OH, this one was gorgeous. Definitely not horror, which was a surprise because it's so heavily marketed that way; I'd say it's more magical realism than anything. That's not a bad thing at all; I loved the fantastical elements here, the questions about La Llorona's malevolence and influence, and Mercy's bold, powerful narration. The voice here is just wonderful. The central relationship between the protagonist, Mercy, and her old best friend was heartbreaking and so realistically drawn. I loved every character in this and the gentle kindness that exists between so many of them. It felt like a real community.

I do think some of the lore needed sketching out a bit more, as it wasn't always clear exactly what La Llorona's powers were, and some of the things in the text seemed to directly contradict each other (such as near the end, where Mercy explicitly says she's thinking of all the ways in which La Llorona hasn't controlled her life, and that the power in this is because she's not thinking about La Llorona - well, she quite literally IS thinking about her!) but that's a minor quibble. For such a short novella, this is perfectly paced and not a word was wasted, but it feels entirely complete. I'd love to read more of it, but I don't need to. I loved it entirely.