Review by Booklist Review
Manu, with eyes like blazing suns, divides herself between two worlds, which means she doesn't feel like a part of either. In the human world, living in Miami, she's an undocumented immigrant whose mother is taken away and shipped off to a detention center. In the Septimus world, where all girls are brujas, or witches, she's an illegal hybrid and the first-known lobizona, or female werewolf. In both worlds, staying hidden is what keeps her safe. Garber's gorgeous novel combines the wonder of a Hogwarts-style magic school with the Twilight-esque dynamics of a hidden magical species that has strict rules about interacting with the human world. Along Manu's journey of self-discovery--which includes a satisfying romance--her new friends, two brujas and a lobizona, provide feminist discourse on how she can survive. One of them insists she maintain her invisibility, while another wants a wide-scale shake-up, advising Manu to become a trailblazer for any lobizonas who follow. Garber uses her own experience as an Argentine immigrant, as well as classic literature that Manu enjoys, to add richness and authenticity to the story and prose. Dialogue is related in Spanish--immediately translated into English via italics--which brings Manu and the other characters to vivid life and makes them, and the lore, absolutely memorable.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sixteen-year-old Manu has spent her whole life in hiding; even as her period substantially changes her body each month, she cannot visit the doctor. She and her mother are undocumented immigrants from Argentina, though Manu has no memory of her early childhood there. Fearing deportation, they stick within the area around their Miami apartment complex, and Manu keeps her strange eyes covered--eyes that she inherited from her late father, once part of a powerful criminal organization. When the elderly woman they live with is sent to the hospital with a head injury and ICE takes Manu's mother into custody, it is suspected that Manu's father's family is behind it all. Alone for the first time in her life, the girl embarks on a journey that leads her to a secret magical society of werewolves and witches straight out of the folklore she grew up on. In a timely work of magical realism featuring references to Borges and Garcia Márquez, Garber (the Zodiac series) tackles issues of nationalism, identity, and belonging. Armed with love for her family and from her new friends, Manu's quest for belonging empowers her transformation from a girl in hiding to the symbol of a movement. This layered novel blends languages and cultures to create a narrative that celebrates perseverance. Ages 12--up. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. (Aug)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up--Manuela and her mother are undocumented, living in the United States and doing their best to stay under the radar of immigration authorities. But Manu is not a typical teenager. Once a month, her mother keeps her heavily sedated for three days during her menstrual cycle, or at least that's what Manu assumes is responsible for her debilitating nightmares and unbearable pain. In actuality, Manu is not completely human. Half of her heritage comes from her father, a werewolf with a criminal past and ties to an Argentine mob family. Manu describes herself as a "Thing. Hybrid. Freakish. Hunted down and destroyed. I am illegal." It's only when she is invited to join a supernatural academy in the middle of the Everglades that she discovers who she really is and begins to make friends, fall in love, and learn to embrace the werewolf (or lobizona) part of her heritage. VERDICT Following "Harry Potter," a number of authors have tackled the idea of magical schools for unusually gifted children. It would be easy enough to toss this book into that ever-growing pile, but ties to current events make this both relatable and timely. Recommended.--Jane Henriksen Baird, formerly at Anchorage Public Library, AK
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An Argentinian-folklore--inspired fantasy. As undocumented immigrants from Argentina, Manuela Azul and her mother fear being deported back to their homeland, where the criminal associates who killed Manu's father could find them. Because of her unique eyes--her irises are yellow suns and her pupils silver stars--she is confined in their tiny Miami apartment most of the time, wearing mirrored sunglasses on the rare occasions when she goes out. But when a loved one is attacked and her mother is taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the young woman goes in search of answers and discovers that the world of the lobizones--Argentinian werewolves--exists. Infiltrating a magical school for werewolves and witches, she begins to uncover family secrets and the truth of her existence. Garber, who authored the Zodiac series under the pen name Romina Russell, has crafted a complex fantasy system in this series opener. Despite some missteps--plot twists that readers will see coming and italicized word-for-word English translations of Spanish that grow tiresome--this novel is filled with timely topics and nuanced characterization. Touching upon undocumented immigrants, rigid gender roles, sexuality, and mixed-race identity, its themes run deep. Refreshingly, the book also talks openly and in depth about menstruation, which is still fairly uncommon in YA literature. The entire cast is Argentinian or Latinx, with a range of skin tones. This genre-bending mashup will win over fans of swoon-y, suspenseful paranormal dramas. (author's note) (Paranormal romance. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
