The Queen of the Cicadas

By: V. Castro

Narrated by: Maggie Schneider

"In the age of phony fiction, V. Castro is the voice of authenticity; Una voz que lucha por la igualdad. Dark, atmospheric, sexy, and dangerous, her fiction brings readers her unfiltered Latinx essence and a unique pulpy flavor. Her work matters. Read it." (Gabino Iglesias, author of Coyote Songs)

2018. Belinda Alvarez has returned to Texas for the wedding of her best friend, Veronica. The farm is the site of an urban legend, la Reina de las Chicharras - the Queen of the Cicadas.

In 1950s South Texas, a farmworker from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, is murdered. Her death is ignored by the town, but not the Aztec goddess of death, Mictecacíhuatl. The goddess hears her dying cries and creates a plan for both to be physically reborn by feeding on vengeance and worship.

Belinda and the new owner of the farmhouse, Hector, find themselves immersed in the legend and realize it is part of their fate as well.

Flame Tree Press is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction and fantasy, and crime/mystery/thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established names; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

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Love and urban legend

I enjoyed both the mysticism and respect/homage to/for indigenous cultural practices. Just like the Queen herself, the “spooky” aspects were horrifically beautiful. Wish the narrator had a liiiitle bit more personality/passion.

Love the story, don’t love the narrator.

I really love V. Castro’s works! This story did not disappoint. It was mysterious, sexy, brutally real, heartbreaking yet hopeful. The narration, though, was SO distracting. Monotoned, unnatural cadence, lack of pausing at ends of sentences or where natural pauses should be reminded me of a very bored person reading off a page simply to get the words out. And the pronunciation of Spanish words? Non-existent. Not a good choice for a story set in Texas and Mexico. For this reason, I chose 3 stars as an overall rating, but 5 stars for the story.

Queen of the cicadas

The ending was surprisingly a shocker . Would recommend this book to everyone . The history of the culture hit the spot .

Native speaker

It may just be me but it really takes me out of the story when a reader mispronounces the words that are in another language. They should get native speakers of that language to read these books. This reader also used the same voice the whole time.

Beautifully dark

I really loved this story. It was so beautifully written. I thought it would be confusing following, but all the stories were so beautiful 🥹. I would love a part 2 of this book.