1/5 Stars (DNF @ 44%)

TL;DR - A lukewarm book with big ambitions it did not live up to. Interesting enough fantasy elements where present, but little else going for it. Yawn/cringe.

Big thanks to Avon, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!

‘Sun of Blood and Ruin’ by Mariely Lares is a fantasy novel set in an alternate Mexico circa the 16th century. It follows an eighteen year-old named Leonora, the daughter of the late viceroy of New Spain, or as she’s known to the common folk, Pantera, the masked vigilante who…runs across a lot of rooftops or something. Decades of unrest between the Spanish colonizers and the indigenous populace comes to a head, and Leonora must reckon with her past and her own self to find a path forward.

Hoo boy, where to even begin.

First, this is NOT a gender-bent Zorro retelling. Full stop. As someone who grew up obsessed with the movie (and whose brain chemistry was forever altered by Antonio Banderas in the titular role), I’m honestly kind of angry this book tried to pass itself off as such. The only similarity is that it takes place in Mexico and the main character sometimes wears a mask. At 44% in, there was one sword fight that lasted all of like, three sentences. No, ma’am.

(Okay, I’ll concede that there is some cringe, 90s action dialog and supposed-to-be-comical dispatching of adversaries, which tracks with the movie, but those moments were few and far between, and thrust haphazardly in the middle of otherwise serious stuff tonally. Yikes.)

Prose-wise, it’s fine. Nothing special, but not as bad as some things I’ve read lately. At the beginning, it jumps back and forth between past and present with no warning, which is jarring and annoying, but it does get better as it goes on. It’s also really on-the-nose in places, not a lot of tact, but at least passable from a craft standpoint in general.

(That said, I was fully convinced this was YA until I double-checked what it was shelved as on NetGalley. It doesn’t read like adult at all, it reads a lot younger, both in terms of prose depth and in the maturity of Leonora and her narration.)

In that vein, Leonora was…there. She sure was. For someone billed as literally Zorro, she was surprisingly inept. All while thinking to herself (read: the author telling us) she’s badass and “such a good actor” and patting herself on the back for doing almost nothing. At best, she’s a 2D cutout who does nothing but reminisce about her old teacher who, in ten years, didn’t seem to teach her much, and at worst, she’s annoying and wildly inconsistent in her characterization. All this while we’re being repeatedly told she’s amazing and cool and super duper good at swords and never actually shown it. She also gives heavy “not like other girls” vibes, and she engages in girlhate and slut-shaming, and she’s just SO SPECIAL YOU GUYS.

(Oh, and by the way, she has two different colored eyes. So, sit with that.)

(Also, I called her “Lorena” multiple times in the first draft of this review because she was so completely unmemorable.)

The love interest (who is VERY clear from the moment we meet him, even to my dumb ace ass who doesn’t read romance) is similarly boring. The faux love interest is also flat (with the addition of being, at the point I DNF’d, a stereotypical “promiscuous, romantically amoral bisexual” - neat!).

44% in and nothing of note has really happened, and it just *drags*. Combine that with copious info-dumping (often apropos of nothing), non sequiturs, and chapters that ended really suddenly with the feeling that the author just ran out of steam and tacked on a few shallow, trite lines to close them out, I just could not keep going because I didn't believe it would get any better.

And then my final issue, which was really the deciding factor in me calling it quits, was the way this book handles the very serious subject of colonialism. Which is to say, it poked it once with a 39.5 foot pole, walked away, and posted a selfie wearing a “Land Back” shirt. Leonora is a mestiza, half-Spanish and half-indigenous, whose father is literally the crown-appointed viceroy of New Spain and participated in its colonization alongside motherfucking *CORTÉS*. She was raised until the age of 8 in the palace as basically a princess, then went off to train with Mister Miyagi for 10 years and then came back to live in and enjoy the luxuries of the palace once more. She *actively* still enjoys the benefits of her father colonizing this place (and thinks all the time what a swell dude he was), but we’re supposed to believe that she cares about the natives? She “fights for the people” but still agrees to marry the Prince of Spain “for the good of the colony”? Excuse me??

(Nuanced characters with conflicting morals and actions can and do exist, but this girl ain’t it.)

The narrative does nothing to denounce colonialism except mention it in passing, in a very on-the-nose, almost fourth wall breaking way that feels like the author talking directly to the reader and not the character exploring it organically. Leonora is all “colonialism is bad” in her thoughts, but all “my dad was a really good guy and I’m going to go along with the colonizers’ plan anyway” in action. The math ain’t mathing.

Listen, maybe the book pulls a 180 and goes on to have a really good, heartfelt, and accurate conversation about the evils of Spanish colonialism *that are still affecting the Americas to this day*, the inner conflict of indigenous folks with any settler heritage they might have, etc, etc, but if you can’t have even a glimmer of an intelligent conversation about it by 44% in, you’ve lost me. Maybe (and that’s a generous maybe, please seek other sources in addition) this will be a good intro for someone brand spanking new to the decolonization conversation, but that’s not me, so this was a huge miss.

Final Thoughts:

Yeah, no. I was so excited for this book, and not only did it fall leagues flat of my expectations, it was also a lot worse for the puzzling and lackluster “conversations” about colonialism. It was ambitious, but ultimately failed to live up to anything to tried to be. Generously shelving under “thanks, I hate it”.

I was excited for historical fantasy set in Mexico during the time Cortes was there, with a perspective from an Indigenous main character.

It started off with a lot of adventure, but then got a little bogged down with a lot of confusing telling instead of showing, to give the back story of the main character and place her in the politics of the time. It also felt like it was closer to YA than adult fiction which is not what I was looking for. I may try it again in another month and see if it sticks with me then.

The legend of Zorro gets a Mexican Mythological twist!

Pantera, leading a double life as Leonora de Las Casas Tlazohtzin, the heir to the Spanish throne, must fight the imperialist rule over New Spain. She risks great danger to protect the place and people she knows and loves.

What a premise, what a cover! I was drawn in by the beautiful art and exciting narrative. Mexican mythology enriches the old tale of Zorro the swordsman, now swordswoman. The setting is enticing, and I think it’s the gem of this story. I’ll be honest, the narrative didn’t flow and I wish I was more connected to Pantera. This is an adventure type novel, so I won’t hold the romance against it. Overall, I enjoyed the vivid atmosphere and mythology, it made this book worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for this ARC.

DNF - I'm really struggling to keep track of the plot. I may try this again in the future, but at this point I don't think this is a book for me.

This book left me with mixed feelings. I’ve been looking for an SFF novel that successfully integrates Central / South American mythology while awaiting the final installment of the Between Sea and Sky trilogy by Rebecca Roanhorse. Sun of Blood & Ruin definitely delivers on this front! The world building, which depicts the clash of cultures in Mexico a generation after the Spanish conquest, is excellent. And I was thrilled with the prolific use of Spanish and Nahuatl words without cumbersome direct translations into English. Unfortunately, this is also a YA romance that revolves around a not-like-the-other-girls teenage MC “finding herself” and her man. The plot, in which a prophecized magical apocalypse threatens to destroy the world, is a haphazardly realized afterthought.

TLDR: This book is like Gods of Jade & Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia crossed with a regency romance. I can tell that it will greatly appeal to romantasy readers and that the debut author, Mariely Lares, has promise. I am just not at all the target demographic.

Thanks to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares promised a rich tapestry of mesoamerican mythology and a gender-bent Zorro retelling with a sorceress empowered by her gods. Unfortunately, the execution doesn’t quite live up to the premise and in both the large brushstrokes and the smaller details, this book could have gone through a few revisions.

The characters, including our MFC Leonora, are paper thin, barely more than the aesthetics that define them. We don’t see character growth with Leonora. She’s brash and rude to just about everyone, without need. Also, there is a lot of info dumping interspersed through the book, and the tone of the writing changes completely, becoming almost like a textbook.

Even something as minute as getting the royal titles correctly and consistently doesn’t happen. Leonora’s powers, such as her super hearing, come and go as the plot needs them to. Stylistically, the characters do not speak, they declare and monologue in a non-natural, stilted way that breaks the flow of the story. New characters are introduced through the entire book, adding to the chaos.

All in all, I really wanted to like this book and its lore but the writing got in the way.

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

2.5 stars rounded up

This is a book that has me torn. I really enjoyed parts of it, yet other parts I very much disliked. The first 50ish percent dragged out so long that it almost made me want to skip ahead or skim certain chapters. In the second half, the pacing picked up quite a lot, which improved the star rating for me. This was due to there being little to no worldbuilding, or characterization in the first bit. We just jump straight into the action that is post-colonization in Mexico. Maybe this is because the author expects the reader to know more about Mexican history, which honestly I could learn more about, but the tension between the Spaniards and the Indigenous groups felt weak because of this. We're in the aftermath of a lot of lot of it, so there was no build up for the ongoing conflict. It made it difficult to fully understand all the characters feelings and motives.

Leonora was a confusing main character to read from because we don't get to see her struggling to learn skills or really much character growth in the whole first half. We know at the very beginning that she's an amazing fighter that wields tonali, which can be used to transform herself into Pantera, or a literal panther. But we don't get to see her learn to use tonali, we don't get to see her journey to learn the transformation, and we don't get to see her struggle with anything in regards to the magic system created. And the magic system is one aspect that I really did like about this book. It was very unique and the way that Lares describes tonali and how Leonara used it was very vivid. The descriptions as a whole were very well done and it made it easy to visualize the setting and characters. I just wish the same attention was paid to the plot and character development.

This was an inventive reimagining of the story of Zorro with an additional fantasy twist. Leonora was frustrating at times, but pretty endearing. The pacing was better in the second half of the book. I wasn't on board with the romance. However, this is a debut novel. I am interested in reading future work from this author.

An interesting fantasy that melds magic with Zorro and an interestingly human and tolerant Philip II of Spain, he of the Spanish Armada.

The second half of the book was definitely a million times better than the first half. The flow and overall story improved and became easier to read in the second half. I’m not going to lie, I spent most of the first half completely confused.

I think the biggest issue I had going into this book was the fact that it hit the ground running and there was no explanation on anything. Now this is just my opinion but the book is marked to a large audience but not everyone is familiar with Mexican culture. I think a brief history lesson so to speak would have been beneficial.

The plot just really jumps around and I found it hard to follow sometimes. Also, is she’s a master with a sword and it’s supposed to be a super special sword then why was she always loosing it? The romance was way too predictable and I really didn’t feel connected to the characters.

This was a miss for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC

"Sun of Blood and Ruin" is a captivating historical fantasy novel that combines elements of Zorro's legend with Mesoamerican mythology and Mexican history. The story follows the masked heroine Pantera as she uses her magical abilities and swordplay skills to fight against Spanish tyranny in sixteenth-century New Spain.

The book starts off a bit slow, taking some time for the reader to fully immerse themselves in the story. However, once Pantera embarks on a journey to Snake Mountain with Andrés, the narrative takes a thrilling turn, feeling like an entirely different tale. This shift in setting and tone adds depth to the overall plot.

One aspect that stood out was the presence of three different storylines occurring simultaneously. While each storyline was enjoyable in its own right, they didn't always seamlessly fit together, giving the impression of disconnected narratives. However, the strength of the characters, particularly Pantera, made up for this slight drawback. Pantera is a compelling and resilient character, and her journey of self-discovery is a highlight of the book.

The interactions between Pantera and Andrés added a touch of charm to the story. Their moments together showcased their chemistry and added an extra layer of depth to their respective character arcs.

Overall, "Sun of Blood and Ruin" is an intriguing historical fantasy novel that offers a fresh retelling of the Zorro legend. While the story may have some pacing issues and disconnected storylines, the strong characters and the blend of mythology and history make it a worthwhile read for fans of the genre.

I was immediately sold when I heard this was going to be a Reimagining of El Zorro.

Set in 16th century New Spain ( México ) Sun of Blood and Ruin is an intriguing debut Historical-Fantasy novel with a splash of Romance filled with Mesoamerican mythology and Mexican History two decades after the Spanish conquest.

In this reimagining of El zorro, Our FMC lives a double life. By day She is Lady Leonora de las Casas Tlazohtzin, daughter to a Spaniard and a Mexica women (indigenous women) which makes her a Mestiza (Mix blood) and during night she is the incredible PANTERA A vigilante who fights for justice for the indigenous people of New Spain.

Leonora’s character is conflicted due to her past and her need to do the right thing, so her journey felt very much like a coming of age where you need to find yourself, the meaning of your life and the reasoning as to why you are doing and fighting for the things that your heart feels the need to accomplish.

I love how Mariely Lares was able to weave so much Mesoamerican mythology & Beliefs together with Mexican History and a charming Magic system. This Historical Fantasy story was filled with an incredibly amount of adventure, Politics, shapeshifter , Deities, Mythological creatures, and interesting side characters that if you are like me and google away, will end up devouring so much information that I was unaware of and ended up wanting to learn more and more of those times.

Her writing style which I still can’t point a finger to and express in words how mich I enjoyed it. Her prose and storytelling felt like rough on the edges and I LOVED THAT.

Anyways, I can easily say that this story was writing for me. I cannot wait to see how Mariely’s writing and story evolves as I will keep her in my radar from now on.

Definitely give this one a chance. PS: Have you all seen the Fairyloot Edition of this book?!? Unreal!!!! I had to get it

Thank you Harper Voyager and Netgalley for a copy of this novel in exchange of an honest review

The beautiful cover and unique synopsis immediately sold me on this book. Although I’m not a Zorro fan, I was intrigued by a fantasy book blending Mesoamerican mythology and Mexican history. Honestly, after reading the book those were the best parts. The author has clearly done her research. I loved how history and the Spanish language were woven into the story.

We follow Leonora, aka Pantera. Leonora is betrothed to the prince of Spain, and does not want to leave her homeland. Pantera is her vigilante name. Pantera uses her magic and ability to shift into a panther to fight the Spanish rule.

I wish I loved the plot and characters as much as the world building, but unfortunately that’s where the story fell flat for me. I still enjoyed it overall, but I found myself quite bored with the plot.

The premise had so much problem, but unfortunately it didn't live up to what I wanted. It felt very surface level.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend for fans of historical fiction and fantasy! This is a gripping and thrilling tale set in sixteenth-century New Spain. The novel follows the story of Leonora, a young woman who leads a double life as the respectable Lady Leonora and the feared and legendary Pantera.

In this world, witchcraft is punishable by death and indigenous cultures have been suppressed by Spanish rule. As a descendant of both Spanish and indigenous blood, Leonora struggles with her identity and the expectations placed upon her by society. But she finds solace and purpose in her alter-ego, Pantera, who uses her magic and swordplay skills to fight against the tyranny of the Spanish.

Lares paints a vivid and immersive world filled with magic, political intrigue, and mythical creatures. The blend of history and fantasy is seamless, and the author does a fantastic job of creating a rich and diverse world that feels both familiar and unique.

What stands out in this novel is the strong and complex female characters. Leonora is a multifaceted protagonist who defies societal norms and expectations. Her transformation into Pantera is a symbol of her rebellion against the oppressive Spanish rule and her desire to protect her people. Through her journey, we see her struggle with her identity, her fears, and her destiny, making her a relatable and compelling character.

The plot is fast-paced and action-packed, with plenty of twists and turns to keep readers on the edge of their seats. The inclusion of prophecies and ancient myths adds an element of mystery and adds depth to the story. The themes of identity, power, and resistance are well-explored and make the story feel relevant and thought-provoking.

My only critique of this novel is that the pacing can feel rushed at times, especially towards the end. Some events and character developments happen quickly, and I would have liked to see them explored in more detail. However, this does not take away from the overall enjoyment of the story.

A fantasy in 1500s Mexico during Spanish colonialism? So unlike most fantasies I’ve read and I loved that. Love first person POV as well. My complaints mostly came from the plot being chopped up into super cool action scenes and then very long stretches of description, like I was reading a textbook. And because of that I often forgot characters names/places. But overall I enjoyed this book!
3.5 stars!

Sun of Blood and Ruin is a vibrant and engaging fantasy, with mysterious characters and an interesting magic, called tonalli, that’s comes from the Sun. Leonora’s tonalli (aka her power) is especially interesting since it seems to be underdeveloped despite being taught by Master Toto in the jungle for ten years. However her ability to control her powers enough to stop from shifting into her form as a panther is extremely skillful and impressive. I thought her character was vey interesting as she led a dual life. At some points (mostly with andrès) I feel like her identity was really easy to reveal. Her different colored eyes is a huge factor into this, but she also doesn’t change much except a disguise when appearing as Pantera. She is quite different in how she handles her political issues as Pantera vs Lady Leonora- both admirable fights against the injustices she finds in her home country.

The historical fiction aspect of the book was especially intriguing. The author wove elements from history, culture and well known media characters into a vibrant debut. I found much of the political aspect interesting more so than the action parts. I kinda like Amalia, as she plays the court to best of her advantage as a woman (slay) even if it put Leonora in tough positions.

All I know about the plot, at 34%, is that Pantera lost her sword, Andrés is very sus, the fight between the natives and the conquerors is getting very heated.
54%
OK wow lots of things are happening but it feels disjointed and the plot isn’t flowing as well as it did in the beginning.


Fast paced to to the point of everything is really messy and I’m confused but still interested in what’s going on.

Great great one liners that seem to have been the foundation for this story and that everything was almost written around them.

Ok romance but it kinda came out of the left field.

I think that this was a good debut but I don’t know if I will read the next book. The premise is great and the mythical elements as well as the historical aspect really made it interesting but overshadowed the plot and the characters. I didn’t feel a great connection to the characters as they felt two dimensional to me and lacked the complexity that characters fighting for their land and culture should.

I didn't know what to expect going into this. I only read the blurb after I read the book because sometimes it's nice to be surprised.

We have a quite well done trope with the whole 'princess' going undercover as a normal citizen being a masked sword wielding heroine with shifter senses and magical powers and a 'superhero' name. I do really like Pantera as a character though, she is very feisty and thinks that she is always right.

That's where the general part of the story ends with some ancient gods and a possible apocalypse type situation with a whole bunch of plots all coming to a head all at once.

There is a lot of history telling in this book and there are a lot of characters and places with similar sounding names so it took me a while to get my head around it. It was definitely something that made it hard to read this book without having to go back and re-read pages sometimes to try and work out what was being talked about.

As a first read through it was quite enjoyable and if I ever get the time to go back and re-read it, I think it would be better as a second read through.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperVoyager

Wow this book was amazing , the whole Zorro retelling amazing, loved how it keep me hooked and all the twists and turns, definitely exited to get more

This was such a fun read I loved it so much I couldn't put it down and was completely hooked from the first page