Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia Series: Paola Santiago #1
Published by Rick Riordan Presents on 2020 August 04
Genres: Fantasy, Mythology
Pages: 350
Format: E-book
Source: Purchased
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Space-obsessed 12-year-old Paola Santiago and her two best friends, Emma and Dante, know the rule: Stay away from the river. It's all they've heard since a schoolmate of theirs drowned a year ago. Pao is embarrassed to admit that she has been told to stay away for even longer than that, because her mother is constantly warning her about La Llorona, the wailing ghost woman who wanders the banks of the Gila at night, looking for young people to drag into its murky depths.
Hating her mother's humiliating superstitions and knowing that she and her friends would never venture into the water, Pao organizes a meet-up to test out her new telescope near the Gila, since it's the best stargazing spot. But when Emma never arrives and Pao sees a shadowy figure in the reeds, it seems like maybe her mom was right. . . .
Pao has always relied on hard science to make sense of the world, but to find her friend she will have to enter the world of her nightmares, which includes unnatural mist, mind-bending monsters, and relentless spirits controlled by a terrifying force that defies both logic and legend.
I hate to say this but I am practically worshipping Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by the time that I was finished with it. Although it’s a Mexican mythology and this is the first time that I’ve heard of La Llorona, the story immediately grabbed me from start to finish because Paola was a very relatable character. Like Paola, I grew up to the scary tales of my paternal grandmother and my mother. These tales which always revolved on the horrific creatures of the Philippine folklore would usually give me nightmares or made me anxious during the day for fear that a bloody white lady is secretly stalking me.
The whole time that I was reading Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, I was like biting my nails and I can’t help but be transported to my childhood days wherein me and my siblings would camp over a candlelight while either grandmother or mother weaves her tale of misery and gore about a white lady appearing from fog and darkness to scare the shit out of humans…or of manananggals who have come visit just to eat the internal organs of a human being.
So despite the fact that this is a Middle-Grade books, it did not fail in reducing me into a 7-year old kid who wants to hide under her Mama’s skirt. The Gila River which is the main setting of this book is scary as fuck. How much more if we’re going to add into that setting a crazy and wailing female ghost who kept looking for her kids whom she personally drowned many years ago? So there you have it, a perfect formula to scare the living daylights of you.
Good thing for Paola is that she’s braver, stronger, and smarter than my 13-year old self. Despite the almost paralyzing nightmares, she was able to come up with an effective strategy to cope up with it. And Paola was winning over her nightmarish ghosts until one of her best friends, Emma, went missing suddenly. The barriers that she put within and around herself and all the scientific knowledge that she equipped herself went down the drain as another truth was revealed to her. And so the plot thickens and I found myself reading this book non-stop.
Paola Santiago and the River of Tears really exceeded my expectations. The lore and the magical writing made me lust over it but it was Paola’s relationship with her mother and friends that made it so worthwhile to read. This is one of the best books that I have read for the year, and I am so thankful to have given it a try despite my doubts.