The Sacrifice

A solid, interesting story! I wish there had been more of the spooky aspects and creepy moments, because those excelled as they unfolded! The main characters also could have used more time to develop. Especially within their budding attraction to one another; it would've been nice to see it all start to really tangle together and offer even more of a threat over their heads.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Great cover on this one!

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It was well written and well paced. The setting was atmospheric. The plot was engaging with hints of colonialism, mythology, and traditional culture. The characters were well developed and intriguing. I pretty much read this one all in one go!

A STORY WHERE I REALLY WANTED THE MUMU TO WIN!

But also: clearly a story about the horror of colonization, and also an inversion of tropes from horror and adventure films like Indiana Jones and The Mummy. Also a send-up of shows like Curse of Oak Island and that stupid Yamashita Treasure ???documentary??? on History Channel. Strong themes about imperialism and how it hasn???t really gone away in the modern world, despite most former colonies now being ???free???. 

There are also themes here about family, and duty to family. You have Chase, who???s American as all get-out and has the perspective to match, and Alon, who???s clearly following Filipino/Asian(?) notions of filial duty. Compassion for the Other is also a running theme in this too, and ties right back to the themes of colonization and imperialism that run a bit closer to the surface. I know some readers have been puzzled by Alon???s choices throughout, but I rather like them for the actions they did and did not take. They seem incredibly passive, which ties in with the trope of the ???native guide??? you see in a lot of horror movies/???documentaries??? like this, but their choices show just how active they are. And then of course there???s the big reveal at the end. 

On Cortes and his related storyline: the painting of Lapulapu as a villain for ???controlling the god to win against the Spaniards??? appears to be largely a projection of the white people in the story, particularly Hemslock. It links back to his racism, that ???brown people??? aren???t capable of defeating ???white people??? because the latter are superior because guns (among other reasons). Towards the end he keeps on insisting that if Lapulapu could do it, so could he, but better because he???s white. This reflects a similar tendency in those ???ancient aliens??? crackpots, who can???t believe that ???primitive brown people??? could create something magnificent and incredible (e.g. pyramids, Nazca Lines, etc) on their own, so they point to aliens and say ???they had help???; white people, on the other hand, came by their achievements ???honestly???.

Overall: very fun read, quite spooky in lots of places - I will never look at makahiya the same way again, and this just upped the balete spook factor significantly. Would make an AMAZING movie I think, given the visuals. Twists were pretty good, was not expecting the ending, but most importantly, every single foreign jerk in this story got their comeuppance, and I am so happy they did.