Lucha wants to be free from poverty or the leering strangers, and that isn't something that comes easily at all in the city. The Night Forest outside of the city is supposedly uninhabitable, and there are tales about El Sediento stealing souls. Lucha has a younger sister, one she can't bear to leave behind despite her desire to escape.

The description of Robado and the forests outside it are fascinating. I love the thought of the forest full of trees and mushrooms as tall as trees, and there are superstitions surrounding components found in said forest. There's also a drug that causes people to forget their problems. Lucha's problems stem from her mother constantly wanting that drug, a younger sister hungry at home, and people she used to know siding with the cartels and military that keep trying to cut down the forest to expand the city. Lucha hunts for plants or monsters in the forest to bring back for cash and must find her mother within a day or they'll be evicted and at the mercy of thieves, soldiers, and the drug runners. Lucha must protect her thirteen-year-old sister as best as she can, and that's best done by finding her mother.

Of course, things are more complicated than that, and Lucha is captured by the military while her sister Lis volunteered to be used by them. It's a terrible situation for them both and was always meant to be a lose-lose situation. If Lucha didn't have some semblance of power that she could bargain with, both girls likely would have been killed and there would be no story. Since she does, Lucha strikes a bargain with Salvador for power. It's not a fair bargain, and he is full of lies, but as the story progresses it's really unclear which of any of the characters is truly honest. We learn about the gods' actual history, how the forgetting drug was developed, and find out the true nature of Salvador's lies. It's a fascinating progression, one I really enjoyed following. There is no singular truth, just reflections upon broken people doing the best they can in an imperfect and broken world.

In the beginning, there's such focus on the evils of the world, on the way that power corrupts so absolutely in the city. We have a reflection of this later, in that protecting a sanctuary can still lead to isolating others and using power to reward loyal followers. This is a corruption of pure intention, but it's always about choices. There's no fate for Lucha to fall back on, everything comes down to the choices she makes and the intention of her actions. This is a story about families, no matter how broken or unable to meet the needs of others, and the power of love and forgiveness. It's a beautiful message within this book and was a lot of fun to read.

Lucha of the Night Forest caught my attention as a "fantasy about a girl who will do anything to protect her sister". I love stories about siblings going to great lengths to protect each other and the book does deliver on that.

I've spent a few days trying to find the right word to describe how this book felt to me and I have settled on that it's just kind of surface level in terms of world building and character development. At the start of the book I was very invested, but as I kept reading my interest lessened.

But this book is fast paced and a bit dark with a sapphic romance and I think a lot of other people will like this book more than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this book available in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 3/5 stars.

While it is an incredibly fast paced novel, I found myself rushing to finish it because it did not hold my attention. Lucha is some sort of warrior bounty hunter who ends up imprisoned for several months because she can also control nature...so she makes a deal with the local lore's boogeyman that grows her powers and she has to embark on a quest with him...but then everything backfires...and backfires again...and again. There was just a lot of plot twists in the novel.

I enjoyed the fantasy aspect of it. The latinx inspiration for it. The beautiful queer romance in it. But the rest of it was just...meh? I appreciate it being a standalone, but there were SO many questions about the worldbuilding that were left unanswered ESPECIALLY when a majority of the plot revolves around this mythology and power dynamics.

The cover is also stunning, though.

Lucha just wants to take care of her sister and survive. When she joins forces with a godly presence in a moment of desperation, she has no idea of the journey and the heartbreak ahead of her. A beautifully wrought and introspective story that takes place in a world of lush jungles, darkness and hope. A must read fantasy.

Trigger Warnings: Drug use, addiction, withdrawal, assault, violence

Lis is all Lucha has left, which means she will do anything to protect her - even if that means making a deal with El Sediento and his dark forces.

This did honestly take me a moment to get into it, and that’s due to me being distracted while reading and trying to draw out the world Tehlor Mejia had built in this novel. The place where the sisters are from is literally a mud pit, nothing grows there, but it still has so many layers to it. Then they went into the forest and the plants and animals there were also on another level. And, there is mushroom magic!

Lucha dealt with a lot in this book and she didn’t always choose the best or easiest path. She would do what it took to get where or what she wanted, and that sometimes included killing those she thought deserved it. It made me like Lucha a bit more, because she wasn’t perfect and her life was most definitely far from it, but through her flaws (and making a pact with someone she really shouldn’t have) she fought and grew to make it better.

The romance of this book I felt like wasn’t the biggest deal, which I kind of liked. I’m not much for YA where the focus is the romance, which is why I think I like Mejia’s writing because though it is there, it’s not the only thing on the mind of the main character.

I would recommend this book for those who like intricate world building with a badass female lead who will stop at nothing to save and protect those who she loves.

*Thank you Make Me a World / Random House and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

A girl on the verge of freedom strikes a bargain to protect her sister. Filled with dark magic, and queer romance. Welcome to the Night Forest…
A dark world waits beyond the cover of this gorgeous looking book. Inside, there is magic, mystery, and danger around every corner. This does not stop the reader from falling headfirst into the world. A wonderful creation by Tehlor Kay Mejia that shows the power of hope.

AS CAWPILE:
Characters: 8 | Atmosphere: 9 | Writing: 5 | Plot: 7 | Intrigue: 7 | Logic: 5 | Enjoyment: 9
Total: 7.14

I adored this book. I think it did a really good job of not necessarily making the romance be the fast-paced moral guiding focus that YA fantasy often does. I found myself rooting for the girls and their plans, even when it came down to betrayal. The story was well-developed, the backstory made sense and the world was interesting to me. The pull-in from a culture unlike my own was enjoyable and I'm really glad I got to read this one.

I'm a big fan of Tehlor Kay Mejia (both YA and MG), so I was thrilled to get approved for the Netgalley arc of LUCHA OF THE NIGHT FOREST. Tehlor's narrative style is so different in this one -- they made me nostalgic for something I couldn't quite pinpoint. I gobbled the book and its whole world up.

Anyways, grab this one when it comes out on March 21st if you want:

🗡️sisterly bonds
🗡️forest magic
🗡️an all-consuming addictive drug
🗡️classism + a corrupt govt
🗡️old powerful gods
🗡️sapphic romance
🗡️ambiguous morals
🗡️an angry MC with a dagger

And remember that you can always request that your library buy it - that helps authors too and costs you nothing 💖

4/5 Stars

A lovely surprise.

We absolutely need more of this type of fantasy in the mainstream. Not only was the content different; the magic, Gods/Goddesses, and the personal situations the characters went through, but the very tone of how the story is told is so different than most of the books you'd pick up. A stark honesty throughout this story made even the lulling parts keep my interest.

I will say that some aspects took some time to get used to, and others felt a little rushed. This didn't deter me from continuing. But I wish I had known more about what Lucha encountered in the prison, or even a more personal connection to the world around her. I'm probably not the only one that notes that with the type of POV this book portrayed. I think a shift in perspective might have given the story a bit more depth in the places it was lacking. There was a lot going on in this book though.

Overall I loved, again, the honesty of this. Lucha's relationships with her mother, who is addicted to Olvido, the drug that has so many in its thrall and what causes them to lose their home, her sister, who is difficult at best, the finicky God in her head promising all kinds of things, and Paz, whom she wants absolutely nothing and everything to do with in turn. I think the relationships are what really made this book for me and the narrative of Lucha using her power to disrupt the current way of things, refusing to sit back or run away, mirrored a desire I think many people have to live in situations similar to hers.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe that this book was the right one for me. I felt as though the authors writing leaned closer to being rambling and incoherent due to how poetic it also was. I loved the commentary and the representation. I loved the power and strength of women, but that was about all. I felt like it was also very rushed.

Lucha has had a hard life. Her mother is addicted to the drug Olvida, and it’s fallen to Lucha to make sure that she and her little sister, Lis, are fed. To do so, Lucha goes into the woods, hunting down monsters for those who can afford to pay her. For some reason, she’s more successful than others… almost as if the forest is listening to her…

When Lucha and her sister are kicked out of their home, things turn desperate, and Lucha unearths a power inside her that she didn’t know she had. Now, she will do anything she can to get revenge against those who wronged her.

I received an advanced reading copy of Lucha of the Night Forest in exchange for an honest review.

Lucha of the Night Forest is a young adult fantasy novel by Tehlor Kay Mejia. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve read several of her Latine books and reviewed them on here before. Her duology We Set the Dark on Fire was so fun, and the Paola Santiago trilogy blew my mind. Of course I was going to read this!

Lucha of the Night Forest had so many things that I love. First, we have a featured sister relationship, with all the messy stuff that brings. Siblings might love each other and do anything for each other, but that doesn’t mean they don’t occasionally get mad or make mistakes. Here, we have Lucha and Lis, the older and younger, with one assuming she’s the only one taking responsibility and the other just wanting a chance to take care of her older sister for once. This leads them into different messes, and I loved how much the two just love each other. Honestly, if there was one thing I’d change about this book it would be more time spent with these two.

But there are other characters Lucha spends her time with, such as Paz. Paz is a girl that Lucha meets early on in the book, and soon she becomes pretty important. I absolutely loved how Lucha and Paz came together, and how their own relationship slowly grew from strangers to friends, to maybe something more. I really rooted for them throughout the whole book!

Something else I really loved about this book was the world. We had a pretty distinct society here, with a history and a structure, but there’s a touch of something magical going on too. And I love how much influence this world has on Lucha and her decisions. It’s a huge part of who she is as a character, of her beliefs and hopes for the future. And I particularly enjoyed the magical element of it all!

Lucha of the Night Forest was an exciting adventure fantasy with Latine characters, featuring sapphic romance, and it’s a standalone! I’ve been reading so many series lately, so it was nice to read a standalone again. I’d recommend this book to anyone who is looking for standalone fantasy, or who loves adventure!

Lucha of the Night Forest will be released on March 21. You can preorder your copy from Make Me a World.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. The cover, the description, the fact that it was a dark fantasy. It had a lot going for it that sounded intriguing. And while it was described as being fast paced, it was almost too quick. Everything in this book moved so quickly. I wanted to Lucha, the main character, to pause and reflect at some points, or even to just think about her next move. But instead the book jumps from action to action with very little breathing room for the plot to become something. We don't even get very much backstory into who Lucha is as a person and how her and her sister came to be where they are. The book starts right away in what felt like the middle of a scene that I had no context to. Lucha wasn't very well fleshed out as a character so I never really got a feeling of who she was as a person.

I also felt like the romance felt a bit last minute. Like the author thought, it's YA and it needs a romantic aspect. I wish the author would have leaned even more into the familial bond between Lucha and her sister. What we did get was wonderful as I love to read about sibling bonds since it tends to remind me of my and my own sister.

I did enjoy the world as it felt new and fresh. I love weird biology in books and I could tell that the author put a lot of work into building the world. The execution of plot and characters, however, did take away. I liked that it tackled real world issues (poverty, drug addiction, violence) within the confines of fantasy, but the book fell flat in more than a couple of ways for me.

Unfortunately, this one was a mess in certain places. Timelines were off in how they were described and it just made it hard to follow. I did enjoy the characters and their situation but with the writing the way it sets just didn't work for me. It made parts very confusing and overall choppy.

Lucha of the Night Forest is a YA fantasy standalone centered around two sisters trying to survive after their mother becomes addicted to a drug called Olvida. Lucha reminded me of Katniss Everdeen. She's relentlessly loyal to the people she cares for. She's an apt hunter and holds contempt towards the corporations ruining her community.

I am very saddened that I did not end up enjoying this book at all. Initially I was drawn in by the mysterious magic, the enchanted forest and a budding sapphic romance but things started to feel off.

I didn't feel like I truly got to know any of the characters or their motivations. The tone of the book gave me whip lash as it shifted from a magical atmosphere to something dark and sinister. Normally I like it when there are tone shifts in a book if they are done subtly and with purpose but it felt like the author couldn't pin down what the tone should be.

The plot also felt disjointed. The sense of time was non-existent. Things that should've taken minutes were drawn out for pages at a time and events that happened over a few months where covered in a few paragraphs. It was very confusing.

I love what the author was trying to do here. Latinx and Sapphic representation is extremely important in literature and fantasty. I will definitely give this author another chance. I like her ideas and themes unfortunately the execution of this was a fail for me.

1.5/ 5 but I'm rounding up to 2 stars.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Children’s for providing me with a digital arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I think this was a fun take on a forest lead story. It was a book that i loved the diversity and the fantsay elements. This book def deals wtih harder topics like drugs and abuse the imapct it has on thier lives. I think the highlight of this book was also sister dymancis that made this book so captivating, i also really enjoyed the god dynamocs at the heart of this read! This book did had some overal pacing issues but a soild read!!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Lucha of the Night Forest was my first read from Tehlor Kay Mejia, and definitely will not be my last. It’s a deeply magical read, with emphasis on Latinx culture, sisterhood, and even a sweet queer romance.
One thing that stood out to me immediately was the mushroom magic, which I don’t think I’ve seen anything similar to in a book before. The world building also has a lush feel, almost fairytale-esque, but with a somewhat darker side to it, with many parallels that can be drawn to the corruption of our world and its impact on the marginalized.
Lucha is an immediately relatable heroine, and I love the emphasis on her relationship with her sister, Lis, especially as their father is dead and their mother is rendered inept thanks to addiction to the drug Olvida, which is supplied by the government. I appreciate seeing the commentary of their bleak surroundings from her perspective, and how she is determined to protect her family from the worst, ultimately taking on the system that created their problems in the process.
While the story starts in a bleak place, I like that the narrative is ultimately about Lucha triumphing for both the sake of her family and herself. She also finds a few glimmers of hope in the process, including the sweet love interest, Paz.
This is a solid, original read, and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a somewhat different type of YA fantasy.

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!

I loved this!!! I loved the dark and twisty ancient mushroom magic, the god and goddess lore, latinx sapphic romance... just, yes!!!

Lucha is a great character. She is completely devoted to her little sister, which is a trait I automatically admire in any siblings' relationships. She makes mistakes on who to trust and what to do throughout this story, which made her feel very real to me. All in all, I thought this was really well done.

Lucha's mother is one of the many who are addicted to a drug, Olvida, that seems to basically slowly pull away a person's memories, causing them to sleep and forget life. Lucha takes care of her little sis, Lisa, but when her mother gets fired and they are kicked out of their home, she faces some major challenges. The fact that this is really relatable to what happens to many young adults irl just made me love this story. Lending hope to an incredibly hopeless situation.

Lucha finds herself connected to a god, and soon, she is fighting a battle larger than her own existence.

I want to add some basic warnings for drug use, poverty, and, violence and assault.

Out March 21, 2023!

“It was with that pledge in her heart, and a love behind her, waiting, that Lucha Moya turned her sights toward home.”

I really enjoyed the pace of the story. Dropping Lucha into conflict straight off the bat made it fee like it was moving quicky which I appreciated. I'm not a fan of stories being drug out and strung along for what feels like NO reason. However, it did feel like it was a little bit of a mess, Which might be too strong of a word, I just can't think of another one to describe it. While the pace was spot on, there was little context and reasoning behind why she was hunting and fighting these creatures, and there wasn't a lot of world building. The world building is one of my favourite parts of a fantasy book.

First and foremost, big ups to Random House Children's team for granting me access to an eARC of Lucha of the Night Forest. I have enjoyed other YA novels by Tehlor Kay Mejia, and Lucha was no different.

Originally drawn to the novel due to my familiarity with the author, when I read the description, I got even more intrigued.

Lucha is well-paced, fantasy novel featuring an LGBTQNIA2S+ representative young femme protagonist. A number of themes within the novel struck me, including: enemies to lovers; the power of sibling love (sister love specifically); tropes of redemption, revenge, and justice; the evils of addiction and how it steals loved ones from us (either literally or figuratively); the power of life, nature, and hope; a coming into self/coming of age narrative that's centered most on a young femme coming into her own personal power and knowing herself/believing in herself.

A hunter of the evil things that lurk in the dark of the forest, our protagonist, named Lucha (literally "fight" or "struggle" in Spanish), is trying to keep her family together at all costs in a working poor community where the evils of capital keep people indebted, addicted, and treat human beings as disposable along with the earth. When their mother disappears on a bender (again), Lucha is determined to take care of her younger sister Lis, who she sees as naive and unfamiliar with what is required in order to survive the hand they've been dealt. Lucha meets another young woman, Paz, and her adventure unfolds from there.

Well-written prose combined with a storyline that compels the reader to turn the page makes for a great new YA fantasy novel from Mejia. I also love the ways in which Latinidad bleeds onto the pages, as well as larger reflections around societal issues that are relatable to all readers, regardless of their identities or where they come from geographically. I love the world that Mejia has created for us with Lucha and will continue to be on the lookout for new works in the future.

CWs: addiction, violence, threat of sexual violence (implied)

Such an incredible world Mejia created for Lucha's beginning. Characters were vibrant and complex. I wish there had been a little more character development and fleshing out in the last half, it felt rushed and a little predictable--almost like something you've read before. Especially compared to the depth of the first half of the book. Enjoyed and think it is a good start to a series!