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speculativebecky 's review for:
Wild Beauty
by Anna-Marie McLemore
“Hearts that loved boys and girls were no more recklessly or easily won than any other heart. They loved who they loved. They broke how they broke.”
Wild Beauty tells the story of Estrella and her four cousins, the youngest Nomeolvides women. For generations their family has used the magic in their fingers to tend the sprawling gardens of La Pradera, their safe haven against a world ready to persecute them for witchcraft. Their home is a blessing and a curse, as the land kills them if they try to leave. Each generation consists of five women, each always bearing a single daughter, and any men that they love vanish, consumed by the magic of the land, if they don’t drive them away first. In Estrella’s generation, something new has taken root, since each of the young women are in love with Bay, their genderfluid neighbor girl. Together they offer a sacrifice to the land in hopes of protecting Bay from their cursed love, and the land stirs and offers instead a mysterious boy named Fel, bereft of his memories but no less disruptive for it.
What a premise, right? This book made my queer heart sing. McLemore is an artist of words, painting achingly magic sentences throughout this wild and beautiful novel. At times the writing felt a little redundant, but it was almost too gorgeous to mind, and I was very easily swept up in this story nonetheless. The characters, each of the cousins beyond Estrella, and even more their mothers and grandmothers, often felt undifferentiated. But while I wished their distinct personalities were more strongly developed, it didn’t feel like a barrier to falling into the story. I loved the novel’s themes, borders crossing you, persecution of the “other”, generational trauma, queer daughters trying to make their hearts understood by their mothers.
I’ve been looking forward to reading McLemore’s work for a while now, and this was a thrilling introduction. Young Adult Fantasy is a super hit-or-miss genre for me, but if you (like me) gravitate to queer lit, the gravitational pull is STRONG with McLemore’s work. I love that they center this whole slew of queer characters with no apologies, and I’m excited to read more.
Wild Beauty tells the story of Estrella and her four cousins, the youngest Nomeolvides women. For generations their family has used the magic in their fingers to tend the sprawling gardens of La Pradera, their safe haven against a world ready to persecute them for witchcraft. Their home is a blessing and a curse, as the land kills them if they try to leave. Each generation consists of five women, each always bearing a single daughter, and any men that they love vanish, consumed by the magic of the land, if they don’t drive them away first. In Estrella’s generation, something new has taken root, since each of the young women are in love with Bay, their genderfluid neighbor girl. Together they offer a sacrifice to the land in hopes of protecting Bay from their cursed love, and the land stirs and offers instead a mysterious boy named Fel, bereft of his memories but no less disruptive for it.
What a premise, right? This book made my queer heart sing. McLemore is an artist of words, painting achingly magic sentences throughout this wild and beautiful novel. At times the writing felt a little redundant, but it was almost too gorgeous to mind, and I was very easily swept up in this story nonetheless. The characters, each of the cousins beyond Estrella, and even more their mothers and grandmothers, often felt undifferentiated. But while I wished their distinct personalities were more strongly developed, it didn’t feel like a barrier to falling into the story. I loved the novel’s themes, borders crossing you, persecution of the “other”, generational trauma, queer daughters trying to make their hearts understood by their mothers.
I’ve been looking forward to reading McLemore’s work for a while now, and this was a thrilling introduction. Young Adult Fantasy is a super hit-or-miss genre for me, but if you (like me) gravitate to queer lit, the gravitational pull is STRONG with McLemore’s work. I love that they center this whole slew of queer characters with no apologies, and I’m excited to read more.