Reviews with content warning for Gore - Woven in Moonlight

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Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez

8 reviews

eiramaniger's review

adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The first few chapters did not quite grab my attention, but I pushed through that feeling, and I sure am glad that I did! This book is a refreshing insight and masterfully woven tale of a young woman that learns to be true to herself when it matters most, especially in the face of danger. She has to make difficult choices but she does so with grace and strength.
I couldn’t put this book down after the third chapter. Truly captivating and magnificent!
The cover art is absolutely beautiful; they say “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but this is what caught my eye and I’m so glad I read it!
Cannot wait to get my hands on Written in Starlight.

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ka_ke's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Imagine a Legend of Zorro retelling, set in Bolivia, using the South American continent’s modern day political and social problems. That sums up Woven in Moonlight without fail. It is a beautifully written story about a young woman who realizes that the solution is not more violence, but unity towards a common problem.

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mengzhenreads's review

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adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was an incredibly impressive debut and I feel like you can really tell that the author really put their heart and soul into this book. The world that the story takes place in is absolutely thrilling and I loved the infusion of Bolivian culture with the magic system and story. The Spanish that is thrown in definitely enhances the experience, and although it could be troublesome for someone who doesn't speak Spanish, I think it really adds a lot of character and extra detail to this book that truly makes the story and characters come alive. I liked the romance, but the best thing about this book was definitely Ximena's character development throughout the story and the discussions and exploration of the aftermath of war and the intricacies of morality, which overall just made this book a great read.

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toshita's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

Let’s get straight to the point: this book is anti-indigenous.

I’d like to disclose that I am not Latina, Indigenous, or Bolivian, but I was a history major. A history major who happens to specialize in the Latin American region. That is why this book horrified me enough to research and refresh my memory on the historical events that inspired Woven in Moonlight. Ibañez is very open about the villain, Atoc, being inspired by Evo Morales. I’ll be discussing the real-life politics to a minimum so if you’re interested here are some informative links about Bolivian current events:

· https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/23/the-fall-of-evo-morales - If you only read one, I recommend this

· https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/bolivia-election-evo-arce-mesa-camacho/2020/10/18/205b6b5c-0f11-11eb-8a35-237ef1eb2ef7_story.html

· https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/bolivia-indigenous/

· https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-12166905

Part I. Us vs. Them

Illustrians = White Spaniards/Mestizos and Llarcans = Indigenous Andeans. The characters are either given Spanish names or Quechua names (one Llarcan is named Sajra, which means “evil” in Quechua; subtle, right?).

Ximena, our protagonist, is Illustrian. Illustrians are noble people who were trying to bring the primitive Llarcans in the modern world. It’s not their fault Llarcans chose to live separately (spoiler alert: they didn’t choose anything, they were oppressed). Therefore, when Llarcans overthrew their Illustrian aristocracy out of ungratefulness, it was unjust.

Ximena tends to describe Llarcans as ugly people and is astonished when she meets some who aren’t. She also says they all have dirty feet because of their leather sandals. And the cherry on top, her description of their religion: led by a sinister, blood magic wielding priest and the worship of a sun god that demands human sacrifices. Seriously?

In the end, Ximena changes her mind about Llarcans. While that’s nice and all, Ibañez tried to create an allegory for some very real issues. These are systemic problems that shouldn’t be portrayed like this and can’t be solved like that. Not to mention it doesn’t even feel genuine considering how Llarcans were portrayed for most of the book.

Part II. “Justice” for Bolivia

Ibañez wrote in the acknowledgements that she admires her mother (her inspiration for Ximena) and her passion for Bolivian “justice.” That made me laugh.

Ibañez’s portrayal of Atoc is black-and-white; he’s evil and you can’t dispute that. Atoc is obviously an allegory for Evo Morales. While no government leader is above criticism, this portrayal is disingenuous, and it looks like Ibañez decided to unearth every nasty indigenous stereotype to reflect her feelings. Here’s my least favorite quote in the entire book:

“He really wants to eradicate all of our traditions, our way of life, our culture”

She’s accusing the indigenous coded character of cultural genocide. I don’t think I need to explain how vile that is. I have no issue with Ibañez wanting to criticize Morales or the Bolivian government, but this isn’t criticism. This is violence towards indigenous people.

Part III. The “Koka” Leaf

The koka leaf aspect frustrated me enough to warrant an entire section. Koka = coca (she didn’t put much effort into naming stuff, did she?). Quick history of the coca leaf in the real world:

Coca is a part of Andean indigenous culture. It plays a similar role to drinking coffee today; a mild stimulant that was believed to have health benefits and improved productivity. It was also treated as a social activity; communities gathering to chew coca together and talk (sounds like going to a café today). It was used in religious rituals as well.

When the Spaniards conquered the Incan Empire, they seized the coca supply. At first, they wanted it for themselves, but soon they realized they could use it to stimulate the Inca into forced labor. They also started producing the plant themselves so they could be the ones to profit off a sacred indigenous tradition. To this day, Indigenous Andeans are being deprived of their culture.

Coca is what cocaine is synthesized from. Cocaine is a western invention. Think of every South American stereotype you associate with cocaine; Ibañez portrays the indigenous coded king as the ultimate cartel leader. Morales pushed for indigenous rights to grow and use coca because it was sacred to his people (Ibañez is criticizing him for this, saying he was making the cocaine problem worse). There is one throwaway line in the book that references this sacred tradition, but to suggest that indigenous people are at fault for a widespread drug epidemic is horrific. Comparing her depiction of “koka” and its place in Illustrian society to its actual history, I can’t say it’s fair at all.

Conclusion: Representation Matters

This book preys upon the well-meaning liberal who wants to support books with representation. Let’s face it; not everyone is well versed in Bolivia’s history and political climate. That makes it very easy for Ibañez to insert her personal biases and get away with it. At first, I was going to give this a more gentle review because I thought the ending left room for some improvement in the sequel, but I heard the sequel is even more anti-indigenous than this and I just don’t think this series deserves support.

I know we all want representation. I wanted to like this for that sake, but we deserve better than this. Indigenous people deserve better than this.

Content Warnings

plumpaperbacks's review

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It took me a considerable amount of time to get truly interested and invested in Woven in Moonlight, especially since it’s such a short book. At times, the slower pacing was off-putting, and while the world-building was impressive, I would’ve liked more details regarding the magic system. However, I did ultimately enjoy this novel.

The story was based on Bolivian politics and history, full of Bolivian culture, and that did appeal to me. I’m not qualified to say more about this specific aspect in a critical sense, as I’m not Bolivian, but I did like it.

I also, despite some initial doubt, ended up quite liking the characters, from important ones like Ximena and Rumi to those on the sidelines like Suyana, Tamaya, and Juan Carlos. Though it took me some time to warm up to them, I can’t deny that they’re all very well-written and complex. The stars of
the show, contrarily, were Ximena’s woven critters. They were cute and feisty and I loved them. I would like a wool sloth to hug and a wool llama to spit wool balls at people that annoy me, please.

Moving on, I never expected to like the romance. I appreciated the slow burn and tension, being the hopeless romantic that I am, but the reviewer in me questioned its necessity. That is, until some secrets were revealed and the chemistry between the two characters rose off the freaking charts. Cute stolen kisses and banter are my favorite things to read, among other things, and in the final chapters, I’m happy to say that both were abundant.

The ending was slightly predictable in some ways, but still surprised me in plenty of others. I’m satisfied with how Ibañez wrapped up the story, and I definitely think they’ve got potential for future books. I trust in that enough to read Woven in Moonlight’s companion when it releases, even though it follows someone that ended up being one of my least favorite characters. In the meantime, I’ll be staring at the beautiful book covers and daydreaming of wool sloths. As you do.

Representation