#BlogTour ‘Queen Of The Cicadas’ by V.Castro

About the book…

2018: Belinda Alvarez has returned to Texas for the wedding of her best friend Veronica. The farm is the site of the urban legend, La Reina de Las Chicharras – The Queen of The Cicadas.

In 1950s south Texas a farmworker—Milagros from San Luis Potosi, Mexico—is murdered. Her death is ignored by the town, but not the Aztec goddess of death, Mictecacíhuatl. The goddess hears the dying cries of Milagros and creates a plan for both to be physically reborn by feeding on vengeance and worship.

Belinda and the new owner of the farmhouse, Hector, find themselves immersed in the legend and realize it is part of their fate as well

Huge thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things tours for the invite and Flametree Press for the gifted review copy of ‘The Queen Of The Cicadas’ by V.Castro which is published on June 22nd in hardcover, paperback and ebook formats.

This is the first time that I have read this author, and I am going to get Goddess Of Filth as soon as I can. V.Castro has the voice of female rage, takes it, and authentically entwines it with Mexican folklore, the treatment of displaced people and combines them into a howl of outrage that outlasts the human lifespan.

A dual narrative , set in the now and the 1950’s, explores the myth of the Aztec goddess, Mictecacihuatl through the eyes of Belinda, a woman attending a wedding in the farm house where the urban myth of Milagros, a migrant worker, is firmly embedded.

The way that these women are portrayed is vital, and pulsing with rage. The way that Belinda has changed her physical appearance to fight the inevitabilities of ageing, and places a high value on physical attractiveness , throwing herself away on any available man yet unable to care for her own son, is so very apt and modern, whilst in the 1950’s, farm worker Milagros, who has risked life and limb to cross the border, needs to disguise her form , wearing men’s clothes in order to deflect attention from the odious landowner.

The night of the wedding party, whilst looking for somewhere quiet to drown her sorrows, Belinda is introduced to Milagros’ story and becomes even more intrigued as she digs deeper into the past.  The fact that so little has changed in the visibility and concern over the degradation, and lack of opportunities afforded to women of colour is deeply upsetting but a necessary truth that needs to be understood in order to be tackled.

Then, as now, the preying eyes of men and masculine attention lessens the women, especially Latinx women, and reduces them to a consumable product. Neither woman is viewed in their own rights as having any power, intellect or agency to make good decisions by an over riding patriarchy that has no respect for women of colour. What they do not account for, however, is the power of myth, legend and belief in things not of this world, to take vengeance within these time frames.

The underestimating of women is a constant theme throughout history, and the symbolism of being a queen of cicadas, a species which is fascinating for it’s revolving life cycle, and it’s use as a motif of rebirth, is woven in the fabric of Belinda and Milagros’ life.

Richly described, unstinting on the male violence in the pursuit of what they feel is their ‘due’, and endlessly moving in the way it centers non heteronormative narratives, this is a pure howl of female rage at a world which ignores the voice of women at its’ peril.

About the author…

V. Castro is a Mexican American author from San Antonio, Texas, now residing in the UK. She is a full-time mother, a Latinx literary advocate, and co-founder of Fright Girl Summer, a platform to amplify marginalized voices.

She writes Latinx novels of horror, erotic horror, and science fiction, including her most recent, ‘Goddess Of Filth’ and The Queen of the Cicadas.

Links-https://www.vvcastro.com/

Twitter @vlatinalondon @RandomTTours @flametreepress