LUCHA OF THE NIGHT FOREST

A teen comes of age in an unforgiving world of monsters, gods, and wretched humanity.

Sixteen-year-old Lucha Moya lives in the harsh world of Robado, a city divided into haves and have-nots, with a drug-addicted mother who constantly leaves her and her younger sister, Lis, to fend for themselves. Thankfully, Lucha’s seemingly innate abilities allow her to make a living hunting monsters. But after their mother’s most recent disappearance, Lucha and Lis end up homeless, trapped in a situation that ends with Lucha’s making a bargain with El Sediento, a figure that haunts nightmares but whose very existence shows that there is a whole world out there for her to discover. Next thing she knows, Lucha is on the run with her sister and Paz, the gorgeous and mysterious acolyte of a forbidden goddess. As Lucha’s growing powers put her center stage in a centurieslong feud between two gods, she must choose between being a pawn or an important player in a life-and-death power play. Mejia’s latest features the author’s hallmark lush prose and rich fantasy trappings as it tells a captivating story in a Latin American–coded world. While some elements of the worldbuilding could have been more fully fleshed out, this story is inspiring and empowering, existing in the intersections between destiny and choice, history and myth, with strong roots in family bonds as well as a budding queer romance between Lucha and Paz.

Spellbinding.