There's a lot I really enjoyed about this horror novel. The horror elements are in conversation with Mexico's history of colonization and oppression of its indigenous people in a way that feels fresh and necessary. There are also a number of great folklore elements to this story. All that being said, the pacing of this novel was a little off, and I think it would've served the story well to have a longer epilogue. Anyways, I recommend it!

Beautiful artwork and a terrifying and unique story that left me on the edge of my seat. I read this is one sitting - I couldn’t put it down. You have to be able to go with the flow for it and accept the crazy ride that it is. I thought it was great!

I ended up DNFing this book because of the pacing. It has a really great concept and I think I’m going to try it again when the weather is cooler and I may be more receptive to a slower, dread horror kings of vibe. 3 stars until I decide if I actually like it, but is def has potential!

This started off a little rocky for me but it really picked up around the 40% mark. I don't think I've ever read anything like this. I recently read Ghost Radio and Pinata just secured Gout's place as a favorite of mine.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!! I've been champing at the bit to read this but unfortunately it's not for me. The cover art is gorgeous and the Mexican folklore is really entrancing and unique in a horror story. But my goodness it is a slog to get through I'm sad to say. I'm at the 66% mark but I think I'm going to throw in the towel on this one.

There were some great horror elements in this book. I enjoyed the atmosphere at times as well. My biggest issue is the pacing, it was a really slow burn in my opinion. As a result I put it down several times to read something else before picking it back up. I'm glad that I finished the book because it is well written, it just didn't grab my attention like I had hoped.
The cover on this book is amazing! I plan to buy a copy just to display it on my bookshelves.

They were worshiped by our ancestors.
Now they are forgotten.
Soon, they’ll make us remember.
------

Carmen's daughters accompany her to Mexico while she's assists in the reconstruction of an old church. During the process, an artifact is discovered within the depths of the church, which now seeks revenge on the living, those of which no longer remember the cultural history of the Nahua (aztec) people who came before them.

A consuming possession novel based on deep Mexican heritage and strong historical injustices contributed to by catholicism and Spanish Conquistadors.

This sinister story, releases a feeling of dread and heartache for those impacted by such strange godlike forces outside of their control. The imagery the author uses, from clacking seashells, hanging skin, obsidian blackness and the terror the characters feel in the presence of such a scornful spirit was everything as parts of this story genuinely creeped under my skin.

An author to watch out for as I know I'll be flocking to the store to grab the next novel he writes whatever it may be!

Oh, how I loved this book! There was so much to unpack! Folklore, a haunting, La Llorona, but also family, friendships, love, hate, and so many things. I loved the creepiness, but also how hard Carmen fights for her family no matter what it takes from her. This is one of the best books I've read this year!

The cover of the book was what caught my attention. As I started to read it it got more suspenseful and exciting. I enjoyed it.

I DNFed at about 50%. It was a bit slow, and even getting through that much was difficult. I'm absolutely certain that some people will love this book, but it simply was not for me.

This is SLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW to the grit, if you will. I don't enjoy slow burn as I want to immediately lit on fire from the start. I found it an intriguing introduction and was interested in the story but I felt like we weren't getting to the point and I found myself struggling to push through. I found that for me the reveal was not worth the excruciatingly slow build but was over all a good story, Leopoldo is on my radar this one may not have been my cup of tea but that doesn't mean It won't be yours or the next one won't be.

I’ve been really mood reading the past 2 months and it’s led me to some good reads like this one. This is a horror story about ancient Mayan curses being released that can bring about the next apocalypse. This story is about Carmen and her two daughters Luna and Izel. Carmen gets a summer job in Mexico remodeling an old church and converting it to a hotel. So you get like a fixer upper story element which I tend to enjoy a lot in books and even video games. Carmen brings her daughters along and they discover an old relic that Luna ends up keeping and accidentally unleashes something sinister. I listened to the audio narration of this and I think that was the way to do it. The narrator had great pacing and added a lot of emotion to the storytelling which helped, it is a very slow burn story. It also helped to actually hear the names and places and objects pronounced as they are supposed to. Did I love this book, was it perfect? No but I found it really satisfying after I finished. There are some horrifying and descriptive scenes but I think this novel rises above just gore and thrills by bringing a story filled with history.
Full review on YouTube

This book was just ok for me. I loved the horror elements but found myself bored with what remained in between.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review

This one falls closer to a 3.5, but rounded up.

Carmen is an architect and single mother of 2 girls (tween/teenage). She is beyond excited to be headed back home to Mexico to oversee the important project of renovating a cathedral. She can't wait to show her girls, Izel and Luna, her home country and make memories with them there.

Things do not go quite as planned. Carmen is treated like an outsider and with disrespect on the job, both for being a woman and for being Mexican-American. All of her orders are being challenged and second guessed. She also gets a warning from one of the locals that her daughter may be in danger. She takes this as a threat on her family. When her youngest daughter, Luna, finds an ancient artifact on the construction site, she starts acting aggressively out of character. The family quickly return home to New York....but it seems their problems have followed them.

While reading this, I completely forgot that this was written by a male author. He did an excellent job and writing this from a woman's point of view....especially regarding her issues on the jobsite. He also did a wonderful job expressing what it is like to be Mexican-American....where you don't quite feel like you fit in, in either country. I loved how we explored some Nahua culture and lore, giving a new twist on a possession story.

I wished we could have gotten a little more time with Luna, especially once the family moved back to New York. It seems the story shifted to other character's POV at this point, which took me a bit out of the main story. Overall, a fun horror read!

I recommend listening to the audiobook if possible. The narrator does a great job, and you can hear the correct pronunciation and accents - which I loved!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC copy.

"People pay for what they do and still more for what they've allowed themselves to become and they pay for it very simply by the lives they live." - James Baldwin

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again." - Willaim Cullen Bryant

Mexican-American architect Carmen Sanchez has been given the opportunity of a lifetime: she's been charged with renovating an old Mexican church in Tulancingo during the summer. Seeing an opportunity to give her girls a chance to be immersed in their native culture and to "unplug" for the Summer, Carmen jumps on it. However, the old church is hiding a sinister secret: hundreds of years ago, vicious and horrific crimes were committed against the Nahua Indigenous people, complete with attempted genocide and forced assimilation. Those who fought back were abused and often murdered, their blood staining the very floors of the church. Knowing their guilt in slaughtering Indigenous peoples, the Church decided to seal up many walls of the church and allowed it to fall into ruin...at least until the renovation.

Once a hidden room is unlocked and a horrifying pinata is revealed to the world, things take a sharp twist from the norm. Carmen begins experiencing uncanny and often terrifying experiences of strange people and creatures terrorizing her and her youngest daughter, Luna rapidly goes from a sunny, cheerful girl, to withdrawn and sullen, often lashing out when questioned about her goings on. With the help of Yoltzi and Quauhtli, will Carmen be able to investigate these mysterious goings-on or will the cursed pinata destroy them all?

***************

So, this book is a pretty heavy book. It deals with the horrors of colonization, the pressures of being an immigrant (documented and undocumented), as well as being a woman in a typically male-dominated field. I didn't expect for a horror book to hit me so viscerally, but as a person of color, I felt this narrative. Despite many attempts to whitewash history and hide what happened, I don't believe that those who were simply slaughtered for being Indigenous or for sport by colonists do not rest as easily as some people would like to believe and this story is emblematic of that. This book deals so much with the horrors of the past, that, if ignored or left to fester, will eventually return to choke the life out of the rest of us. While it may not happen in a supernatural way as it does to Carmen and ultimately some members of The Church, I do believe that they will.

This book is a very good, but often hard, read. There were times when I found myself a little bored with some of the backstory of Carmen or some of her angst, but they were redeemed by Yoltzi, Quauhtli, and even Luna. Gout's world-building was so immersive that I often felt like I was in Tulancingo, and if the afternoon shadows were tuned just right, I found myself looking over my shoulder or checking if things were truly there. I've found that some of the best horror stories come from history and this book is no different. I highly recommend this to everyone who loves horror, but be forewarned: the trigger warnings are there for a reason and if you're not fond of a bit of gore or general weirdness, steer clear.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Thanks NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for access to this creepy arc!

3.5 rounded up to 4/5 Stars!

This was a slow paced but good horror novel. It was the first book I've read by Leopoldo Gout, but it definitely won't be the last. The atmosphere was good and the family aspects with Carmen and her daughters were well rounded. Some things did get repetitive, but I was still entertained.

"Piñata" is a horror story where the past is violently forcing itself on the present, but in a way that centers colonization and its deeply traumatizing effects. The story has its roots in Indigenous Mexican beliefs and stories, in particular those of the Nahuatl people, who are indigenous to the construction site where all of this begins.

I can’t speak to how that’s represented, specifically, but I can say that I really appreciate those thematic conversations happening in this story, because so much of Mexican culture—like many colonial cultures—is based in Indigenous beliefs, cultures, foods, and even languages. So it makes a lot of thematic sense to have the conflict of the story stem from the disrespect and erasure of those roots.

The understanding of how modern Mexican culture takes so much of its trademark influences directly from Indigenous cultures is a fundamental part of what makes this story so impactful, especially since our main character, Carmen, is Mexican herself. She was born in Mexico, she speaks the language fluently, and is familiar with the landscape. But in this specific instance, she is acting on behalf of the colonizer to reshape and commercialize this land, even though she may not be the person who created this project.

I think that speaks to the ignorance so many of us can have when establishing ownership of our culture. We thinking being “of” a place makes us an authority and means that we can do no wrong in relation to that place, but often we can be implicit in enacting colonial violence against ourselves, even just by being willfully ignorant. In some ways, this story uses horror to show how that ignorance can be dangerous.

So even though the past is violently making itself known in this contemporary landscape, it feels different from your typical haunting, because in most stories about being haunted, there’s a clear moral divide between the undead and the haunted. Which is to say that when you see the evil force manifesting in the material world, it feels wrong, and you’re hoping for the hero to either root out or escape that wrongness. In this instance, while the haunting force is absolutely unsettling and disturbing, it’s really about how the past will not and should not be forgotten—which is both a threat and a promise. So it’s a very subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless.

As I was reading this, I didn’t necessarily need Carmen to triumph over this malleable force, but rather I was increasingly desperate for her to accept it, to name it, see it for what it is, understand where it comes from and why.

The other thing I can credit Leopoldo Gout for is his cinematic eye when it comes to storytelling. He’s actually worked a bit in the TV and film industry as a producer, writer, and director, and I think you can definitely tell in his written work, because it hits a lot of similar visual beats and maintains that sense of dramatic pay-off.

All of that said, I think this story definitely had its drawbacks. Most noticeably, I think it’s much longer than it needs to be. The story definitely drags at some points, it can get a bit info-dumpy in clumsy ways, and the final act is structured in such a way where it almost feels like the main plot isn’t the central focus. I think it definitely could have been a bit tighter to better deliver the intended impact.

The other thing I’m a bit hesitant about is that I’m not confident this story does its Indigenous roots justice, specifically given the resolution of this story. Again, it’s not my place to comment on the authenticity of the story, the inspiration, the history explored here, so I’m not going to. I also don’t know the author’s stake in using those elements, which is not my business. But I’m also not fully convinced about the conclusions this story draws.

As I said, this story discusses colonization and colonial trauma a great deal, but I’m not sure if it fully reckons with the Sanchez family’s participation in those systems. The horrible things that happen in this story literally happen because one of them steals something that does not belong to them, and I don’t feel like the story reckons with that contradiction, especially as the peoples directly harmed by that choice are the same ones who are then tasked with saving the family from that curse.

So I’m kind of torn about this one. There’s really great ideas and conversations going on here. The story undoubtedly excels in showcasing vividly intense horror imagery and sequences that will stay with you long after the story ends. But those questionable aspects ultimately made me land on giving this three stars.

Piñata is about a Mexican American woman named Carmen. She has traveled to Mexico on a work trip where she is overseeing the renovation of an extremely old cathedral. She’s brought her two daughters, Izel and Luna, to Mexico with her. When Carmen and her daughters return to the US Carmen and Izel notice strange changes in Luna’s behavior and start to suspect that a dark presence has followed them home.

I don’t think that this is a bad book. I think that it really really isn’t for me. I don’t like books that have “an ancient presence from thousands of years ago has returned to haunt us all” as a plot. I don’t like when horror stories have a *super special* character who’s so sensitive and vulnerable that they’re connected to the spiritual world and it’s easy for spirits to possesses them, and that’s Luna’s entire purpose in this story. I don’t like stories where someone who is super knowledgeable on spiritual things for some reason tries to warn people of an ancient presence that’s threatening their safety, and there’s a pretty important character in this book who does that (and it rubs me the wrong way that that character was an indigenous woman. It felt very stereotypical).

I thought the writing in Piñata felt distant, dry, and slow. I don’t like when horror stories have a slow pace. And I thought the characters were all unlikable. Izel and Luna in particular were very annoying to me. It’s hard to care about what happens to annoying characters.

Again, I don’t really think this is a bad book. I think some other people will enjoy it. It’s just packed with things that I personally dislike. I can’t think of anything I liked, so I can’t say I recommend it. I gave it a second star because I really like that I learned a lot about Mexican history, but I didn’t enjoy my time reading Piñata at all.

Where do I begin to explain my love for this book? It's creepy. It's visceral. It's atmospheric. It's dark. It's everything good horror should be and more.

Carmen Sanchez is an architect and single mother of two daughters: sixteen-year-old Izel and eleven-year-old Luna. When she's hired to spearhead the renovation of an ancient abbey to a sleek, modern hotel in Mexico, Carmen sees it as a way for her to give the girls a first-hand view of their cultural heritage. In typical teenaged fashion, Izel hates being uprooted from her friends back home in New York while Luna embraces the experience with open arms. But Carmen's problems are soon to extend beyond her daughters' attitudes. When a job site accident exposes a long-forgotten chamber within the abbey, Carmen finds herself on the losing end of employment. The family returns to their urban home but something seems to have tagged along and is focused on Luna. Can Carmen find a way to save her daughter before an ancient Aztec god can exact its revenge on the world?

One of my favor subgenres of horror is folkloric horror, and Piñata nicely fills that category. Drawing on the rich history of Mesoamerica, Gout creates a new twist on the traditional possession story. Laced throughout the narrative are the echoes of colonialism, past and present misogyny and sexism, indigenous religions, and violence. The imagery is intense and graphic, which some readers may find difficult to read, and the fear is palpable. At times Gout seems to fall into the "info dump" trap and this drags the pace of the story down a bit, and at other times, the dialogue seems a bit stilted and unnatural. However, overall, Piñata is a wonderfully horror-filled dark tale that any fan of dark fiction will enjoy.

Rounded down from 3.5.

This book had its strong points, especially at the beginning. I'm often wary of books about women written by men, but thankfully there wasn't anything egregious in here; all the female characters were well-formed and without too many cliches.

My main criticism is that a lot of the emotionality of the story seemed to fade a bit as it reached the end. It started feeling like things just happened, were described, and then the next thing happened. I felt like I lost connection to a lot of the characters, and the ending itself felt rather melodramatic.

Still, some cool imagery and not a bad read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!