The Return of the Sorceress

Since discovering Mexican Gothic I've run through all of Moreno-Garcia's catalog and, seeing this and anticipating her next book, it was a no-brainer. I'm not sure this one connected that well, though.

This one was in between. Technically a novella, it was short enough to be able to push through and told a simple, but effective story. Using genre tropes and her always on-point description, she's able to create a recognizable world within short order.

The lead character was where things suffered. This was a revenge story and the protagonist is bent on destroying her spurned lover. Everyone around her seems willing to help, but only because they're afraid of her. It creates a strange dynamic where you can understand why she's mad, but it doesn't make for enjoyable reading.

My biggest issue was with the ending. The ending redeems our characters, as endings tend to do, but our protagonist makes a decision that we, who spent the entire story understanding her motives and past through the narration, had no idea she was planning on doing. The ending was great, mind you. It redeemed the story for me, but it made the narration inconsistent, which was either a symptom of a novelist attempting to keep a story short by shearing off information or just intentionally omitting it for a surprise ending.

Interesting novella

The Return of the Sorceress is an interesting fantasy novella from the author of Mexican Gothic and The Gods of Jade and Stone. In this tale the former mistress of the sorcerer's guild juggles revenge, justice, and her very survival as she tries to set things to right and regain her power. Haunted by her past, this protagonist is a complex character marked by the human capacity for temptation, corruption, and redemption. Moreno-Garcia has a great concept, but this story might have benefitted from a greater word count. I kept feeling as if I was entering this story after having missed a previous installment. Additionally the pacing of plot seemed a bit too rapid. If Moreno-Garcia writes a full length novel set in this world I would be very interested in reading it, but this work just lacked the fullness and complexity I was hoping for after being so impressed with her smash hit novel last year, Mexican Gothic. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

More of a 3.5.

CW: blood magic, self harm

I have only read Gods of Jade and Shadow by the author before and thought her writing was very beautiful. I never did get to Mexican Gothic despite all my friends loving it because I'm not really into horror. So I was pretty excited to get back to her writing, within the fantasy genre again.

I'm usually a huge fan of novellas and authors who can say a lot in few pages. And this seemed like the perfect choice especially I'm in the middle of a bad reading slump. And I loved how this was such a quick read. The author gets right in the middle of the proceedings when the main character has just escaped from her captor/former lover and is seeking ways to get her revenge. It was interesting to see someone once powerful grapple with her current vulnerable predicament, and think about all the choices that she made which led to the present. The dialogue between Yalxi and her nahual is also very sarcastic and fun, adding some mirth to an otherwise dark situation. But the author definitely is best at writing gorgeous descriptions that captivate us, bring the world to life and make us feel the depth of emotions.

However, this time I felt the book was too short. There was a good amount of build up towards the final confrontation, and the climax fight was spectacularly written. But it still felt too simple and easy, and didn't evoke the awe I was expecting. Maybe I just had too high expectations. Or maybe it would have been better if the story was more fleshed out, with deeper look into the characters' backstories.

Overall, it was a fun and quick read with gorgeous writing, and fascinating characters. I just think it could have been wonderful with a longer page count. But I'm very much looking forward to the author's other upcoming releases.