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.

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.

Brilliant!

I have both read and listened to this incredible horror story and can’t get enough of V. Castro’s words. This book is haunting, brutal, scary, sexy, and sometimes devastating as she weaves history and horror together seamlessly. Her characters feel real and nuanced, and she doesn’t shy away from raw details, something i really appreciate in horror. Would absolutely recommend this and any of her other works!

I really wanted to like this.

The author needs a better editor. I found many inconsistencies. But let's talk about the narrator. She is obviously not a native speaker, I get that. She put a lot of effort in pronouncing the big difficult words but not enough on the simple ones like "virgen". The language threw me out of the story every time. I wanted to love this book but I just couldn't. Maybe the physical book is easier to read?

had potential

narrator was horrid.
add leftist whiney feminism. take that out.. could have been better

Not recommended.

It was engaging in the beginning, but the story went downhill from there. It was a mixture of horror meets erotica meets ancestral/cultural beliefs meets retribution.

Narrator can’t speak Spanish

If the Narrator can’t pronounce the words in Spanish that’s a clue to find a new one. Couldn’t get into the story passed the first chapter.