Here is a thing everyone wants:
A miracle.
Here is a thing everyone fears:
What it takes to get one.
Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado, is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.
At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.
They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect. **
From School Library Journal
Gr 8 UpβPilgrims travel to Bicho Raro, Colorado, for a miracle from the Sorias, a Mexican American family of saints who can "cure" people of their darkness. When the pilgrims' darkness manifests, they have to overcome it on their own. If the Sorias interfere, their own inner darkness takes over. In 1962, Bicho Raro is overrun by pilgrims who haven't been able to complete the miracle, and the current saint, David, has fallen in love with one of the pilgrims. He helps her and his darkness manifests. His younger cousins, Beatriz and Joaquin, are afraid to interfere because of the curse. But two visitors, including a handsome teen who catches Beatriz's interest, might be the key to helping the Sorias. The desert setting, intricate family dynamics, and the power of love and music resonate in this lush but often overwrought tale. Subplots distract from the core story and character development is often weighed down by the convoluted language. The rules of the family curse are laid down just to be broken and remade for the convenience of the plot. The influence of Latin American storytelling is woven throughout, and the family's ranch's name can be translated in Mexican Spanish as "Strange or Rare Insect." But it also has a more explicit translation in other countries. Also, the family is saved by the machinations of the ingenious (and possibly neuro-atypical) Beatriz, but she's inspired to do so because of her white love interest. VERDICT This title will be popular with the author's fans, but for readers interested in well-crafted YA magical realism, turn to Laura Ruby and Anna-Marie McLemore instead.βShelley M. Diaz, School Library Journal
Review
Praise for The Raven King : _"Expect this truly one-of-a-kind series to come to a thundering close."? _Kirkus Reviews , starred review * "Readers will snap up the final installment the second it's available." ? Publishers Weekly , starred review * "The prose is crisp and dazzling and the dialogue positively crackles." ? School Library Journal* , starred review