I was recently granted an eARC of the sequel to this book, so it was high time that I finally get around to reading this one! I’ve had the audiobook for Lobizona in the “deliver later” holding pattern on Libby for a while now, but when I was granted access to Cazadora I hit accept the next time this one came up as ready to borrow so I can go ahead and be well informed and equipped to review the sequel. Wow! Why didn’t anyone tell me what I was missing?
About the Book
Lobizona
Wolves of No World Book One
by Romina Garber
Published 4 August 2020
Wednesday Books
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Page Count: 400
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Some people ARE illegal.
Lobizonas do NOT exist.
Both of these statements are false.
Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who’s on the run from her father’s Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.
Until Manu’s protective bubble is shattered.
Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past–a mysterious “Z” emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.
As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it’s not just her U.S. residency that’s illegal. . . .it’s her entire existence.
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My Review
My Rating: 5 Stars
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Lobizona is the story of Manu, an undocumented immigrant living in Florida with her mother with the hope of one day becoming a legal citizen. She has unusual eyes, so combine that with her illegal status, and Manu has been encouraged to hide and live in secret all her life. Then suddenly her honorary aunt is attacked and her mother is detained by ICE, and all Manu can do is run. That’s when she finds herself in a world full of her father’s people, the werewolves and witches from Argentine folklore, makes friends, and comes into her power. There’s only one problem. She’s still illegal here. Hybrids aren’t allowed.
I absolutely loved this book! I love the #ownvoices Argentine immigrant experience element, and I love the Argentine folklore incorporation. It’s also a great YA Fantasy besides, and features LGBTQIA+ representation and all sorts of situations where characters defy and overcome adversity. I look forward to reading the continuation of this series and seeing what sort of world-shattering revolution Manu will be leading as she fights to be accepted.
I understand that this book was already in the final stages of preparing to print and ship for release around the time that Rowling released her essay in 2020, so regardless of how Garber feels about Rowling’s views on human rights and whether or not Garber has personally managed to separate art from artist with the Harry Potter series, it was too late to make changes to this book. There are frequent references to the Harry Potter universe throughout this book and in the author’s note at the end. I did my best to be forgiving of these references given when the book was written and published, and I am not docking any stars for it, but since I’m reading in 2021 and we’ve now lived in a world with a fully exposed Rowling for a year now, it pulled me out of the story every single time. I mention this to warn potential readers who aren’t able to make this kind of separation. I hope I’m able to report that the references do not continue in the second book. I’m also a Millennial bookworm, HP was absolutely part of my teenage identity, I get it. Unfortunately, the creator of HP has spoiled it for me and a lot of other readers now, so I do think it’s something best left out of new fiction.
I recommend this to all fans of YA Fantasy and South/Latin American folklore, with the caveat that if you’re unable to forgive a book written before Rowling’s essay for including HP references, this may be hard to handle.
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