ARC Review: Malinalli by Veronica Chapa

Title: Malinalli
Author: Veronica Chapa
Series: Standalone
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Publisher: Atria/Primero Sueno Press
Publication Date: March 11, 2025
Edition: Ebook
Source: NetGalley
Pre-Order: Amazon US | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop |

 

 

Synopsis:

   A real-life historical figure, the woman known as Malinalli, Malintzin, La Malinche, Doña Marina, and Malinalxochitl was the Nahua interpreter who helped Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés communicate with the native people of Mexico. When indigenous leaders observed her marching into their cities, they believed she was a goddess—blessed with the divine power to interpret the Spaniards’ intentions for their land. Later, historians and pop culture would deem her a traitor—the “Indian” girl who helped sell Mexico’s future to an invader.
   In this riveting, fantastical retelling, Malinalli is all of those things and more, but at heart, she’s a young girl, kidnapped into slavery by age twelve, and fighting to survive the devastation wrought by both the Spanish and Moctezuma’s greed and cruelty. Blessed with magical powers, and supported by a close-knit circle of priestesses, Mali vows to help defend her people’s legacy. In vivid, compelling prose, debut author Veronica Chapa spins an epic tale of magic, sisterhood, survival, and Mexican resilience. This is the first novel to reimagine and reinterpret Malinalli’s story with the empathy, humanity, and awe she’s always deserved.

An imaginative retelling of the triumphs and sorrows of one of the most controversial and misunderstood women in Mexico’s history and mythology, perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow and Zoraida Córdova’s The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina.

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This book has taken me what feels like an age to finish. The pacing was really slow for so much of the book. I am not familiar with this figure in history, it wasn't something covered when I was in school (so little was), so I have no historical context of who they are.

That aside, I never felt like I understood the world, and it's supposed to be a historical fantasy version of ours so there was always this disconnect. The magic felt glossed over at best. I also was never sure of how old she was during any part of the story. At one point she mentions "when I was young" but then a sentence later she mentions that she's barely 12 and that left me thing 'that's still young, what do you mean?'

 

The story is primarily told from Malinalli's perspective, as it is her story, but it was so focused on her all the side-characters fell a little flat, which for me left Malinalli as a bit of a hollow character. Her personality was the arch-type 'loud and angry', not that she didn't have reason to be either of those, but with no other emotions, it made her a tough character to empathize or sympathize with when I probably was expected to. I don't like the trend of a good female character is one that angry or "acts like a man". Men and women are allowed to be sad and vulnerable, and I didn't see any point where she displayed one of those emotions even when it would've made sense for her to.

 

I don't typically read historical fantasy that follows person who actually existed, so these issues might not bother people who read this sub-genre more than I do. But for me, this book was a little lackluster.