Content warnings: death of an elder (grandfather, father depending on the POV), systemic violence, vomiting, blood, gore, drugging, attempted sexual assault, mass murder, historical violence

The Villa, Once Beloved is a story about a grieving family and a sordid tale of a land which bore witness to many crimes. When the patriarch of the Sepulveda family passes, the cause can easily be explained by folklore or natural causes depending are who you ask. But it’s also Easter and the weather is catastrophic, so there’s no escape from the tension and eeriness trapped within this ancestral home who current residents have ties to the Marcos dictatorship.

Gothic is so back with this one. The house in and of itself is terrifying, and the mysteries and secrets unearthed examine the horrors of the Marcos regimes that mesh really well with the gothic genre’s expectations and roots.

One of the things that I particularly loved in this piece is Manibo’s command of perspective. The three main POVs are Remedios, a housekeeper, Adrian, the grieving grandson, and Sophie, his American-raised girlfriend. The information presented among them feels like the unfurling of a great mystery novel, where the author expertly doles out facts and context in ways that make reveals both surprising and satisfying for the acute reader. It also helped contextualize the politics and history in a way that is accessible to readers who only have a passing familiarity without interrupting the story. There are so many cool tricks of characterization employed that keep the dream that is the story perfectly in tact. I loved Sophie in particular, and I can’t speak to much of why without going into spoilers.

If you’ve found yourself burned more than once by “gothic” works that lean more into the aesthetic than the substance, you will not be disappointed. The grief and anger of generations of colonial and dictatorial violence are as tangible as the demons allegedly haunting the house. Despite the change in cultural context, the beats of the scares punctuate and aggravate the interpersonal drama, making for some compelling reading. This book has a thematic tightness through both the familial and supernatural tensions that both kept me on my toes and made me so excited as both reader and writer.

And much like queer gothic, this book also examines what happens if you go too far to delude yourself and how to balance existing as an other when the specters terrorizing the house seem not to care about distinctions. Sexuality drives the plot as well, whether acknowledged in backstory or a contributor to the stress pushing everyone to their limit. There’s such a rich sense of characterization throughout. Manibo mines deep into what makes these characters and this family tick, making for a horror that is also quite literary in its presentation.

If you’re someone who’s dedicated to studying gothic for themselves, I highly recommend this book as a worthy future entry for anyone else embarking on their own craft learnings.

Adrian goes home to his family's ancestral home in the Philippines to attend his grandfathers funeral when a natural disaster leaves them all trapped. Now secluded together in the family estate dark secrets once hidden come to light. Political issues the family has been involved in and just the general selfish behavior that wealth has allowed them has caused them to be cursed. Gothic Isolation horror feel was how I imagined the story to feel after reading the synopsis. But while there was isolation a curse and dark family secrets it never felt gloomy enough or foreboding. I found the cultural folklore interesting, the pace was steady and the writing was well done but it just did not give me the heavy macabre feeling I was hoping for.

This book had a diverse and intriguing mix of characters unearthing dark family secrets and trauma immersed with Filipino culture and horror story monsters. The level of suspense progressed until I couldn't put this book down.

I've read Manibo before and I've never been disappointed. Fortunately this book hasn't been the case either!

I really liked this dark and intriguing story, crafted by Manibo's unique writing style.

This was an interesting read. I do not think it was my cup of tea, but I cannot really take that away from the quality of the book.