I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Return of the Sorceress by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Published by Subterranean Press on June 30 2021
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 102
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Blood magic, spirit guides and powerful magic infuse this short and lively tale.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest is a very short but well crafted novella about a sorceress who is seeking revenge on the sorcerer who stole her power. You’ll only need an hour or two to read this, but it’s well worth the time. The Return of the Sorceress is beautifully written, just like all of Moreno-Garcia’s books, and the short length means she doesn’t have a lot of time to waste. The result is a nicely paced, more traditional fantasy than we’ve seen from Moreno-Garcia in the past, but still brimming with the author’s trademark Latin American sensibility.
Yalxi is a trained sorceress who has fallen on bad times: her former friend Xellah betrayed her by taking her power—a magic-infused diamond—and now she’s on a mission to get it back. Injured and broken, Yalxi returns to the home she left years ago in order to secure a magical pearl ring. Hidden inside the ring is a nahual, a spirit who can change into various animal forms and who agrees to help Yalxi as long as she feeds it—her own blood and tears. With the help of her dead master, a sorcerer named Teotah, Yalxi plans to draw Xellah into a duel, kill him, and take back the diamond.
But the power of the diamond corrupts whoever wields it, and the nahual urges Yalxi to destroy it instead—nothing good will ever come of it. Yalxi yearns to have that power again, but as she knows from the past, the diamond’s power is dangerous and deadly.
The story is surprisingly fast paced and starts as a quest for Xellah and the diamond, but soon morphs into a tense sequence of chase scenes, as Yalxi and the nahual try to avoid the members of the Sorcerer’s Guild and the dogs who are tracking them. This story is quite dark at times, and I loved the scenes at the lake where the spirit of Teotah lives. The entire story, in fact, has a wonderfully dark and blood-soaked atmosphere that works perfectly with Moreno-Garcia’s writing style, although that darkness is tempered by the addition of the nahual and its relationship with Yalxi.
I love shapeshifter stories, and Moreno-Garcia takes a bit of Mesoamerican mythology in the form of the nahual and infuses it into her story. I absolutely loved the nahual! It can take the form of any small animal, like a cat, dog or bird (or butterfly—the butterfly on the book cover is the nahual) and it acts as a spirit guide for Yalxi, warning her of danger and helping on the quest to take back the diamond. However, that help isn’t free, and Yalxi must pay the spirit back by feeding it her blood. But as a sorceress who deals in blood magic, Yalxi seems quite comfortable with this arrangement and happily cuts her fingertips for the creature, or in one case when the nahual takes the form of a snake, lets it bite her! I thought their relationship was very sweet, and it reminded me a lot of the bond between Lyra and Pantalaimon in The Golden Compass.
The story dips back into the past to fill in some of the blanks about what happened between Yalxi and Xellah, including why they decided to kill their teacher Teotah, which resulted in another tragic death. Yalxi clearly has some ghosts in her past that she’s dealing with in the present. She’s torn between her desire to get back her former power and status as Master Sorceress and the certainty that all her friends are right: the diamond should be destroyed. It was interesting to see her emotional journey: at first, she’s quite arrogant and angry about the loss of her power, but as the story progresses, she begins to regret her past actions and seems to want to make amends.
The final showdown was thrilling, and I loved the heartwarming ending. The Return of the Sorceress is a novella that actually works as a novella—the story is self contained, and for me it was just the right length. (And I’d love my own nahual, although I’m not sure about the whole bloodletting thing!)
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
This seems an intriguing story, and the nahual seems worth meeting! Thanks for sharing!!
He is worth meeting!
I’m quite woefully behind in my Moreno-Garcia “journey”, and now she has a new and intriguing story out! Thankfully it’s a short one and I might – just might – fit in between longer books… Thanks for sharing!!! 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…LATER, by Stephen King
If you love novellas, I think this will charm you:-)
I guess a nahual ring is like finding rubbing a magic lamp to release the genie. Cool. Good review, Tammy!
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…Can you use pronouns for a non-binary character without confusing readers?
Exactly!!
This sounds amazing! I think I’m going to find myself on a quest to read EVERYTHING by this author — I have two more of her books coming up this year already, and now I need this one too.
She is so versatile, I’m always impressed when she switches genres:-)
I’m planning to read this one soon so I’m glad to see you’ve enjoyed it! I am especially looking forward to the Mesoamerican mythology with the shapeshifter element!
The shapeshifter made the story for me!
You’ve read so many of this author’s books and I’m glad this one didn’t fail you! It sounds pretty decent too. Thanks for sharing this review! 😀
Lashaan Balasingam recently posted…Digital Mini Reviews | Alternate Realities
I’ve read all her books except one. I need to get to that!
Sounds like this one turned out to be a good one. Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted…E-galley Review: My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
Thanks for visiting, Lisa!
I do really love this author but I couldn’t decide whether or not to request this one because novellas don’t always work for me – plus I am trying to be a bit careful about requesting books in an attempt to catch up.
Lynn 😀
Lynn recently posted…For the Wolf (Wilderwood #1) by Hannah F Whitten
I will say it’s super short, so it might not work as well for you.
I’d like to read this one for several reasons. I’ve yet to try the author’s work and this seems like great place to start. I love more traditional fantasy stories. And I like the idea of it incorporating a Latin American sensiblity. Very glad to hear you enjoyed it!
It is a great place to start and will give you a taste of her work.
I love how unique this story sounds and wow, I can’t believe she has yet another new book out. She’s writing them faster than I can read them, lol.
She is so prolific!
That’s awesome! I almost forgot I had an ARC of this, looks like it’s a short read so maybe I’ll fit it in before the month is over!
It was easy for me to fit in:-)
Interesting! I’ll be keeping this one in mind for a short and magical read 🙂
It’s perfect when you have an hour or two to squeeze in a book:-)
Great review, Tammy. 🙂 Need to get my hands on this novella ASAP!
Debjani recently posted…April 2021 Reading Wrap-Up
I hope you enjoy it too:-)
Great review and I’m so glad you also enjoyed this novella! I was honestly so impressed with how much Silvia accomplished in under 100 pages.
Kal @ Reader Voracious recently posted…ARC Review: Dead Dead Girls (Harlem Renaissance Mystery #1) by Nekesa Afia
Sounds like an interesting read. I’d love to try it too as I plan to read more of her work.
A great review, Tammy! I know she can write short fiction, because I’ve already read Prime Meridian and was very impressed – but I don’t think I’m going to get hold of this one, because I want a longer read at present:)).