Lucha of the Night Forest was such a magical read -set in a world that has clear parallels to our own, we meet Lucha and follow her on a quest full of adventure and magic and love and discovery and it's such a fantastic journey along the way. The world is so rich, the description so lively and vivid, Lucha's dreams and experiences and encounters so real that it's easy to get pulled into the story and stay there. As a YA book, the story is easy to connect to and navigate as we see Lucha grapple with right and wrong and what she owes to a world that hasn't been kind to her. I loved it's casual queerness, the normalcy of Lucha and Paz having a romantic connection and I loved the relationship between Lucha and her sister. I'll definitely be recommending this one to my students!

Lucha is a fighter struggling to eke out an existence for herself and her sister in the Scar, a city overrun with the deadly drug Olvida. When given the chance to wield a mysterious power that connects her to the dark forest surrounding the city, Lucha clutches at the opportunity to protect her family - no matter the cost. Led on a dangerous quest alongside a vengeful god and a secretive healer, Lucha must save the world on her own terms.

I was hooked by the perilous world of the Scar, and loved the duality in how Lucha both embraced the hopefulness of her power and was skeptical of its consequences as somebody who had grown up in such a harsh environment. I wish we had gotten to see more of the power itself (there were disappointingly few mushrooms!).

A huge strength of the novel was the portrayal of family relationships between Lucha, her sister Lis, and their mother. I loved the scene where Lucha realizes that she can understand her mother's decisions without having to forgive her, and I appreciated that Lucha and Lis's relationship was loving but flawed. However, Lucha and Paz's romance was lackluster, being developed far too quickly despite the characters rarely having honest conversations with each other. I was also disappointed by the simplicity of the plot towards the end, since it had so much potential, which made it difficult to really love this book.

One girl caught between the freedom she always wanted and a sister she can't bear to leave behind.

Under the cover of the Night Forest, will Lucha be able to step into her own power...or will she be consumed by it?

This gorgeous and fast-paced fantasy novel from acclaimed author Tehlor Kay Mejia is brimming with adventure, peril, romance, and family bonds—and asks what it means for a teen girl to become fully herself.

The best thing about the book was the pacing and the tone, I really got a sense of the forest encroaching on the city, but it really fell flat on character development and world building. I started out interested but my interest waned and I just rushed through to get it finished.

The prose in this YA Fantasy is done beautifully. I am enjoying the standalone fantasy novels we’re getting because we get some quick resolution. However, I felt like this one needed at least one more book. The story was lyrical and the descriptions fully developed but I think that lent a bit to the confusion I had while reading.

Lucha learns to navigate her power while trying to keep her sister safe. She wasn’t always a very likeable character and I didn’t feel like I ever really connected with her. I can appreciate the love she has for her sister and the adventures they face along the journey in this book. Lucha’s abilities with the mushrooms gave me some Mexican Gothic vibes which I found interesting.

Overall, I enjoyed the writing but found it to be a bit confusing. This book will satisfy you if you’re looking for an action packed YA fantasy that is unique in nature. I would recommend reading this one even for the writing alone and if you’re looking for a quick fantasy.

Thank you so much TBR and Beyond Tours, Netgalley, Tehlor Kay Mejia, and Random House Children's for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Content Warnings: drug abuse, drug addiction, death

It took me a little bit to shift from the Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy to something a little lighter and younger, but this book was a very enjoyable read! I really enjoyed the worldbuilding, the plot, and the characters in this unputdownable Latinx, sapphic fantasy!

First of all, the worldbuilding was well thought-out. While it wasn't as detailed as other YA novels, it was good enough to keep the story going and keep me hooked. It was very interesting to read about the mythology of the Night Forest (especially about Salvador and his mother), as well as the effects of the Olvidar drug on both the people who used it and their loved ones.

Secondly, the writing and plot were nice as well. The writing was very different from Mejia's "We Set the Dark On Fire" duology, and it kept my attention a lot more. The plot was a little twisty, and I honestly couldn't guess what was going to happen next. Specifically, the sort-of betrayal of one of the character's was absolutely mindblowing. I didn't see it coming, nor did I foresee the character's true role. I think my biggest complaint would have to be that the pacing was a little off. It was really hard to tell how long each scene took, and sometimes the pacing was too fast/slow for the context of the story.

Thirdly, my heart broke almost immediately for Lucha and Lis with their mother's addiction and how they were struggling to survive. I admired Lucha's bravery and determination, as well as her will to do whatever it took to protect Lis. She reminded me of Aelin from Throne of Glass; if Aelin was mixed with Katniss Everdeen (in regards to survival skills). In other words, she was one fiersome heroine. In regards to Paz, the main side character, I wish Mejia had included her POV in the story, as I felt it would've added something more to the story. However, what little we did of her, she was kind and brave.

Overall, this book was a fast fantasy read that contained elements of important real life struggles. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves sisterly bonds, forest magic, old powerful gods, sapphic romance, and/or an angry FMC with a dagger.

Lucha lives in a town on the edge of the Bosque de la Noche, the Night Forest, taking contracts to hunt the monsters within in order to make ends meet for her and her younger sister whenever their mother fails to come home. When Lucha discovers a magical power within herself, she makes a desperate deal with a mysterious figure only she can see, grabs her sister Lis, and flees into the forest along with a girl who worships a goddess who, according to forbidden myth, opposes the figure that Lucha’s deal is with. As Lucha sets about fulfilling her end of the bargain she gradually comes to understand what exactly she’s gotten herself into, and has to decide how far she’ll go to save the forest and the rest of the world.

A lot of this book is set either in or near the forest, and it was a really cool setting! Lucha’s abilities mean she can effectively communicate with the forest and all that resides within it. Whether the forest is willing to listen to her is another matter entirely, and her control over her abilities and the stability of the link between herself and the forest is something that Lucha struggles with throughout the book.

Something I thought was really interesting about this book was the exploration of the fallout of having been failed by a parent. Lucha and Lis’ mother isn’t there for them, succumbing to addiction instead, meaning Lucha has to take responsibility for her and Lis’ well-being from a very young age and directly leading into the book’s inciting incident. If their mother had been there for them, they wouldn’t have needed to flee. Lucha is angry at her mother for all of this, which is understandable. However as the book goes on she comes to understand her mother’s actions a lot more. I liked how Lucha’s perspective on the situation develops, and I liked that this doesn’t end up swinging to the other extreme and being a case of the abused child forgiving their parent simply because they’re their parent. Nuance!

A key theme of this book is the outright rejection of fate and destiny. Lucha could be seen as a chosen one, but it’s strongly established that she’s a chosen one because she chooses to step up. She could choose not to. She has that option. She’s not the only hope the world will ever have, there will be others with her ability and she could leave the situation for them to resolve when their time comes. I thought this was an interesting take on the chosen one trope that I’m sure people will enjoy!

I liked the note the romantic relationship between Lucha and Pax was left on, but I can see why others might not like it as much. If you like your books to finish with a neat bow and a happily ever after then this one’s more open ending might not be for you.

Considering how important the relationship between Lucha and Lis is supposed to be, and how much of the story hinges on it, I would’ve liked to actually see more of it. The biggest interaction we see between the girls before things kick off in earnest is a fight, and then due to plot reasons they don’t ever get to just exist and interact with each other as they naturally would. I think their bond would’ve been more believable and hard hitting if we’d been able to see more of them actually getting along and being sisters. Similarly, there’s an antagonistic character near the start who’s said to be an old childhood friend of Lucha’s, but the rare sentences we get about their childhood friendship isn’t enough for the reader to feel the true weight of the betrayal that Lucha must be feeling. I just wanted a little more depth from these relationships.

If you’re looking for a book with a creepy living forest or with a unique approach to the chosen one trope then consider checking this one out!

I wish I could love this book! I was really excited for it but I think it felt a bit rushed and I wasn't entirely sure what was happening a big chunk of the time. We start off by following Lucha but it's a little cryptic what's going on. As the story progresses, and by this I mean almost at the end, we finally start to get more answers. It was darker than I thought it would be. It's a story that tackles addiction and being taken advantage of, potentially even going so far as trafficking which I felt was a bit ambiguous. I wasn't a huge fan of the religious aspects but it is what it is. I think the ending was nice.

Lucha of the Night Forest charmed me. For starters, our main ship is between Lucha and Paz (those NAMES!), two girls who are capable, flawed, and really doing their best in a crazy, scary world. The book does this brilliant job of getting across a message of “no ‘chosen ones’, just people making choices” which is a message I would love to see more YA take on, and it tackles really intense and traumatic experiences through the use of this beautiful fantasy world, so things feel real but also a little distanced in a way that makes the darkness feel easier to sink into. The pacing was sort of baffling and bizarre at times, in a way that I think sometimes served the narrative and sometimes didn’t; The world-building was odd, too, in that the dangerous and struggling (and wholly unique) city we’re super immersed in at the beginning of the book disappears when the characters enter the forest, and then then we do not make it back into the city again for the whole book. I struggled with this because I was REALLY drawn in by that world and then to have it replaced with a (beautifully written but nonetheless typical) magic forest sort of disappointed me.
However- I think the prose in this book is fabulous, the settings are rich and well developed, and the message is important, so I’m going to say it’s a 3.5/5 stars. I do rec it and I think I have students that would love it, but there were stretches of the book where I didn’t know where it was going and I struggled to keep reading to find out (but I’m glad I did!)

3/5 stars - My feelings are complicated about this book, but overall it was fast paced, forward moving, and full of battles for good and evil. The world is a harsh, cruel, unforgiving place, where people are indentured to corrupted cartel-like powerful men, who own the places the workers live, never pay them enough to be free, and that leads most on a road of desperation and sadness to the drug, Olvida, that starts by giving a glimmer of hope and ends by destroying its takers. Lucha grows here with a mother working in this place, addicted to Olvida, always disappearing, and a sister who needs her. Then there's the followers of the Goddess, Almudena, corrupted in a different way by their need for their divine's visions to be realized no matter how they can hurt others. This goddess' son uses the minds of others to attempt escape to destroy the world. So many things packed in. Ultimately I'm not sure I loved the very religious aspects, though I know that obviously old mythologies and other cultures have grown around these, that's not my issue. It's just not my jam, the singular God-of-the-world story and the people who blindly follow. But the book was well written and the characters were all highly complex and fleshed out, to me.

This book has a fantastic premise, a strong main character, and nice representation. There are passages that are beautifully written and the story is fast paced. It's overall a good read and I enjoyed following Lucha on her mission.

I struggled with how quick this went and had times where I wasn't sure what exactly was happening. I think the author packed a lot of action in, but didn't take as much time to develop the character relationships or show us all the details of what was going on. The romance was cute but came off a bit too insta-love for me. If things weren't quite so rushed, maybe we could have watched the attraction build and come naturally?

I still don't quite understand how Lucha was going to stop people from taking the forgetting drug that so many were addicted to. The ending was a bit open and I think a sequel would be nice.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for the copy.

This was a wonderful story about love, family, and the agency to choose our own path. There weren't any crazy plot twists or surprises in the story itself, but I liked how Lucha was motivated by her anger and hatred just as much, if not more, as she was by love. This story doesn't cast her "negative" feelings as bad or something to overcome in order to accomplish her destiny, or even as a lesser motive that will give way for purer intentions. She was a refreshing heroine, choosing her own path despite what convention, convenience, or expectation anyone else may have of her.

Language: Mild
Drugs: High
Sex: Mild
Violence: Moderate

Great fantasy story full of monsters and other creatures. I wish there’d been a little more world building to help understand things at times but overall a great book. The story is empowering and emotional with a main character who would do anything for her family. I just wish there’d been a little more to the romance plot between the main character and Paz. Definitely recommend. Thank you NetGalley for letting me read an early copy.

This wasn't the book for me, personally. There were a lot of excellent ideas in this book and some really beautiful passages, but so much of the pacing and execution just fell flat for me.
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Some of the high spots were the direct involvements of the forest gods and the concept for the world. That said, I do wish the world building was more robust. The things that were really cool about this book were the things that it felt like the least time was spent on. Speaking of time, it's passage was really uncertain and we saw very little of it invested in building the relationships that we were supposed to be invested in. The romance came virtually out of nowhere and made little sense and the resolution of the familial relationship was incredibly unsatisfying giving how integral it was to the main character's motivation.
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Lucha definitely lives up to her name and is an enjoyable enough main character, but a lot of the side characters were not nearly as strong. There is a possibility that this just wasn't the book for me but might be exactly the book for someone else. In fact, the action sequences and world concept may be quite captivating for the right audience.

This was a great story. It was fast paced and I liked that for the most part. What I would have liked was a little more time to get to know the characters and the setting. Sometimes it is hard to care about a people, a place, a character without connecting with them first. I liked the story very much. The second half really picked up and and I couldn't put it down. The ending was so good. Looking back this is a story about different kinds of love. Between parents, siblings, friends, a worshipper and the worshipped, love of power, greed. Each of these relationships played out and woven into the story beautifully.

Description
An edge-of-your-seat fantasy about a girl who will do anything to protect her sister—even if it means striking a dangerous bargain. Dark forces, forgotten magic, and a heart-stopping queer romance make this young adult novel a must-read.

A scorned god.
A mysterious acolyte.
A forgetting drug.
A dangerous forest.

One girl caught between the freedom she always wanted and a sister she can't bear to leave behind.

Under the cover of the Night Forest, will Lucha be able to step into her own power...or will she be consumed by it?

This gorgeous and fast-paced fantasy novel from acclaimed author Tehlor Kay Mejia is brimming with adventure, peril, romance, and family bonds—and asks what it means for a teen girl to become fully herself.

#LuchaoftheNightForest #NetGalley

Well this was just great! Ancient mushroom magic? I was sold already but then you add in the gods/goddesses, queerness, family, and the excellent characters/writing? This is definitely one of my favorite YA's of the year.

Lucha is such a great main character, her struggles and fears and dreams feel like they bleed off the page and into the reader. While the themes in this book are not necessarily new or uncharted territory, it feels fresh. Author Tehlor Kay Mejia has an excellent writing style that feels almost like a fairytale or an epic being read aloud before bed. This is a one setting read, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! I definitely have to check out this authors other work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

LUCHA OF THE NIGHT FOREST follows Lucha Moya, a girl from a desolate and oppressed town called Robado, who hunts dark beasts through the Night Forest to help her younger sister and mother survive. A dire situation leads her to make a bargain with a scorned god which places her in the middle of a conflict she has no way to escape. Lucha must step into her power, or be consumed.

I really enjoy Mejia’s writing style and this book was no different! The tone is so atmospheric and eerie which worked so well with all the twisting details of the plot. I really enjoyed the characters, specially Lucha and her journey throughout the story. Unfortunately, the romance didn’t work for me. There were too many obstacles between the characters for me to buy into the pace of the feelings developing. However, I really enjoyed the overall message of the story and the unconventional ending. Would recommend for lovers of fierce, Latinx women and of exploring what it means to be chosen and to choose.

This year, I’ve been especially craving stories about living houses and haunted forests. Lucha of the Night Forest falls into the second group, and I can safely say that if you enjoyed Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. It ticked so many boxes for me—queer romance, a spooky forest, the power of nature, ethereal creatures, a girl who learned how to live while she was just trying to survive, and so much more.

The driving force of this book is Lucha’s relationship with Lis, and the lengths to which she’ll go in order to save her sister from the horrors of the world. She is not always successful, and sometimes she makes decisions that serve her own self-interests at the expense of others around her, but at the end of the day, Lucha remains an empathetic character. We can understand her drive to protect her sister, and we can see that she is only human. Would any of us make a different decision if we found ourselves in a similar situation? There are certainly some parallels between her and Katniss Everdeen.

Unfortunately for Lucha, there are greater forces at work here. On the night she thinks she’s lost Lis forever, Lucha taps into a hidden power inside her. Wild with desperation, she makes a deal with El Sediento, a nightmarish creature with red eyes and a wide smile. He is straight out of a horror novel, and I’d be lying if I said his visage didn’t send goosebumps down my arm.

Despite the ancient gods and mythical creatures found throughout this book, Lucha of the Night Forest is about people—the good, the bad, and everyone in between. This book has a lot to say about the power of humanity and what kind of person we choose to be. Because at the end of the day, this is not a simple story of the Chosen One fighting because destiny commands it; at its foundation, this is a story of choice. It also has cool mushrooms, and for me, that’s always an added bonus.

- LUCHA OF THE NIGHT FOREST is a dark YA fantasy that I couldn't put down. I read the whole thing in one day because I had to know what was going to happen to Lucha.
- The world invented in this book isn't super detailed, but enough to get you invested and rooting for everyone. Even when characters' motives are at odds, you still want all of them to succeed.
- I loved that there was sapphic attraction between Lucha and Luz, but that it wasn't the driving force of the story, simply one element of it.
- This book doesn't shy away from the idea that systems are built to keep whole classes of people down, and also that even if you think you're doing good, you can still be doing harm in ways you haven't considered.

“What must it be like, Lucha wondered, to believe in something so much that nothing scared you?”

Tehlor Kay Mejia has done it again, folks.

I don’t know where to even begin when it comes to Lucha’s story, and the amazing world and story Mejia has crafted. The writing, as always, is impressive. Mejia’s worldbuilding throws you right into the story – you’re following Lucha as she weaves throughout the city, as she takes on scary monsters, as Lucha refuses to let anyone pull one over on her. You can’t help but double check to make sure you haven’t actually been teleported to Robado. The magic system in this story feels wholly unique, and I enjoyed every time we got to see it in action.

Focusing on plot – the story starts off a little slow, but the writing really captures your attention and draws you away from the pacing as you become wrapped up in the worldbuilding and the characters. By the end, you’re itching for more, and the ending is a very satisfying one (in my opinion).

Where Mejia excels the most is in the craft of characters. Lucha is such a well-written protagonist – she’s messy, she’s honest, and she’s angry. Lucha’s dedication to her sister, Lis; her motivations to leave behind Robado, her hatred of Olvido, and her fear of believing in someone other than herself – all of it makes her all the more real, and all the more the kind of character you root for from beginning to end.

Reading from her point of view, readers can experience how Lucha overcomes her trust issues and fears through her inner monologue and profound self reflection. Her growth throughout the story is impressive – and her strength is undeniable.

Lucha’s relationship with Paz was interesting. Paz wasn’t just a love interest, but an integral part in helping Lucha overcome her trust issues. Their romance was one of yearning, denial, and hope. I like how the ending addressed their relationship – it felt very realistic, and I’d love to see more of them in the future.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the story! It’s a great read for fantasy lovers, and especially for those looking for a good Latinx sapphic story.