to help her mother, Sam begins poking into her own family history. She discovers that her great-grandfather was a notorious “sorcerer” in his day, with correspondents with whom he discussed creating human life through magic.

Sam cannot imagine her straight-laced grandmother having anything to do with these fantastical beliefs. In fact, when she was alive, Gran Mae had a feud with a neighbor that she only referred to as “that old witch.”

The neighbor, a lovely woman named Gail, has befriended Edith since she moved back to town. Afraid that her mother may be developing dementia, Sam goes to Gail, hoping to get some insight into her mother’s condition.

Instead, Gail assures Sam that magic is real, her mother is perfectly in control of her faculties, and something evil is inhabiting her grandmother’s house.

A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES by T. Kingfisher is a horror novel with a modern Southern Gothic flair. The atmosphere is perfect for a haunted house story. Much of the suspense is drawn from the reader knowing that there really is a malevolent presence in the house, while Sam steadfastly refuses to believe it.

Sam is certain that there is a mundane answer to her mother’s distress right up until the moment her grandmother’s ghost appears at their dining room table.

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Book review by Alyssa Berry, Technical Services Librarian

Funny Story by Emily Henry

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’Tis the season … oh, no, not that season … the season for the release of bestselling author Emily Henry’s latest book.

It definitely feels like a celebratory season to anyone who has counted down since the last one came out in spring 2023. And it would seem that I am not alone in my excitement because Henry’s latest offering, “Funny Story,” was named one of the most anticipated books of 2024 by Time magazine before its release April 23. The real question is, was it worth the wait?

Let me give you some details about the book first, and then I will share some thoughts.

The book’s main character, Daphne Vincent, loves a good story. She especially loves how her fiance, Peter, would tell the story of how they met — in a park on a windy day, with Daphne trying to retrieve her hat and eventually getting some assistance from Peter. Though unbeknownst to lovestruck Daphne, their breakup on the night of Peter’s bachelor party, when he dumps Daphne for childhood best friend Petra, will prove an even more interesting story than their first meeting.

After the breakup, Daphne is not sure what to do. She has moved to Michigan from South Carolina for Peter. She has a new job as a children’s librarian, and her co-workers think she must be in the witness protection program or working for the FBI because she is so hush-hush about herself. Her friend group consists only of people who are also friends with Peter. She feels sad, overwhelmed and alone. With no other place to go, Daphne accepts an invitation from Miles, Petra’s ex-boyfriend, to move into the apartment that he and Petra used to share.

Miles is the opposite of Daphne’s organized, introverted, neat personality. His fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants adventurous personality allows him much adventure, and he has the ability to charm complete strangers, though his breakup with Petra has really shook him. After moving in, Daphne observes him mostly spending a lot of time in his room watching sad movies and listening to loud, depressing music.

Despite living in the same apartment, the two avoid each other for several weeks, but a chance encounter and a fun night out leaves their exes thinking the two are more than just roommates. From this misleading event, the two form a precarious friendship, with Miles offering to help Daphne get out of the house and see more of what their small town in Michigan has to offer. She has been so focused on counting down to the end-of-summer readathon fundraising event that she is in charge of that she has forgotten to see where she is and enjoy her time in a new place. It is thanks to Miles that she begins to explore and appreciate Michigan.

In this new chapter of Daphne’s life, the two become close, but several misunderstandings involving their exes, as well as Daphne’s mostly absent father, who springs a surprise visit on her, get in the way of their happiness. Ultimately, Daphne has to decide what is most important to her and whether she will leave Michigan once the library’s readathon is over.

Yes, yes, yes — this book was worth the wait. The characters are well drawn and relatable. Of course, I especially love that Henry made Daphne a librarian and that the whole book is about a story or, rather, multiple stories that converge to make a wonderful read. It is clever, and while nothing is too surprising, everything fits and makes the book compelling and easy to read. My perfect beach read. Now to start my new countdown — only 330 days, or something close to that, until Henry’s new book gets released.

Review written by: Jeana Gockley, Joplin Public Library Director

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Weyward by Emilia Hart

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Weyward is author Emilia Hart’s debut novel. A historical fiction mixed with magical realism and gothic tones, the novel became a New York Times Bestseller and won two Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Historical Fiction and Best Debut Novel for 2023. Weyward is a split narrative following the lives of three women across five centuries. After I finished reading I knew I wanted to write a book review about it as I found it to be a genuinely good, well-crafted story.

1619: Altha Weyward recently lost her mother to illness, her only family and companion. Her mother taught Altha the ways of medicine and healing, but with caution. The healing Altha came to know from her mother is that of natural remedies, herbs, mixtures procured from nature – far from the practice of placing leeches on the sick as a form of treatment, as doctors commonly did. When Altha’s mother becomes sick she makes Altha promise to keep these ways of healing, and other secrets, safe and not to draw attention to herself. Altha and her mother know their village is not a safe place for them as unmarried women that practice healing, especially with the way animals seem to respond to Altha, and the pet crow her mother keeps. Yet, Altha cannot help putting down all their secrets and her deeds in a book she locks away in her cottage. Soon after the loss of her mother Altha finds herself on trial accused of witchcraft following the death of a man in her village.

1942: Violet Ayres has always had a fascination with plants and animals, the mechanics of the natural world. Living with her father and brother on an estate in complete isolation, Violet’s closest friends are the spider that lives under her bed, her nanny, and the insects she befriends while about their estate. Violet’s mother died when she was very young and her father is an unloving guardian, more interested in keeping Violet away from society so she doesn’t “become like her mother.” When Violet meets her cousin for the first time she is fascinated by someone new, and by the way he looks at her. All her observations of insects do not help her understand her cousin or the ways of the world. When Violet suddenly finds her safe world harshly torn apart she is forced to live alone in Weyward Cottage, once owned by her mother. Violet begins to discover why she might have such an inclination for animals and the natural world, and the history of her maternal side, helped along by a crow and a book she discovers, authored by a woman named Altha.

2019: Kate Ayres takes her burner phone, the funds she has been secretly stashing away, and a suitcase and flees her husband. Her destination: the cottage her great aunt Violet Ayres left for her when she passed away, a woman she met in childhood but barely knew. But anything is better than the repetitive abuse she receives from her husband. Over the years Kate has found herself shrinking who she is, lessening her hobbies and passions, cutting out her mother and friends, all to avoid her husband’s anger. Her father died saving Kate’s life when she was a child, and since then her love for animals and nature has been silenced. Kate is alone, scared, and does not know what to do next. Yet when she arrives at Weyward Cottage she begins to find herself in Violet’s belongings, in the garden, insects, and crows, and in a book left under lock and key by a woman named Altha.

The chapters of Weyward tell Altha, Violet, and Kate’s stories bit by bit, revealing how the three women and their stories connect, even separated by centuries. All three find themselves alone and isolated following life-changing experiences. Yet, they are not truly alone, for in themselves and by way of their connection to one another they find healing and purpose. Weyward is about the resilience and strength of women, the connection that comes from sisterhood, and trusting in oneself. Witchcraft and magic are implied elements, more of supporting characters to the women’s stories rather than front and center. I found Weyward to be a magical novel, despite being able to guess what was about to happen throughout the story; Emilia Hart managed to make what could be a predictable storyline seem new. Hart’s prose runs smoothly, her character development enough to have developed characters while also leaving room for imagination, and the audio version was read by three different narrators for Altha, Violet, and Kate (which I’m a big fan of). Weyward is perfect for readers looking for some magic and female empowerment in their lives.

Note: If you are considering reading Weyward I suggest reviewing the content warnings before picking up the novel.

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Review by Sarah Turner-Hill, Adult Programming Coordinator.

Papá’s Magical Water-Jug Clock by Jesús Trejo

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By the time this review is published, Summer Reading will have begun at the Joplin Public Library. The Summer Reading Program is a free, all ages reading challenge that runs from May 28th through July 21. Participants can keep track of their reading during that time on a paper log or online (www.joplinpubliclibrary.org/summer-reading) and win prizes. The reading challenge is accompanied by in-person events for all ages. Our theme this year is “Adventure Begins at Your Library.” I have selected a few of my favorite books that fit this theme to share in my review.

On the surface, the plot of Jesús Trejo and Eliza Kinkz’s Papá’s Magical Water-Jug Clock hardly seems like an adventure; the young narrator goes to work with his dad on Saturdays. Lucky for us, Jesús, the young boy telling the story, has an active imagination and an infectious sense of adventure. His father is a gardener, and he gets to go with him to work every Saturday where he helps plant, cut grass, and trim trees. The most special job, however, is keeping track of the titular magical water jug. Jesús’ papȧ clues him into its magical timekeeping properties: “When the jug is empty, that means, time to go home.” Jesús is tasked with making sure the water doesn’t spill, but he also has plenty of fun along the way. Trees are scary monsters and sleepy cats are lounging vacationers. He takes all aspects of the family business seriously, from trimming and raking to digging and mowing. The reader can’t help but notice, however, how carefree Jesús is with the water in the jug. He takes a few sips here, a few sips there. He gives it to the little dog in the sweater who must be hot and the peacocks with their giant tails. He even splashes it on his face a few times as the sun gets higher in the sky. When the water jug runs empty, Jesús proudly announces that work is done for the day– at 10:30 AM. It turns out that the magical water-jug isn’t magical at all and they needed that water to last all day. Jesús’ father is understanding and offers a kind pep talk rather than a stern lecture.

Kinkz’ hand drawn illustrations are reminiscent of Chris Raschka of The Hello, Goodbye Window fame (among other titles). The illustrations are loose and fun, with watercolor often spilling out of an item’s defined edges. The characters’ facial expressions have a distinctly cartoon style, with a squiggly curlique nose for Jesús, an angry tree with its tongue sticking out, and bug-eyed peacocks with sunglasses on. Papá’s Magical Water-Jug Clock would be a good book with different illustrations, but Kinkz illustrations really seem like a perfect match for Trejo’s story. I would recommend this book for preschool and early elementary readers.

The Children’s Department staff has compiled a list of suggested titles to complement the “Adventure Begins at Your Library.” Other picture book favorites of mine include Jess Hannigan’s Spider in the Well, a strikingly illustrated modern-day fable about a town called Bad Goodsburg, Adam Rex’s increasingly outlandish picture book On Account of the Gum, and Christoper Denise’s Knight Owl, the tale of a tiny but mighty bird.

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You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

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Hernán Cortés meeting Moctezuma in 1519 holds some space in our North American imagination. Two trajectories of human development—long separated by time and distance—crossed in Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico City. For many, it symbolizes the beginning of the end, the Old World commencing its dominion in the New World. Imagine the meeting: European steel and gunpowder entering the dominant empire in Mesoamerica. We can almost feel the tension five centuries later.

In You Dreamed of Empires, Álvaro Enrigue has a reimagining for the ages. Yes, it foretells the eventual clash between Spanish conquistadors and a sophisticated city. But most of the novel reads like the most awkward of weekend getaways between two groups of people trying to understand what in the blazes is going on. It’s often comedic, taking the reader on a delightful, almost hallucinogenic flight.

We first find Cortés and a few of his men as dinner guests of Moctezuma’s retinue. One conquistador, never having experienced the deliciousness of chocolate, wants to down the frothy cacao drink that was served. However, the Tenochtitlan priest seated next to him—”his teeth filed sharp as a cat’s”—has him more than a little unnerved. More than anything, it’s the nauseating stench of coagulated blood from the priest’s cape made of human skin.

The fact that the Spaniard is not eating his soup is becoming an issue. Moctezuma’s priests are whispering. Cortés shoots the soldier a reproachful look, like a parent silently scolding a child with a flash of the eyes: Eat! The soldier finally imbibes, prompting a comrade to raise his cup of chocolate at his countrymen, as if to say, “Looking good, Spain.”

Moctezuma leaves others to deal with the Spaniards. He’s deep within the palace complex, self-medicating with psychedelic mushrooms. His depressed malaise is crippling. He’s always having to solidify power and find opposing warriors to sacrifice in the temples. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. And it’s not as though the “testy gods” are appreciative, what with their “blithely doling out droughts, earthquakes, defeats, and invasions.” Now, here are these Spaniards, these “bearded ones.” So Moctezuma lies down. “The Silence his nap demanded was imperial.” All things within the palace become hushed. When he wakes, he rings a royal bell, its peal waking “a whole world” just before he returns to sleep.

The conquistadors are left to wander the impressive and disorienting palace complex. With its many canals, one soldier remarks that it’s like Venice. Another responds, “It’s like Venice, but in hell.” The palace is so silent and empty it feels as though they’re “strolling along the seafloor.” Every day is like a Sunday, says another. Meanwhile, the soldier charged with stabling the horses is having some difficulty in finding suitable accommodations. The problem, of course, is that horses are just as new to the area as the Spanish.

Are they guests, or are they prisoners? They don’t know. There is, nevertheless, the feeling that they are getting away with something. Could they ever get this close to the Spanish crown? Of course not. But look at them now, even if they do feel idiotic marching through this heat and humidity in helmets and breastplates. In fact, when comparing their attire with Moctezuma’s warriors’ headdresses representing their guardian animals, the Spanish crested helmets seem “about as majestic now as a bagpiper’s bonnet.”

Tlilpotonqui, the mayor of Tenochtitlan, at times comes across as an overworked concierge. When Moctezuma beacons, go he must. He’s had it up to here with everyone and everything. We can imagine him trying not to get caught rolling his eyes when has to listen to He Who Looses the Rain of Words and Governs the Songs Lest We Be Like the Flowers and Bees That Last But a Few Days sing—once again —the “interminable” Legend of the Suns.

Excessive rumination is not something that burdens Cortés. We know from history that Cortés was positively awful. And he’s dreadful here too. If there is one thing that burns inside Cortés, it’s his quest for gold. It’s purported that Cortés said to Moctezuma’s representatives, “I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart which can be cured only with gold.”

Eventually, Moctezuma—fully sated on magic mushrooms—emerges. Here he is, the mighty ruler of the “fear-producing machine” that is Tenochtitlan. And what happens? He and one of his priests hear a T.Rex song from the 1970s and start dancing about.

Absurd? Yes, of course. But there’s Borgesian magical realism in play here, especially toward the end of the novel. If that’s not exactly your literary bag, perhaps it may help to know that this novel is rather svelte, coming in at just over 200 pages. And, really, when capturing the peculiarity of this time and place, magical realism offers its own illuminative qualities.

Cortés and his men weren’t the first Spaniards to reach Mesoamerica. It was already known among many Mesoamericans that these “foreigners were ordinary men, but when there were many of them they became terrifying.” So it’s no wonder that in Enrigue’s incantatory novel, he has Moctezuma asking Cortés to just stop, to join him, and to “dream now.” It all “doesn’t last, like flowers.”

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Reviewed by Jason Sullivan

The Fields by Erin Young

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Robyn Young writes historical fiction in her home country of England. Under the pseudonym Erin Young, she has crossed the pond, at least in print, and penned her first thriller. Set in Waterloo, Iowa and the surrounding farm country, The Fields is a thriller that makes a statement on big agriculture and family farms.

It opens with Chloe Miller running for her life in a cornfield. When a drone approaches she curls as close to the corn stalks as possible hoping to hide from her pursuer. Days later her body is discovered by a co-op farmer surveying the crop.

From the wounds on the body it is obvious that this is a murder, making it Sergeant Riley Fisher’s first big case as head of the Investigations Division of the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Department. The pressure is intense as the sheriff wants a quick resolution, the men who wanted the promotion she got are waiting for her to fail, and the victim was a childhood friend. A friend from a time that Riley desperately wishes she could forget.

Chloe was married to James who is a researcher for GFT, a corn breeding company. They live in an affluent part of town so how did Chloe end up in the field and where is her car? James immediately becomes a suspect as he never reported his wife as missing.

Her team starts building a case, collecting evidence and conducting interviews. Then another body is found. This victim was strangled but had some of the same wounds found on Chloe. Nicole King was killed in an old meat-packing plant and evidence points to someone camping in the plant. Besides Nicole’s purse and a backpack there are lots of pill bottles from a local pharmacy. The evidence leads to a displaced veteran, George Anderson. But Anderson seems to have disappeared along with others who have been living on the streets.

The pharmacist identifies the drug as Fenozen which at least one of his former employees had been stealing. One of the suspected thieves is Sarah Foster. Sarah is known to the department because her daughter, Gracie, has been missing for weeks and believed to be a runaway.

Despite the wounds the two victims don’t have anything in common so James Miller is still Riley’s number one suspect in Chloe’s death. First the sheriff and then the governor warns her to leave James alone. Riley’s father worked for the governor in the past so he knows her but why is he steering her away from Miller?

Then Gracie is found in the river with similar wounds to the other two victims. Black Hawk County now has the requisite three bodies to think they have a serial killer. But the only thing tying the victims together is the strange wounds. The cause of death is different for each victim and they have nothing in common except their gender.

Is there one murderer, two or even three? When the FBI comes in to assist, Riley knows she has to solve the case quickly or lose it. But how do you find such an unpredictable killer or killers?

There is a lot going on in this novel. Riley has the pressures of her job and uneasy relationships with some of her colleagues plus the past trauma this case stirs up. Then there is her substance abusing brother, his fourteen year old daughter and her grandfather dying from dementia. Add in the complexities of the case along with some political intrigue and eco-terrorists and it‘s hard to keep everyone straight. I found myself stopping a time or two so I could remember where the character fit in.

Most of the story is in the third person but Riley speaks in her own voice occasionally and there are a couple of chapters from an unnamed character giving you a glimpse of someone spiraling out of control. Is this the killer or a potential victim?

I like well-developed characters and Riley fits the bill. Once all the different plot lines were in place the novel rushed to an action-packed ending. I will give you fair warning, the author doesn’t shy away from gory descriptions and there is a horror element I didn’t expect.

This is the first book featuring Riley Fisher. A second book, Original Sins, was released in March. If you like Karin Slaughter’s novels or enjoyed The Killing Hills by Offutt or Highway by C.J. Box, I recommend you give this title a try.

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Review written by Patty Crane, Reference Librarian

The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel

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One year ago, author and paleobiologist Sal Drake died in a car crash on a winding mountain road in Italy. He left behind a wife – Jane – and two teenage daughters, Eve and Vera. Each of them has been struggling with this loss in her own way.

Vera, barely thirteen, longs for stability and a sense of home. She wants to keep the remains of her family as close as possible, ideally at home in California.

Eve, fifteen, also wants to stay in California. She wants a normal teenage life, full of rebellion and bad decisions.

Jane, who had spent her life as her husband’s research assistant and editor, is now pursuing her own graduate degree in paleobiology. Unfortunately for her daughters, that means spending their summer on a research trip in Siberia.

Jane’s professor is heading to the extreme North to study mammoth fossils. Their lab has been working with mammoth DNA, hoping to eventually edit the DNA of an elephant to give it mammoth-like qualities. They create and observe embryos of these “cold-adapted elephants,” hoping to one day grow a full-fledged almost-mammoth.

While avoiding the scientists, Eve and Vera discover the mummified remains of a baby woolly mammoth. They bring their prize back to the cabin, where their discovery quickly becomes the professor’s success – he will take the credit, in the same way that their mother’s work will be seen as an extension of his efforts.

Back in California, with their mummified mammoth safely preserved and being studied, Jane and her daughters find themselves invited to a celebratory banquet. There they meet Helen – a wealthy, enigmatic woman who understands the female condition that has led them to this place.

What starts as an offhand comment from Vera, leads to Jane and her daughters traveling to Helen’s home in Italy. With a stolen disc of mammoth embryos in a cooler.

Helen’s husband is a retired veterinarian, and their estate is home to hundreds of animals – including an adult female elephant. Against all odds, they successfully impregnate the elephant. Actually keeping a secret baby woolly mammoth alive comes with its own challenges.

And the more time the family stays with Helen and her husband, the less they are sure they can trust them.

THE LAST ANIMAL by Ramona Ausubel has the bones of a science fiction thriller – rogue scientist resurrects extinct animal with the help of wealthy people with too much time on their hands – but the heart of a domestic drama.

The struggles the three women are facing are very internal. Jane is trying to keep the baby mammoth alive, but what she is really struggling with is her own future. She is not sure she has the drive to keep working to be a scientist when she feels so worn down by the loss of her husband.

Vera and Eve are both desperate for their mother’s love. They feel set adrift in their own grief, which they express in very different ways. Both sisters feel that their mother has abandoned them for this new creature that she has brought into the world.

Pearl, the baby mammoth, is a creature out of time. No one knows how to care for her; her elephant mother rejects her and has to be removed. She longs for a world that no longer exists.

Ausubel’s lyrical prose accentuates the depth of all this grief, while her quick pacing keeps the plot moving forward. THE LAST ANIMAL is a globe-spanning, high-stakes story with a deep heart.

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Book review by Alyssa Berry, Technical Services Librarian