The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

I loved the blending of the fantastical and mundane together to tell a rich story with incredibly deep, and flawed, characters.

Dnf'd at 58%. I tried to like this but I'm just SO bored and I can feel it pushing me into a slump. I loved the premise but it's just not doing it for me.

This book was slightly different from what I expected. In short: I enjoyed the beginning of the book, but the ending was disappointing. I think I was expecting more of a "Family Madrigal"-vibe (from the movie Encanto) and less of an evil >ex-husband/ringmaster (magic-y bad guy) vibe.

The setup of the house and the village and the theme of Orquidea making a home for herself and her family, but not succeeding entirely <spoiler>since her secrecy and harshness made a lot of the family resent her and move/run away</spoiler>, was very interesting, but the plot did not go where I expected it to go and in this case it was a miss for me. I think was hoping for a less explicit magical threat and more of a story about a family coming together.

Thoughts(/possibly slight rant) about the ending: The spiteful ex-husband trying to kill them with his living star/endless wishing well didn't work for me. I am not sure how to explain why, maybe it was just not what I expected, but it was not a satisfying mystery/resolution for me. I also didn't like that Tatinelly and her husband just randomly had to die for that, Tatinelly just wanted a happy family and her husband did absolutely nothing wrong, that poor man supported and cared for her and their daughter and in exchange lost his own family and wound up dying with insects crawling out of his body, he did not deserve that... Also why did nobody listen to the little girl who clearly had all the answers?? I know little kids just make stuff up sometimes, but she said very specific things and they already believed in magic, why not in her? and lastly, the living star being Marimar's father just seemed stupid. /rant

I haven't felt this seen by a book in such a long time. Intergenerational trauma, but also intergenerational resilience. Complicated family relationships underlaid with love. Traditional nature-based spiritualism that feels comfortingly familiar.

This book is for you if, like me you:
(1) are Indigenous. 
(2) have had difficulty explaining your family dynamics and traditions to people.
(3) Saw the “village crazy lady” Grandmother in the movie Moana and thought, “hey, I know her.”

Did anyone else have a grandmother who might as well have been a legend, a myth, a series of miracles that took the shape of an old woman?”

 Yes. I did. 

Beautiful.

I loved Orquídea and Ray. I loved the star and the river monster. I loved the fantastical elements and the zombie rooster. They more than made up for the unfaithful partner, the secrets, and the murder. I was not a fan of the flowers. It creeped me tf out. I would not be okay with a flower sprouting out of my body. I think the author did such a great job of capturing this family and the tumultuous dynamics within.

This book was so close to being 5 stars until they wanted to come in at the end talking about “your dad is the star” ummmm

I loved everything about this book. Normally I'm not a huge fan of stories that jump back and forth in time but here it was executed very well so it was still very enjoyable. The writing style blends humor and melancholy into something delicious that I couldn't get enough of.

3.5

Rating: 3.75 stars

I appreciate that myTBR.co recommended me this book when selecting books written by queer authors. I haven't heard of this author before and didn't expect much out of this novel; however, I was blown away by the magic and the epic family saga. There are a fair amount of unexpected twists and turns throughout the novel and the pacing is well-done

One thing that could've been better is the plot. There are some plot holes that could've been answered. Also, I wish that there was more consistency with the character development, especially for the main and side characters.

This was a very satisfying read! The language and characters compelled me to keep reading. The magical realism was seriously intertwined with the reality of the character's lives, not glued on like window dressing. I'm a sucker for metaphorical realities! This isn't really a plot-driven story, but if you like good characters and interesting magic, you should give this is a try.

3.5

ahhhh this was so good and i thoroughly enjoyed this magical story. i wish we spent more time with each character but there's a lot of them so it's understandable that we don't.

Do mesmo que quando li “Cem anos de solidão”, “Pipa voada sobre brancas dunas” ou “Pedro Páramo”, essa história me encantou e me prendeu depois de várias páginas onde eu ficava tentando procurar coisas óbvias onde existe muito além!

Adorei tudo que esse livro traz sobre a magia envolvendo família, relações, saudade, sentimentos e explicações que não estão ali escritos no desfecho. Histórias de realismo mágico (ainda mais quando são fortes/marcantes como essa) não são fáceis pra mim, mas ao mesmo tempo eu gosto demais de estar no meio desse universo.

E o livro ainda fala muito de uma coisa que é muito importante pra mim e que às vezes é difícil de lidar, mas é algo para o que eu sempre busco voltar, que é a família. Aos 40% pensei em deixar de lado pra pegar em outro momento, mas ainda bem que continuei. É ótimo!

intergenerational trauma, but punch mari in the face as hard as you can with it.

the comps to encanto are fair, but this takes the idea of a magically gifted family a step farther, especially with the secrets that orquidea kept to herself. listening to the kids unravel the secrets of their grandmother was incredible, especially with the flashbacks to orquidea's origin story. i felt like there were some extraneous moments, but other than that, quite enjoyed myself! besides, you know, being punched with yet another story about intergenerational trauma...

I loved the family members and their unique talents and foibles. I loved the search and chase to get the bad guy and uncover the whole family story. And the ending was so very sweet. I really didn't like the bad guy and he kinda scared me a little. There are definitely things that will stick with me in this.

It's hard to put my finger on but there's something about this sort of magic in a person's life that I enjoy much better than the other types of stories about witches and magicians and vampires and such that I don't have the same reaction to. Is it the origins of the magic being written about? That it seems to be more earthy?

Oh man. I didn't love this :(. First half was great and then the fantasy plot just got confusing. I didn't love how everything turned out or was revealed and was disappointed by this.

2.5

As magical realism goes, this was a better one although I still struggled to care about the characters. Having said that, maybe the problem stems from the audiobook, the narrator of which I found to be a little one-note in her characterizations, which made it hard to feel emotionally involved.

I wanted to like this book a lot, but something about it just didn't connect with me. I think it had magic realism ambitions in a commercial fantasy, and I wish it would have taken more risks and done less explaining. I enjoyed the actual story a lot (though the final villain reveal didn't necessarily feel earned to me), but I had trouble feeling very deeply for anyone except perhaps young Orchidea. It's not a bad book by any means, but I think the prose fell just shy of being a really great book.

This is a magical realism family story that hooked me in from the beginning. I really enjoyed the mystery and whimsical magic.

3.5 ✨
Dual timelines are always so hard to do because one is always superior and this one was no different.
Even though it was weirdly paced, the magical realism and unfolding story were beautiful and gripped me instantly.

this book was fine, just definitely not for me. i preferred one timeline over the other, the storytelling style didn't totally work for me, and the writing style was not bad by any means, just a bit too on the nose for my taste. i would say for fans of addie larue and evelyn hugo.

I had high hopes for this book because I saw that one of my fav BookTubers rated this a 5/5, but honestly I thought this was bang average.