⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pros: The mystery behind the mine and all the strange feelings Alba/Elias gets from it are definitely intriguing and had me eager to learn more/The betrayal near the end, now that was a good twist.
Cons: Alba is rather manipulative and gets huffy/indignant when she doesn’t get her way. This seems to be a common trait in Canas’ FMCs, and it’s rather obnoxious/The ending started to get a bit repetitive.
Full Review
The Monterrubio family owes the Diaz family a large sum of money, and has for the last twenty-odd years. Alba learns of this when she sees papers outlining the loan her father gave the Monterubbios for a mine in Mina San Gabriel in the mountains near Zacatecas. She was rooting through his desk in desperation, trying to find information she could use to stop her parents from marrying her off to some rich, noble man three times her senior.
It turns out that Carlos Monterrubio has been her best friend since childhood. And so, Alba essentially blackmails Carlos into marrying her. She knows he doesn't love her and she doesn't love him, but when she explains her reasoning, he agrees that it seems a mutually beneficial arrangement and agrees.
Elias Monterrubio has recently returned from his travels in the Far East. He's been called back by his grandfather, who explains that his father is dead and he is to accompany the family to the mine in Mina San Gabriel to work out his inheritance.
Alba and Elias just happen to meet one night during a wedding, when they're both attempting to escape the painful pleasantries put upon them by society. They share a dance, and though there are instant sparks, there's that tricky knot where Alba's engaged to his cousin.
That very night, the bride at the wedding falls ill, and in only a few short days, she's succumbed to the plague. It runs rampant through the city, so the Monterrubios invite the Diaz family to stay with them at their small village near the mine. This way, Carlos can learn if the mine is profitable, Alba can learn what her future married life with Carlos will look like, and Elias can try and learn all he can about his father's last few years and the money he hopes to gain.
The moment Alba sets foot near the mine, though, she's haunted by horrible nightmares and visions. Darkness, gore, and death, and it only grows worse as time passes. When Elias helps her one night as she's sleepwalking near the mine, they begin to understand that something truly evil is lurking within the depths.
This was a fast-paced, tense, edge-of-your-seat, dark and gruesome read that hooked me from page one. The ending began to drag just a bit but Canas didn't let it go on for too long. Overall, I thought thi was a delightfully dark and gritty read.
Ended here.
Elias
He finds a book of the legend of St Cipriano, written in Spanish and Arabic, so he’s intrigued, buys it, puts it in his bag and forgets about it. He’s then called home to Spain by his Grandfather, since his Father has come home and Elias must confront him.
He returns to Spain. Turns out that his father's dead and his grandfather brought him home because he knows he's been buying mercury and with mercury, they can make the Monterrubio mine they bought profitable. Get their family out of the mountain of debt they're being crushed under. He agrees to getting 70% of the mines profits, even though it means selling his friends mercury.
He sails to Zacatecas in Espana Nuevos.
Alba
She's the adopted daughter of a family made wealthy by silver. The Monterrubios owe them a large amount of money, for the mine they bought and also, Alba was found around the mine, it would seem. She realizes that her parents are going to give her to the highest bidder but she decides instead to ask her best friend, Carlos Monterubbio, to marry her, so that way, she can get away from her parents. His family, the Monterubbios, asked for a large amountof money to excavate a flooded mine. Carlos is a Monterubbio. But he and Alba have been best friends since childhood.
She pulls him aside and explains that they can marry and that way she'll be away from her parents and they can only be married in name alone. They'll continue to be friends but she expects nothing from him.
Later that night at a wedding, she meets a childhood friend of Carlos', a Priest, the same Priest that she had confessed to blackmailing Carlos into marrying her, just that afternoon. She leaves to get some air and runs into someone outside.
She talks to none other than Elias, Carlos cousin. They dance and she feels an immediate connection, duh. When the bride later faints and dies two days later, plague breaks out in the city. Carlos takes Alba and her parents to their mine in Mina San Gabriel. Where Alba was found.
She immediately starts having strange visions, feelings, hearing a baby crying in the mine. And of course, it turns out that Elias father, had a daughter while at the mine. And everyone who meets Alba is wary of her. There’s just something about her.
Well I’m intrigued.
Alba tries to use Maria Victoriana as way to learn about the nine and maybe about where Alba came from, since she was found here. Elias dismisses her when he bashes a crack at her about upcoming wedding to Carlos and she leaves in a huff. This seems to happen a lot in Canas books.
The nightmares become worse for Alba and one night when Elias stops her from sleepwalking into the mine, he's terrified when her face changes. No eyes, too wide mouth, demonic. He wakes her and she confides in him that things are getting worse. That she thinks she's sick. He decides to help her by using the book he found in the Indies on the Occult.
The day that they try to do an "exercise" they of course, end up making out, that was inevitable. But when they're interrupted by Maria Victoriana and she sees the circle on the floor, she's wary and runs back to the house. Elias hopes she won't spread the word around and he and Alba get down to business. The reaction is immediate. Alba changes, hissing, spitting, all rotted skin and demonic. Elias does what he can to learn what the demon is but he's not strong enough.
When they fail and Alba returns to herself they decide that they should go to Bartolome, the Priest.
They go to his room during Siesta and explain everything.
He believes them and decides to help them.
They say that they'll say Alba is ill, that she's come down with the plague that's been ravaging the City, that way people will stay away. It'll be hard to convince her parents and her fiancee Carlos from staying away but they know it's in the best interest of all.
He and Elias decide to keep watch over Alba as she sleeps. And as Bartolome tries to learn more about the Demon and how Alba may have been possessed, Elias is torn, thinking Bartolome is trust-worthy but also nervous that he's writing to his superiors, the Inquisition, so yeah, I'd be nervous too. Bartolome returns to the Chapel to gather more supplies, candles, holy water, crucifixes and leaves Elias alone while Alba sleeps.
Comments
Post a Comment