Piñata by Leopoldo Gout
4 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: March 14, 2023
While restoring an ancient church and former native temple in Mexico, Carmen and her daughters awaken an ancient spirit that is set on revenge.
This book delivered on the classic Exorcist-esque stakes I had hoped for, but also it had a depth to it that I really enjoyed diving into. I could see people like myself in this story, in the struggle to balance superstitions of old with the learned skepticism of the present, the inability to reconcile the trauma of the past with desperate hope for the future.
Piñata carried that juxtaposition well, not shying away from the realities of colonialism and the direct effects it still carries today and will continue to for generations, weaving the two until the image of the past and present is portrayed as literally overlayed on top of each other at one point in this book. It was a beautiful and eerie image, the idea that the history, trauma, and love of our ancestors are still alive in us, in our actions, and in each step that carries us forward.
And if our past is alive in us, so is its fury, a terrifying reckoning of what remains buried deep in each of us, and in the earth around us.
And now for my favorite part- the skeletons! One of which climbs out of a mirror to get at you. Which delighted me.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy for review!

This was so good, I just wish there was more of it. It was unsettling and I couldn't stop reading it.

Carmen Sanchez is an architect from New York working at a project in Mexico. It is to change an old church into a luxury hotel. Her daughters Izel, a teenager and Luna, 11 years old are with their mother during summer vacation. Carmen is hoping her daughters will connect to their heritage by being in Mexico. Izel is mad being separated from her friends in New York. Luna is having a great time while at the market checking out the many different vendors. Luna meets a girl who has her go into a shed where a possession of sorts happens to Luna. After a local Nahua woman tries to warn Carmen about the danger Luna is in, Carmen tells her to leave. While art the old church, part of the ceiling falls and a small hidden room is opened. It has several artifacts in it. Even though Luna is told not to go inthe room, she does and takes a piñata. The piñata is a jar inside a leather covering. What is special about this piñata? Carmen tells her to put it back but she doesn’t obey. Luna sneaks it out. Why? After an accident at work, her boss calls Carmen to come back to New York. Luna becomes consumed by the spirits. The ancient spirits want
to use Luna as a portal to the world. The ancient spirits do take care of bullies at school. However the ancient spirits want to have revenge on the colonists who tortured and killed their people centuries ago. Will they succeed?

I found the story was well written with dark themes and imagery. It is an intriguing and terrifying possession novel with Mexican history I liked the mysterious events that occurred in the novel as it only made me to know what would happen next. It shows the misogyny and the Indigenous Mexican lore. It is an excellent horror novel.

Book Summary:

Carmen Sanchez is finally home again, working in her birth country of Mexico. Granted, she's only here for the summer, but still! The good news is that this means she can expose her daughters to the same culture and history she grew up in.

Unfortunately, things aren't going quite as planned. Workers are resisting Carmen's input, and there's a dark, dangerous entity lingering around her youngest daughter, Luna. However, it will take time before Carmen understands the depth of this danger.

My Review:

Yikes! Piñata is one heck of a read, guys. It's dark and thrilling yet painfully grounded in history. Leopoldo Gout did a brilliant job of tying supernatural horror with the horror that stems from humanity, weaving the two together until you cannot tell where one begins and the other ends.

The prologue is one of those introductions that immediately grabs the reader's attention. It also sets the scene – and the tone of the story. I knew this book would leave me chilled from the start, and it did not disappoint.

The historical elements were a huge plus to this tale, and I like how they worked their way into the more mundane story of family drama. I'm officially adding Leopoldo Gout to my "auto-read" list!

Highlights:
Paranormal Horror
Ancient Gods
Human Monsters

Trigger Warnings:
Colonialism
Sexism/Misogyny
Racism/Xenophobia
Strong Horror Elements

First, thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC of this intriguing horror novel. I’m a sucker for horror with cultural or historical roots, and Piñata easily fills that bill. Also, I picked this book up on the tail end of reading a book that failed the Bechdel test, and that metric is still at the back of my mind, so… This book has several female main characters who talk to each other about things beyond the men in their lives. Bravo, Mr. Gout. You passed the test!

I enjoyed this horror piece, about a Mexican descended family from NY who travel to Mexico because of mom's work as an architect. It doubles as an opportunity for the woman's school age daughters to get a taste of their heritage but, teenage girls being who they are, it doesn’t end well. But the teenage apathy isn’t the worst of the family’s problems. The mom, Carmen, is a woman in a male dominated field, and the site that her firm is helping renovate into a hotel is an old church with a dark historical past.

The near decimation of the Mexican indigenous population at the hands of conquistadors and Spanish missionaries has left a centuries old stain on this location of the world, and the history and cultural relevance of the piñata is at its core. Once part of Nahua rituals of death and rebirth, it has now become a party favor, a mockery of its original importance and meaning. Until Carmen's youngest daughter Luna shows up and introduces herself to the long silenced spirits of the past who seek revenge. Luna becomes a sort of conduit for those vengeful spirits in a way that that little girl in the movie Poltergeist was used by the voices on a static filled TV. Sort of. I’m not going to provide any more possible spoilers except to say that the idea that Poltergeist uses—the gentrification over sacred land, is an easy comparison.

I enjoyed the book, most definitely, although the build to the horrific end was a little slower than I would have preferred. The slow build pulls the rating down maybe more than it should. I don’t know, maybe it was the writing style that was fine…but it didn’t quite fill me with the looming terror that I felt it should have. Until the end. It ramped up quickly by the last quarter of the book.

This is a solid three plus stars for me, not quite a full four, but close.

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher, and the author for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.Pinata by Leopoldo Gout is a unique supernatural horror. Carmen goes to Mexico to oversee the renovation of an old Cathedral that is being turned into a swanky hotel. Strange things happen and Carmen and her two daughters return back to New York sooner than planned, but did something ancient and sinister follow them home? I enjoyed the development of each character, they all were different and fully flushed out. The beginning of the book was terrifying and really set the scene and helped to highlight the horrors of colonization and Christianity taking over. I liked hearing about the historical aspects of this book and the cultural as well. Yoltzi was my favorite character. The contrast between Luna and Izel, and I think it is completely realistic to have one kid who is interested in immersing themselves into the culture and trying everything new, while the other would rather be back home with her friends.The Father and Quauhtli were important additions to the story. The only thing that I didn't completely connect with was there was something about the writing style that kept us at arms length, I wanted to feel more present.

For fans of a Head Full of Ghost and any kind of possession story I think you’re really going to want to check this one out. This is a horror story dripping with Mexican history and otherworldly lore that reads cinematically.

This is a brilliant story and if you’re a horror film you’ll want to add this to your reading list. The prologue is an absolute banger and sets up the story with amazing imagery and suspense.

The story follows Carmen along with her two daughters are on Summer vacation in Carmen’s native Mexico, although Carmen is technically there for work overseeing the renovations of a church, she also takes the girls sightseeing in the village and encouraging them to immerse themselves in the Mexican culture. One day while on the site, an ancient evil is unearthed and seemingly has a dark hold on her youngest daughter Luna. Once they return to New York Carmen notices that Luna is not acting herself. Strange things start to happen and soon Carmen realizes that these strange occurrences are connected to Luna. Not a true believer in paranormal, ancient curses, or anything of the sort, she soon learns that the supernatural may be the only thing that can save her daughter.

I really loved the authenticity and originality of the story. It was a pretty straightforward plot, but it was layered with Mexican history and culture which made this story very unique. I also loved the dynamic between Carmen and her daughters, it was very authentic and heartwarming. There were also other supporting characters in the story that offered great perspectives and depth to the story.

Overall I very much did enjoy this and would recommend it. However, there was something missing for me. This is one of those stories where things slowly escalate, but somehow I felt like something was missing in between that made some parts seem kind of rushed. I cannot quite place it, but at one point I thought maybe I had missed something. During the slower portions of the story I was very much engaged, and that is definitely due to the author's great writing, but this is one of the rare occasions where I would have liked a bit longer of a story.

All in all, I can appreciate this story and the author's own perspective. It is something that is very much needed in the horror genre. I'm the kind of reader who enjoys the same story over and over again, but there has to be something in the writing and the setting that sets it apart. I would say that the author accomplishes that goal with Pinata.

Thank you kindly to netgalley and Tor Nightfire for an arc review of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Genre: Horror
Multiple POV's
Possession
Revenge
Character Driven

This story begs the reader to answer the questions - how much progress is too much progress?

Pinata follows the Sanchez family as the mom, Carmen oversees a redesign of a mexican abby. Carmen Sanchez is woman in a man's world and she knows that one slip up will put her back for years. It is hard to hold her ground and prove her worth in the boy's club that is the world of architecture. Dealing with the local government and citizens of the local city has been stressful. The accident on the job is the icing on the cake. Even though Carmen doesn't want to hand the job over to another supervisor, she is eager to get her girls home to the States where life can get back to normal. When the strange occurrences and coincidences follow her and her family to the States, Carmen knows she has to do something to protect them all before it is too late.

I was immediately sucked into this book. I enjoyed the writing style that they author use to convey this story. Places have history and closing them off doesn't protect others from what is inside. Especially if what is inside doesn't stay put. This story brings to light the effects that colonization has on native areas around the globe. Gout uses this story to remind his readers that even if the history is not your, per say, it is still important to preserve it for future generations. He also reminds us, that sometimes, we should leave well enough alone.
Gout's pacing throughout the story was brisk which led to the uneasy and unnerving feeling the characters experience as the story progresses. I do not have any similar books that I can compare this novel too.

Gout's Pinata does a fantastic job of immersing readers in a menagerie of horrors quickly and effectively. From the horrors of cultural appropriation, to the human horror of taking care of children in unfamiliar territory, to the supernatural horrors that kick everything else into overdrive, Gout is relentless in his assault of Carmen, Izel, and Lola. It makes for a fast-paced, fantastically creepy novel.

<b>[ Thanks so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC! ]</b>

Hoping to give her daughters a chance to experience their family's culture first-hand, Carmen brings them with her on a renovation project in Mexico; however, things don't quite go according to plan. When an accident happens on the site, Carmen's company recalls her back to New York. Back home, weird things start happening. It doesn't take long before Carmen begins to believe that something else has come home with them.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The plot centers on some really interesting history and folklore that I found incredibly compelling. Additionally, there was amazing imagery and scenes that really made my skin crawl. This book definitely doesn't skimp on the horror! However, I found the characters to be really lacking. I just didn't feel like there was a whole lot of depth to them, and I felt like they all kind of fell into these boring archetypes that I'm tired of seeing, frankly. (Insufferable teenage girl, hysterical mother, mystical indigenous person, etc.) I just didn't find myself connecting with any of these characters because it felt like there wasn't really anything much there to connect with. For some, this might not be a problem, but I really enjoy reading books with strong character-work, and this just didn't deliver for me.
I would still recommend this read to those who enjoy a more plot-driven read. Especially if you enjoy folk horror, as this book really delivers in that regard!

I you like stories about strong women and close family, demon possession, and celebration of Mexican heritage/culture, you will enjoy this book!

I just reviewed Piñata by Leopoldo Gout. #Piñata #NetGalley

I want to send a big thank you to Tor Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to see early reviews of this novel come in and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. From its explosive Prologue I felt I was in for a wildly imaginative horror novel with deep cultural roots. Throughout the novel we got glimpses of the strength of Gout's writing and I was pleasantly surprised. This is my first time reading from this author and I feel that he has great potential, however, like many newer authors there are flaws with some of the elements of this book. Namely the characters and the additional elements included in the book that are meant to build out the characters personalities and growth.

The characters feel flat and I struggled to connect with or feel invested in them. The pieces of the story that are meant to build on their personalities and strengthen them were the parts of the story that I did not care for. They disconnected me from the book and weakened my grip on the novel. I found it hard to WANT to pick up the book and continue reading because of this. I felt like there were too many character POVs and not enough focus on the three main protagonists.

The strength of Gout's writing shines when, like in the prologue, you read the dark, brutal horror elements. The vivid descriptions and the depth of these excerpts were so strong, but when contrasted with the everyday, mundane elements of the story they felt like two different writers working on the same project. With that said, I think as Gout continues to work on his craft he will be one of those writers to keep an eye out for. Some of the imagery in this book was unsettling and chilled me to my core. I just wish there was a little more of it to keep the pacing and tension high.

This book is often compared to Head Full of Ghosts and Mexican Gothic, which I think does a disservice to the book. It sets a precedent of expectation that this book does not live up to. While I can see elements of these books within the novel, it is in smaller aspects and not the overall tone of the book. There is a deep cultural connection to the ancestry and history of the Mexican and Azteca culture here that is an important piece of the novel, similar to Mexican Gothic, but the tone and storylines are quite different. The same can be said about A Head Full of Ghosts and its possession story. They are on different ends of the spectrum.

All of this to say, this book was enjoyable and I have high hopes for future books from Mr. Gout. I think there are pieces in this novel that truly shine for horror fans and I think it is worth the read. However, we need to lower the expectations on this novel just a bit in order to truly appreciate it.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Picked this one up because I had heard good things from reviewers, but I was getting weighed down in how overwritten this feels. Every scene is just bedraggled with explanations of every action. I wish I had gotten to the portions reviewers raved about, but I couldn't manage. May come back again at a future date. DNF.

colonialism, racism, cultural extermination, and a specifically gruesome form of possession. If there were a drawback, the ending rushes quicker than it should, but the experience is still very much worthwhile.

I had a difficult time connecting with this story, but once I got into the last 30% of the book I couldn't put it down. I loved learning about so much of the culture and history that isn't taught in our schools. Seeing the fury of those colonized play out in this horror novel was eery and beautiful. I am looking forward to see what this author comes out with next!

Rating: 2.9 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 3/5
-Cover: 5/5
-Story: 2/5
-Writing: 2.75/5
-Horror: 1.5/5
Genre: Horror/Paranormal
Type: Ebook
Worth?: Meh

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book. I won't lie, I was expecting more from this book. In the entirety it gave basic. It gave been there, done that just in a different country. I agree that the characters were cut and dry. Nothing in this story added flavor. Well, let me back up. I did like the beginning a lot, which is why it is a 2 instead of a 1.

The only horror was in the beginning. Everything else was just... something you have seen a million times. Not only that Leopoldo writing on women's struggles while making the mother the most basic man-written female just... pisses me off. You took a single mom BLAME ALL ON HERSELF while letting the DEAD BEAT ASS father just... go. Nahh...

First, thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Premise:
Carmen and her two young daughters are in Mexico for the summer while she oversees an architecture job remodeling an old abbey. While there, they start learning about the history of the Nahua people, including their intricate rituals. Luna, the youngest, is connected to that history in a way that will change their lives forever. As more and more unexplainable things start happening around them, Carmen is forced to accept the truth of their reality- but can she save her family in time?

Review:
I love the horror parts of this book and the concept of Aztec gods haunting a modern Catholic Mexico for the crimes of the Spanish! There were certainly a lot of thrilling, gory scenes that are nightmare fuel, but I, unfortunately, found this book mostly lacking. This is just an okay book.

It was slow-paced for about the first half, then the ending felt rushed. I wish the timing of that was a little bit more evened out. I am also not a fan of the writing style here- I think Gout is more of a "tell, don't show" kind of writer, and I just don't really enjoy that. It felt a bit like, "and then this happened, and then this happened!" and I'm also sorry to say that overall the story is a bit predictable. I wanted to like this book more than I did, but in the end, I just can't overlook those faults.

I also find issue with the idea that the Aztec gods were the villains here- especially since the first chapter has such a strong narrative start in depicting the brutality of the Spanish conquest. It feels narratively cheap to say, "oh yeah, these gods we know nothing about? They're angry, and they want revenge, but in the most predictable way ever".

I think they deserved better- as did most of the characters in this book.

Overall, I'm disappointed on a personal level, and I wish this book had done a little bit more with the premise.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

As an avid horror fan, I was so intrigued by the premise of this book. Carmen Sanchez is a single mother of two girls. She brings them with her on a summer trip to Mexico, where she is leading the renovation of an ancient church into a hotel. Strange occurrences quickly start popping up, though... there's an old woman who seems to randomly appear throughout the area, locked doors are found open, objects appear out of nowhere, and a stranger warns her that her youngest daughter is in danger. At the same time, ancient artifacts are uncovered from a secret room in the church. It all has to be a coincidence, right? Or is there something supernatural making an appearance? I loved the idea of a possession story set in Mexico following a non-Christian religion.

I'm a little on the fence about this book after finishing it, though. It does have some interesting ideas and plot elements, but there are a number of drawbacks that make it difficult to fully enjoy the story.

The biggest strength of Pinata is the rich cultural heritage it discusses. I learned so much about Mesoamerica and the Nahua people. Gout weaves in so many intricate historical details, and it is captivating to read through. Mexican history is not something I am very familiar with, but I would love to learn more after reading this. I would also be interested to hear what Indigenous readers think of the story and its take on the tzitzimimeh.

Additionally, I really liked the descriptive language of the author's writing. I felt transported into Mexico with Carmen and enjoyed getting to experience her journey alongside her. Gout paints a clear image of so many vivid scenes throughout the story-- some of them are quite gruesome, but even the uneasy atmosphere and the quiet moments are easy to picture. This novel would make a great film.

I enjoyed some of the themes, as well. Important topics are discussed, such as colonialism, generational trauma, sexism, and more. I appreciated how there were strong women present in every part of the story (Carmen, her mother, and Yoltzi were my favorites!). While many of the themes were discussed well and in depth, a couple of them did seem to be glossed over. I thought Carmen's struggles with misogyny and being taken seriously as a woman in a male-dominated career were realistic, but they were discussed a little shallowly. At times, the sections focusing on her career felt, to me, very apparent that they were written by a man. The points were valid, but they weren't anything I hadn't read elsewhere. I thought they either should have been discussed in greater detail or taken out of the book, so the stronger themes had more time to shine.

The biggest issue I had with Pinata was the pacing. I initially tried to read this at the end of 2022, but I got stuck around the 18% mark. From looking through other reviews, this seems to be a common spot where readers are lost. The first quarter of the novel is so, so slow. There is too much time focused on tiny, irrelevant details of the characters' lives and their thoughts that were already mentioned only pages prior. The writing was wordy and would often over-explain simple plot points. It almost seemed like an editor needed to go back over the final draft a couple of times to take out the unnecessary details. After about the 30% mark, the pacing picks up some and then proceeds at an uneven rate until the end, which is a whirlwind compared the the rest of the book.

As far as the horror goes, it was decent, but nothing new. I found some of the spooky parts to be genuinely creepy, but the plot itself was quite predictable. It follows a standard possession story. There are some twists on the foundational elements-- like the spirits and the character types involved-- but the main basic plot elements you'd expect are all there. I also found the imagery to be repeated too much. I grew tired of butterflies and seashell skirts. That might be more of a personal preference, though. I sometimes have a hard time enjoying repeated imagery in horror books, because the same word or image loses its weight after awhile.

The characters in the story are okay. Like I said, I appreciated strong women being at the forefront of the action. Some of the other characters are too one-dimensional, though. Both daughters are typical middle school and teenage tropes without anything to make them stand out. The priest and Quauhtli are fine, but they never truly develop enough for you to get attached to them.

This is by no means a bad book. It has some enjoyable parts, but the amount readers will enjoy it will probably depend on what they are seeking when they pick it up. If you're a fan of Mesoamerica (or want to learn more about it), you might want to give this a try. If you love supernatural horror books, and you want a new setting, you might also enjoy this. However, if you're looking for strong characters or a unique plot, you might feel dissatisfied.

3 out of 5 stars.

I've never learned so much while being so creeped out! Piñata is a terrifying and utterly engrossing horror story, that also imparts so much information about the Nahua people of pre-Hispanic Mexico.

Right from the prologue, I knew that this was a horror story like no other. Set in pre-Hispnanic Mexico, the prologue was incredibly sad. The reader is thrust into a heinous scene of colonialism. It will always be hurtful to see a rich culture devasted by hateful outside influences that still have repercussions today. Speaking of repercussions...Gout takes that concept and runs with it. In Piñata, we see how colonial devastation and corruption can last generations, and the past and present will always be intertwined. What happens when ancestors return to take their due, by any means necessary? Carnage and chaos, that's what. Piñata is one of the more interesting and layered possession stories I've encountered. While you can see the horror being inflicted in the name of revenge, you also have to grapple with the fact that revenge is so very long overdue for Indigenous peoples. Do the ends justify the means when taking back what's yours, and just how far is too far?

After loving this I'll definitely be checking out Gout's other work!
Content warning for a scene at the end of chapter 30 involving the fatal shooting of an unarmed person of color by a police officer.

Leopoldo Gout's book Pinata was a story of demon possession. The book starts with graphic descriptions of the colonization of the Nahua people. How colonizers dishonored Nahua traditions by suppressing the children. I felt that all this was going to cause a curse on all the people throughout the book. The following chapters are about Carmen Sanchez a female architect and single mother who struggles at work and home to prove herself capable of the job. Carmen is sent to work in Mexico and supervise renovations of an accident abbey becoming a hotel. Her daughter Izel isn’t too excited about missing theater camp to be in Mexico and her younger daughter Luna is ecstatic to visit and learn more about her culture. Luna is very trusting of others and follows a little girl during a birthday party. Luna slowly begins to change. There are unexplained and scary things happening to the family. They are visited by an older lady everywhere they go and skeletons are appearing. An accident happens at the Abby and Carmen has to return home to New York. Everything bad and mysterious follows them home.
I enjoyed how this book. Learning more about colonization and its effects on the indigenous people and culture. I was googling a lot of the history because I wanted to know more. I wanted to see pictures of what these demons looked like. I recommend this spooky book. Check trigger warnings. There is a good amount of history but I had no problem with it.