First line: "Myths, my abuela used to say, are truths long forgotten by the world."

This book dives head first into action. In this forward momentum, there is no time for the main characters to doubt the fantastical world they uncover. Having just finished some rich, world-building adult fantasy, this was unsettling for me but will certainly be appealing for younger readers.

The female lead is problematic, falling into a young version of the manic pixie dream girl. She excels at everything she does, and she literally does everything. She is the captain of the cheerleading team, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, and head of the debate team. She is the prettiest girl in school, an amateur sleuth, and is unafraid to take a stand against bullies. It even took her 10 minutes to make cookies from scratch and put them in the oven. TEN. MINUTES.

With a thesaurus propped up next to the author as he wrote, the writing is slathered in synonyms and similes that sometimes dont make sense and there are a lot of logical fallacies that may be grating to young fantasy/sci fi fanatics. For example, Charlie throws an anchor out of a speeding cart and it catches something but a half second later, it snaps "like a shoelace." Within that half second, he manages to shout, "It worked! It actually worked!" I encourage you to try and say that in a half second.

Finally, the true villain that Charlie must face isn't properly introduced until the last 20 pages which makes for a slightly lackluster defeat.

Aaaaall this being said, I'm totally going to finish this book because the subject material is desperately needed and is amazing. Much to the delight of latinx children, Calejo includes an incredible amount of Hispanic folklore (and provides an index for those that are unfamiliar with the names), and uses Spanish words throughout (with natural translations for those that dont speak Spanish). I just wonder if I'm letting my adult brain impinge on my ability to imagine a child enjoying the book.