To quote the fabled Mr. Horse,

Pros:

• It’s a fairly short, fast paced story that has some exciting moments.
• There are a few parts that have beautiful imagery, especially towards the end.
• There were some cool parts about Aztec history and whatnot.
• As the story goes on it does get slightly better and almost makes you invested in what happens, almost.

Cons:

• Absolutely awful main character. Completely repugnant in almost every way with few redeeming qualities. Lupita, is a short, fat, alcoholic drug addict who is extremely selfish. As the story goes on you learn about her past and what made her become the woman that she is, and you still don’t end up liking her. There’s a very beautiful experienced described at the end and it makes you mad to think such an awful character gets to have it. You will probably not root for her in this book.
• The story has very unusual priorities. For instance, Lupita has a man she greatly admires die in her arms, and the focus is on how upset she is that she pissed her pants in front of others in the moment; a point that is brought up over and over again. You would think a man’s death would be more important than pee, but nope. Perhaps it was written this way to show the selfish nature of the character.
• It’s hard to care about any of the characters and the whole book paints Mexico in a bad light, all the while making it seem as if the United States is the sole reason for the nation’s drug cartels.
• The first half of the book seemed to be written by a first time author who lazily used the thesaurus in word just to jazz things up a bit. It improves slightly during the second half.

I got this book for free so I wasn’t overly invested to begin with, but I gave it a chance regardless. I didn’t hate it. I didn’t like it. I would have preferred to use the time it took to read this book on more important endeavors such as having a nonstop taco party.

I can’t recommend this book nor can I dismiss it as garbage. It’s only like 200 pages so you aren’t losing much time if you do decide to read it. I’m going to go eat tacos now.

Caleb likes tacos.

3 out of 5 whiskey shots

Published by Caleb James

Caleb is a freelance writer, aspiring novelist, and an avid reader. He is the creator of DPW and enjoys editing and helping other writers with their work. When he's not writing and sipping fine whiskey he can be found at the gym, hiking in the woods, or spending time with crazy Siberian husky Nitro. View all posts by Caleb James