A review by saint_eleanor
The Devil of the Provinces by Juan Cárdenas

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

discord: pickledfishxoxo
i loved this actually. I think everyone's criticisms are still strong but if you go into this pretending its a short story (which it is) and prepared to dislike MOST of the characters i think it was super interesting. It really felt like the language and the scenes were suggesting a regression into protohumanism, or as if the author was hinting at the 'we're all just monkeys' trope. I loved that, and i loved the language.

Main character sucked, and so did a lot of the side characters, but i loved the dealer. The main character reminds me of "Control" from Authority by jeff vandermeer just more hateful, which is funny because the Southern reach trilogy also has the whole 'nameless biologist' thing going on. 

Juan cárdenas also wrote this article about gardens i think is  lovely. https://lithub.com/a-small-parenthesis-how-gardens-and-stories-can-create-space-to-breathe/ 
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