The Queen of the Cicadas (Fiction Without Frontiers)

 “Unlike things like gravity and the sun, justice is a commodity, like oil or cotton or tobacco.”

– V. Castro, The Queen of the Cicadas

🦗I received an e-ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. The Queen of the Cicadas (2021) will release on 22nd June!🦗

V. Castro is an author who has been on my radar for such a long time now, and I’ve heard overwhelmingly positive things in response to many of her releases. They’ve also been appearing thick and fast as of late – which I think is testament to the author’s amazing work ethic and output – and so I figured it was high time for me to finally check one out! I’ve started with this, her upcoming title with the excellent Flame Tree Press and their Fiction Without Frontiers imprint. I’m a big fan of this publishing house too, so immediately went for this novel when it popped up on NetGalley. And after reading this one, I’ll definitely be checking out more of Castro’s stuff just as soon as I can.

The Queen of the Cicadas, or La Reina de Las Chicharras, follows a woman named Belinda Alvarez, who returns to Texas for the wedding of her closest friend Veronica. The farmhouse where the wedding is being held is the site from which a notorious urban legend was born: the titular La Reina de Las Chicharras. As Belinda gets to know the farm’s current owner Hector, the pair are drawn into the tale of Milagros, the woman behind the legend, and the gruesome circumstances of her murder during the 1950s. The jaded and uncaring townsfolk ignore her death, but someone – or rather something – takes notice: namely the Aztec goddess of death, Mictecacíhuatl.

Obviously it goes without saying that the real horror on display here is not the so-called Queen of the Cicadas, or even the goddess Mictecacíhuatl, but the abhorrent treatment of Milagros by the racist and backwards members of the family she works for, and the indifference displayed by the rest of the townsfolk of Alice, Texas. There are some pretty grotesque scenes and descriptions in this book, but one that stands out is Milagros’s death itself. Castro doesn’t shy away from presenting the macabre reality, and though it sometimes makes for a challenging read, it is also an important one.

Without giving away too much in regards to the plot, I do just want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the way Castro explores what would happen if a deity like Mictecacíhuatl was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be real and exist, and examines the ramifications of such a revelation. What starts as a relatively contained story of a woman investigating an old urban legend on a farm in Texas quickly unfurls and grows into something so much more significant, as themes of faith, belief and devotion also weave into the narrative.

Whenever I read a book, I always take notes down of passages that I find interesting, powerful, or resonant, and naturally, it often so happens that the more notes I feel compelled to jot down the stronger I think the book is. By the time I was done with this book, I had quite a hefty pile of notes, which I personally think is testament to the strength of the writing. This feels like such a personal book, and the raw, unflinching manner in which it confronts some tough subjects and important issues head on is truly impressive. The author doesn’t beat around the bush, and instead tackles these topics with lucidity and honesty.

Obviously as a white English guy I haven’t experienced anything close to oppression or lack of representation, but I’ve seen plenty of people from a similar background to Castro praising her work on confronting these issues and offering that representation through her stories and characters – praise that is fully deserved, as she is doing an admirable and commendable job of championing underrepresented or disenfranchised voices through her writing.

On the subject of Castro’s writing, it is fantastic not only for its natural flow – which makes it very easy to devour quickly – but also for the unfiltered, often brutal honesty it is laced with. There’s real heart and passion to the author’s voice, and it makes for an engrossing and impactful read. The characters were all very well-written as well. I absolutely loved the friendship between Belinda and Hector, and during the sections that concerned Milagros’s story, you could really empathise with her torment. These parts were by turns painful, infuriating and emotionally affecting – the injustice of Milagros’s fate was illustrated perfectly, and it only made it all the more satisfying to see these awful people get their just desserts.

I think the only real problem for me was that sometimes the pacing was a little uneven, particularly towards the finale, in which the tempo slows down quite considerably. It just felt like it lost some of the earlier momentum during the final act, though I did enjoy the ending itself, and thought it fit the narrative perfectly. That minor point aside though, this is a sensationally good book – the story is both mesmerizing and deeply unsettling, and Castro’s writing is incredibly readable and so heartfelt.

VERDICT: The Queen of the Cicadas is a passionate and powerful read that takes a familiar basis for the urban legend of the titular queen and spins it into something all of its own. The story Castro weaves is wonderful – at some times dreamlike and fantastical, and at others nightmarish and downright disturbing. Altogether, this is a terrific book with a powerful current of social commentary and an honest, often brutal, dissection of some important issues.

It’s a high ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from this reviewer. I also want to say a humongous thank you to both the author V. Castro, publisher Flame Tree Press, and to NetGalley, for providing the ARC and giving me the chance to read and review it early.