When compared to my beloved The Last Cuentista, this one has a slower pace and it took me a while to get into it.

I was more invested in the people's future rather than the specific characters and their plight.

Alebrijes is a middle grade fantasy novel. However, for me, the themes were very heavy for that age group. With that being said the story was very good even if to intense in my humble opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley for the alc!

Ok I tried so hard to finish this but I just couldn’t get into it, because there wasn’t a clear goal. They are wanting to get out of that situation and into the woods alone? If there was a hope for anything, a hope for safety, the possibility of finding other escapees, anything, I might have been able to get into it, but there just wasn’t a light at the end of the tunnel of suffering. And maybe that was the intent, but if so there wasn’t anything to keep a reader hooked. The writing was good, the characters well written, but the plot needed more balance between hope and despair.

Such a good fantasy/sci-fi book for middle grade kids! This is mysterious and entertaining all the way through, young readers are often looking for more complex stories and good fantasy, and this is perfect!

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I love the idea of being able to transfer ones consciousness into a mechanical animal. This was an interesting concept and I would love to see a follow-up story about what happens after they leave Pocatel.

The narrator did a good job narrating the story and I loved listening to them pronounce the Spanish words.

I had high hopes because of the author's previous book, however this one did not live up to my expectations. I found the story to be too slow moving and did not keep my interest.

Alebrijes further proves Donna Barba Higuera is a visionary writer. Her stories are inventive, mind-expanding tales for middle grade, YA, and adult readers alike.

Alebrijes is a dystopian tale centering the importance of community and cultural memory in finding the strength, hope, and courage to stand up to oppression and strive to build a better society for all. Ms. Barba Higuera weaves Mexican folklore with technology and science fiction - the Alebrijes in this world are ancient tech drones, taking the form of various birds and beasts that existed before societal collapse.

The city of Pocatel sits in the parched and unforgiving landscape of post-apocalyptic California. English-speaking Pocatelans have subjugated the Spanish-speaking Cascabeles, whom they force to labor in the fields or face death by exile to the lethal trench and wyrmfields beyond, where giant serpentine creatures devour those cast into their path. The Cascabels are starving and barely surviving under the brutal Pocatelan regime.

Enter our MC Leandro Rivera, a young boy doing all he can to keep himself and his little sister Gabi alive, while also protecting others when he can. Leandro lands in a life-or-death situation and embarks on the search for the mythical land of La Cuna, the Cradle, a lush ancestral land where there is hope and plenty.

We follow Leandro on his dangerous journey, wherein his consciousness is implanted in a hummingbird drone and he must race against time to find a way to stop the Pocatelan dictator from killing off the Cascabeles. And so we find ourselves in the midst of a dark and frightening vision of what the future of our civilization could hold. But on this journey, Leandro finds hope and inspiration and ultimately learns “The smallest flap of wings can change the course of history."

I loved The Last Cuentista and so I was thrilled to receive a copy of Alebrijes from RB Media and Netgalley for my honest review. The audiobook narrators Cisco Fernandez and Frankie Corzo are excellent. I did find it helpful to look at a copy of the book, which has a map and artwork. Highly recommend in any format, to anyone of any age!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Latinx representation is always great! This was a great story. I loved it! This book had such great characters and the backgrounds. Perfection!

The back of book blurb is doing this book a massive disservice. It is accurate, but it focuses solely on the big twist at the halfway point. Because of this, readers are going to spend the first half waiting for the story to get started and the twist has no impact. If you can look at the story itself, it has good twists, solid impact, heavy stakes, good pacing. The marketing blurb hurts it, because you end up waiting for 50-60% of the story for the story to get started. Higuera does good work; this is good work. But please adjust your pacing expectations so you can actually enjoy it.

A dark but beautiful dystopian/ post-apocalyptic novel that weaves in themes of cultural diversity and Mexican folklore.

In the ravaged wasteland of Earth, the unforgiving city of Pocatel stands, ruled by a tiered social system. Thirteen-year-old Leandro, a member of the Cascabel
underclass, wants to escape and find a better life beyond the city's harsh walls, where danger lurks but where he might find freedom from tyranny. His punishment, transferring his consciousness to a Drone, grants him unexpected insights into the world around him and the hidden truths of Pocatel.

Even though it's aimed at middle-grade readers, this book could easily be regarded as a YA novel. It deals with social themes that are quite heavy for young minds, such as corruption, abuse, oppression, propaganda, racism, and cruelty. The main character is young but well-developed, mature, and relatable.

Because the author borrowed pieces of Mexican culture for the story, readers who don't speak Spanish might have a hard time understanding parts of the book. Even though it's in English, it contains an abundance of Spanish words and phrases. It might be easier for those who read the eBook version thanks to the dictionary options that many apps have, however, the audiobook might pose some difficulty.

Nonetheless, Alebrijes by Donna Barba Higuera is an excellent choice for lovers of dystopian and post-apocalyptic readers, no matter their age.

When I read the name I knew I had to ask for a ARC of this book. As Latina I adore see Latinex representation in literature. This is a very delightful story with raw life experience dealing with hunger, protecting your loved ones. Is a whole beautiful science fiction. Is a brilliant story about oppression and how the people resist. If you think about the whole background and metaforas de la realidad de muchas personas. This book is on point. Audiobook was brilliant thanks for the access to the ARC

Alebrijes is a middle grade, Latinè inspired science fiction story with pretty heavy themes for the age. It follows a young boy trying to survive and protect his younger sister in a dystopian world- dealing with hunger, an oppressive government, and constant fear. When his sister tries to steal a strawberry, he takes the fall for her and ends up with his consciousness exiled into an ancient mechanical bird. It's a story about oppression and resistance, with a government that lies and is the cause of a lot of deaths. I suspect this might be drawing on the real world experiences of some people in Latin American countries, but with a sci-fi twist. I like how this takes a cultural artifact (alebrijes) and uses it to tell a futuristic story. Emotionally pretty intense, but a good story and while I haven't read the previous book by this author, I'm pretty sure the epilogue loosely ties the books together. The audio narration is okay, but a little stilted and not my favorite. I received an audio copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author to allow me to rad this book. I was not paid to read this book and it’s my honest opinion.

This book is aimed for children 10-14 years old. With that being said I read anything and everything I can get my hands on.

This book was more imaginative than I would have imagined and I absolutely LOVED it! I don’t give spoilers but if you love fantasy dystopian you will absolutely LOVE this book.

It may not be in my age group but I’m definitely getting a copy for my 11 year old niece. If you have an imagination, the world can be in your hands.

I really wanted to love this middle grade fantasy story set in a not far off future world of haves and have nots. The brother-sister protagonists who fight for their survival as descendants of immigrant migrant workers. I think the world was just a little too fantastical for me. While the class system was completely relatable and the characters very likeable. I couldn't get into the overall set up. I did however enjoy the narration by Cisco Fernandez and Frankie Corzo. It's likely just a me thing and hopefully the story picked up a little the more one gets into it. Unfortunately I had to set it aside after about 30% of the way in. I will hopefully pick it up again in the future and give it a second chance but for now it was a DNF. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review. The cover is amazing and just draws readers in but for me the story didn't deliver and I hated to say that!

Much thanks to the author Donna Barba Higuera, Recorded Books, and Netgalley for granting me access to this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

In a dystopian future, two orphan children struggle to survive in the face of orphanhood, hunger, and exhaustive days of manual labor. Add to that a cruel society in which the government favors the Pocatellan people at the expense of the oppressed Pocatellans.

The beginning of the story is very slow and heavy. It immerses you in the world and shows you what the Pocatellan children’s daily life looks like. When the plot introduced the titular Alebrijes, the abrupt shift was too jarring for me. Donna Barba Higuera does make creative choices and draws the story to a hopeful conclusion.

The author does a terrific job of balancing the buoyancy of a youthful narrator and the visceral realities of this world. While reading, I identified many familiar thematic and minor plot elements also in DBH’s previous Newberry-winning book The Last Cuentista. The author excels at highlighting the importance of culture, storytelling, and memory. Ultimately, I appreciated the prose and themes but felt the book could have been more evenly paced and cohesive.

NARRATION: The audiobook narration overall did not work for me. I like that the chosen narrators appropriately reflect the POV characters. While sounding appropriately youthful, the male narrator does not modulate in delivery of sentences or bring varied emotion appropriate to the evolving character journey enough for my liking.

I absolutely loved Alebrijes. The beginning of the book is paced a little slower than I typically like, but I did not mind in this case. A lot of the book is setting up the world, which was done extremely well. The protagonist, Leandro, has so much heart that one can’t help but root for him. Higuera’s creativity in bringing the mystical and fantastical alebrijes to life is beautiful, and it’s exciting to see more Latinx representation in middle grade science fiction/fantasy.

Alebrijes highlights community, empathy, love, and resilience, and I think this would be a great addition to any middle grade library.

Potential Triggers: collective oppression, death of parent/relatives, some violence (not detailed).

I was approved for both the ebook and audiobook. Cisco Fernandez and Frankie Corzo were the audiobook narrators. I enjoyed their narrations.

Thank you to Netgalley, RB Media, Recorded Books, and Levine Querido for these ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Alebrijes is a great story, well-served by audio narration. It's a futuristic, dystopian novel about social stratification, propaganda, and culture. I value stories like this. They give us hope that by protecting ourselves and eachother, we can change the world for the better.

I’m certain there are cultural aspects I’m missing out on in this story, but even without that added piece, it’s a great story about oppression, the fight for survival, bravery, and kindness all wrapped up in a sci-fi, dystopian world.

Sometime in the future something has happened to earth. People only survived in little pockets by going underground for a long time and now there’s not enough food or water for those who survived. Leandro and his sister Gabi are part of the Cascabel people who are being worked and used by the Pocatel people.

When they’re guardian is banished, they’re sent to an orphanage and begin hatching a plan for escape that leads to much more than they expected.

The narrator is fantastic. I loved how he made the rattle sound throughout.

The book reminded me of the Disney song "A Whole New World". This is new, strict and hard to survive the world, where the earth is a barren land and the survivors live in a small city. Following our protagonist - who is a protective brother to his little sister, is the story of a boy who takes it upon himself to face the consequences of his sister's theft and find himself punished in the most insane way possible. The banishment takes him to far-off lands away from the scary but secure settings of the city. But this new place is so much more! Would anyone even want to return from here?

The book was mesmerising with elements of soul transfer and vivid areal characters. I found many themes mentioned in the book equally reflected in our present society (social injustice, prejudices and hope for a better future). I recommend this book to be read with an open mind and a hopeful soul.

Thankyou @netgalley @donnabarbahiguera @recordedbooks @levinequerido for the Audio ARC.

Genre: #childrens #middlegrade #fantasy #scifi
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed The Last Cuentista by this author so I wanted to check out this story. It sounded just as unique. Unfortunately I dnfed this at 17% The story and the characters weren't capturing my attention. It was moving at a very slow pace and the narration was making me zone out.