This book is about grief, told through the eyes of who love him most. This book is about creation of what comes from the grief; it's about the sprawling effect it has on each character. It's about love and the sacrifice we make for who we love.
This story is beautiful and captivating-- I truly felt for the characters and I don't think that's an easy task to accomplish as an author.
As mentioned by several other readers, I wouldn't necessarily label Monstrilio as horror; sure, there is violence and descriptions that align with the horror genre, but it's just not. Once again, this debut is a beautiful piece of work-- I couldn't put this one down!

This book was unlike anything I’ve read in a long time. When I hear the word “horror”, I typically imagine scary. This, however, was a very different style of horror. It wasn’t scary in the traditional sense. It WAS bleak and a terrible reminder that grief can make a person do monstrous things with the best intentions.

The writing style was so great! I was sucked in from the start and was held captivated throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for the e-ARC in exchange for my review!

Perfect for fans of Nightbitch and Motherthing, Monstrilio is a surreal portrait of fierce mother-love and the visceral power of grief …and the insatiable hunger to know yourself.

Magos and Joseph have just lost their son. Dead at 11 years old, Santiago had already lived 11 years longer than expected. While Joseph succumbs to a deep, immobilizing depression, Magos heads to Mexico to recuperate with family.

She didn’t tell Joseph what she brought with her - a small slice of their son’s long tissue, tucked away in a glass jar. She took it on instinct, and instinct also tells her to feed it.

The lung tissue grows quickly, but what is it growing into? How long can Magos hide it?
I’ll stop here to avoid any spoilers, but I will say that this is a story that will live in my head for a long time. With elements of folk horror and fairy tales, Monstrilio is a darkly magical work of literature and a remarkable coming-of-age story.

But be aware that this is also a graphic and grotesque little gem. It disgusts as it dazzles, and it never abandons its themes of loss, grief, longing, and fear. It stays heavy, but somehow also manages to maintain a dark comedic edge.

Monstrilio shows us our worst fears about loving someone and asks us to re-examine the concept of unconditional love. What is that limitless love capable of turning us into? Is boundless love always a good thing? And how far will we go to protect it? If we go far enough, what’s on the other side of it?
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this stunning debut!

Absolutely wonderful! Horror stories laced with grief are quickly becoming my favorite type of book. There is so much sadness and so much to unpack, I am excited to keep reading from this author. And that cover!

thank u net galley and zando for the arc!

um ok spooky!!! i really loved this concept. i'm a sucker for a good family drama/grief horror story so this rly scratched an itch for me. loved the body horror, the settings, the writing was really gorgeous and grotesque and funny and weird too. i loved the way the story was split up, loved the pace of it.... i'll shut up. we get it mads u loved it!!!!

4.5 stars from me

at first i wasn’t really into the story and found the characters quite boring, but once i was further in i could not stop reading. i started feeling the emotions of the characters and being inside the head of different characters really helped me feel more attached to all of them. during the final section my heart broke, but i know it was a good ending. definitely go into this knowing as little as possible and you’ll have the best time.

This book was not what I expected it to be, and honestly... that wasn't a bad thing.

It almost felt like a sweeping drama, and definitely leaned more into the literary fiction side of things. But that worked for this story, and I found myself enjoying it immensely.

It follows Magos and Joseph who had just tragically lost their son, and it was really an examination of grief and what we are willing to do for the ones we love. At first I was disgusted, then intrigued, and then everything in between. I wanted so, so badly to hate these characters and what they were doing, but I just... didn't. The author made their issues and choices make sense.

Near the 60% mark, things really started to take a turn that I was expecting, and I found myself enjoying the second half maybe even more than the first.

Overall, this was a great read, and I would recommend people new to horror or just want to read a raw story of grief to pick this one up!

literary horror debut MONSTRILIO by gerardo sámano córdova explores the limitless bounds of grief

we meet magos and joseph after their son’s tragic and untimely death. while mourning, magos fixates on an old folktale, and cuts off a piece of her deceased son’s lung in hopes of reviving him.

when her illogical actions end up working, she finds herself nursing this strange and violently unpredictable creature to health.

joseph is at first disturbed by his wife’s actions — that is, until the creature begins to resemble his son, even calling him ”papi”.

what follows is the story of a family haphazardly piecing life back together, only to find their grief will manifest impulses of its own and threaten their fraudulent remedy.

part family drama, part horror, gerardo sámano córdova has crafted an unexpectedly moving exploration of humanity by conjuring shocking carnage alongside imaginative mischief and poignant observation.

sámano córdova is dexterous at blending the monstrous with striking tenderness. i appreciated the unexpectedness of every page, which sámano córdova carried with engaging prose and eccentric plot.

MONSTRILIO’s obvious star is the nightmarish little monster (and it’s giant grin) but upon finishing the book, i’m left wondering if monster is the right word. instead, sámano córdova urges us to contemplate what gruesome demons we avoid, and asks how exorcising these may lead to new freedoms

4/5 ⭐️ for fans of THIS THING BETWEEN US by gus moreno, gerardo sámano córdova is an impressive new voice in literary horror

👹 OUT MARCH 7 👹

THANK YOU to @zandoprojects @netgalley for the advanced copy!

This is one of the best books I've read recently, a book about grief and loss and its acceptance.The narrative is captivating and it is an emotional read.

In MONSTRILIO, a mother loses her eleven-year-old son, Santiago, to a rare illness - the grieving mother, Magos, becomes numb and grief stricken. She returns to Mexico City where she hears a story. Someone kept the heart of their deceased child in a jar and fed it. The heart turned into a person. Magos cut out a piece of her child’s lung and kept it in a jar. She fed the piece of lung until it grew into a little monster, who they named MONSTRILIO. The story is told from various perspectives, including Monstrilio. The different perspectives and settings are captivating to read. I literally could not put this one down. It’s a beautifully written book.

An interesting story full of twists, turns, fun characters and overall a book I would consider reading time and time again.

A perfect story of grief and loss and how people deal with such things. The author did a good job of blending horror as well. Would recommend!

I honestly can't thank Zando Project enough for the ARC of Monstrilio. This one was such a unique way of looking at grief and preserving our loved ones. The multiple points of view was a fresh choice of narration for this book and I really liked it! I'll definitely be picking up a physical copy of this one.

Samono Cordova is an amazing author! He has made this story truly come to life and it will haunt my dreams for some time.

Monstrilio is more than a horror story. It's a story about grief and moving on. When her son dies, Magos uses some of his lung to try and resurrect him. As you may guess, the results are not what she bargained for.

If you like creepy, spooky, twisted tales, this beautiful story of love and loss is for you!
#Zando #Monstrilio #GerardoSamanoCordova

Wow. Mostrilio really was something else, and a really great debut novel.

It's hard to give an overview without giving too much away, and I really think it's better to read this without knowing too much about it. It was an extremely interesting study of love, loss and grief. We follow the story of a family who lose their son, a mother desperate to hang on to a part (any part) of him, and the people closest to them. Steeped in sadness, we see how much love allows us to overlook.

The story is told from four different POV's, Magos, Lena, Joseph and Monstrilio, with each one bringing a new voice and perspective to the story. Every character was well realised and the dialogue seemed realistic and well placed.

I think I expected an out and out horror novel, and that was not what I got at all, Monstrilio was beautiful and moving and unique. Don't get me wrong, there were a few horror aspects and gory parts, but this was nothing like anything I've read before. I did find it a little slow in places, but overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I absolutely recommend this book (check trigger warnings), and I can't wait to see what this author does next.

Thank you to Netgalley and ZandoProjects for the advanced copy!

Thank you, Zando Projects and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an e-ARC of this impeccable debut novel!

I was instantly impressed with the clear, engaging voice of Magos. How readily she gave details, yet felt so distant and claustrophobic in her grief. Her flaws and complexities brought so much life to her character, and therein, to her little grief monster, Monstrilio. I appreciate how we received Joseph, Lena, and M’s POVs to show a holistic view of the effects of Magos’ creation.

Frankly, there are so many amazing elements to this story that it is hard to contain them all in a meager post. I haven’t felt this excited about something I’ve read in quite a while, so I cannot wait to see where the author will take us next!

Monstrilio is the story of a family destroyed by grief: Magos and Joseph struggle to remain together after the death of their 11 year old son Santiago. His mother wants to keep a part of him with herself, so she cuts open his body and removes his lung. She keeps it in a jar and, impressed by a local story, decides to feed it. The lung grows and somehow becomes a wild creature, a little monster: Monstrilio.

Okay, WOW. I loved every single word of this book, literally devoured it in two days! Monstrilio is the debut novel of Gerardo Sámano Córdova, and a very unique story of love and grief, acceptance and strength... and a monster with a particular appetite.
I honestly really enjoyed everything about this book:
- all characters, including secondary ones, are well described and recognizable: Magos, Lena, Joseph and Monstrilio are the narrating voices (the book is split in four sections) and it was great to follow their interactions with each other and how they behave in different environments;
- the settings: the story takes place in Mexico, New York and Berlin and, besides the obvious change of location, I felt like there was a change of tone too, a different phase of the characters' lives;
- the writing, which I found particularly beautiful, especially in the description of the consequences of a loss. The pace matches perfectly the emotions of the characters: slow and dense at the beginning, then faster when Monstrilio grows and becomes more independent and hungry;
- the ending: truly poetic and beautiful, it was perfect. Loved it.

I see you, Gerardo Sámano Córdova! Can't wait to read more of your works.
Monstrilio is an incredible debut, I already know it's going to be one of my favorite reads of 2023. Reminder to self: grab a physical copy as soon as it's out!

* I'd like to thank Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Zando Projects and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review. * Monstrilio is out on March 7th, 2023.

"He wasn’t Monstrilio anymore, but he wasn’t Santiago either. Santiago was dead. There was solace in keeping his memory unchanged. He was a place to visit, like a book reread.”

Frankenstein in Baghdad meets Samanta Schweblin in this unsettling speculative horror novel by debut Mexican author Samano Cordova.

Driven by the maddening grief over losing her eleven-year-old son, a mother cuts out a piece of his lung and keeps it in a jar. Inspired by a strange folktale and the desire to keep a piece of her son alive with her, she feeds and nurtures the lung until it grows into a little sentient creature she names Monstrilio. As this little monster grows and transforms, and begins to shape the lives of the people around it, Monstrilio kicks up questions of love, loss and the darker side of both of those things.

Monstrilio was a story in two parts for me. It starts off as a deeply powerful narrative about a mothers desperate grief over the loss of her child. This first half of the novel was absolutely brilliant to me, and everything I’d hoped the novel would offer based on the synopsis. We see the fallout of Santiago’s death reflecting onto the people closest to him; his parents Magos and Joseph, their best friend Lena and uncle Luke, all coping in different (often times clashing) ways, and changing as a result. It’s a raw and unflinching depiction of a grieving family unit, but a beautifully executed one, and I loved the part the monstrous little Monstrilio played in the metaphor here.
We witness Monstrilio (or M, as he comes to call himself) grow and transform throughout the story, passing more and more for human as he ages. It’s at about the halfway mark, where M becomes a teenager, that the story switches gears.
Monstrilio transforms from a destructive little grief-creature, into a queer teen, exploring his sexual identity and the “hunger” he feels deep inside him. This includes quite a few instances of exploring kinks (with ánd without consent from partners). Personally, I was a little caught of guard by this, as nothing about the synopsis or previous content of the book had prepared me for this.
In essence, my mixed feelings about this book boil down to the mismatch between these two parts. I feel like both narratives work well. The tropes of the grief-monster ánd the queer-monster have both been explored before, and I happen to love both of them. Monstrilio just demonstrated that having them mashed together in this way, created a feeling of mismatch for me. It felt like the author was mixing their metaphors, therefore losing the strength of both of them along the way.
It likely boils down to personal taste; I wanted to read the story of the grieving parents and the grief-monster. I wanted to read the story of the boy feeling like a monster for his desires and inability to meet his parents’ expectations for him. I just didn’t quite feel like the two were linked seamlessly enough in Monstrilio.

Recommended for fans of Samanta Schweblin.
Many thanks to Zando and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Honestly, I'm just here to say that I couldn't read this book because it is a scanned copy. I'm visually impaired and have uncorrectable vision, so I rely on the feature that allows me to enlarge the texts font. I wish that this book came in the same format as all of the other netarcs.

Thank you so much to Zando Projects and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.

"Her son dies in a child-sized bed, big enough for him but barely enough to hold her and her husband who cling to the edges, folding themselves small so they fit one on each side of him."
What a way to open a story ! The first 50% of this book is written in such a gorgeous and haunting way. I really felt like I was there with the characters and sharing in their grief.

This book surprised me in many ways. Firstly, it's tagged as horror, but it's really not what you'd expect at first glance. I suppose it would be called literary horror ? We follow different points-of-view throughout the book, but it isn't a back and forth; instead when we switch to a new POV we never return to the original one. Finally, there is a time skip 50% into the book that caught me completely off guard, and took me a good 6-8 pages to understand what was happening.

The first half of this story completely captivated me, and I was honestly shocked that this is the author's debut. Unfortunately, I just wasn't as into it after the time skip. I would loved to have read more about Monstrilio's transformation, how they introduced him to the world and explained his existance to others.

I really enjoyed how this book explored grief and love. Now that I think of it, every character in this book could be considered queer, but it's not something that's ever commented on. The characters are just who they are.

This author is definitely on my radar now, and I will be looking forward to reading whatever they publish in the future.