On the surface, The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina should be everything I enjoy. So why couldn't I get into it, no matter how hard I tried? Honestly, I'm still puzzling that one out.
Orquídea Montoya knows she is dying, so she calls her descendants back home to bestow upon them their inheritance. But when the large family arrives, they are greeted by strange events. And when an unknown figure threatens the entire family, they must band together and venture into Orquídea's past to learn her secrets and protect their future.
Sounds promising, right? Well, maybe too much so. This is a really ambitious story, with a huge cast of characters. And I think herein lies the first issue. We are introduced to so many of Orquídea's family members, and each comes with their own accompanying background. We are inundated with information about each person, but it's only ever on the surface. So while my eyes glazed over from all these extraneous details, I still don't feel like I know the characters underneath.
The story is told via dual timeline, which always makes me wary that one will be less interesting than the other. Unfortunately, that happened here. We follow various members of Orquídea's family as they wander aimlessly, trying to figure out what happened to Orquídea. But because so much of that is irrelevant to the main story, it felt really slow and plodding. What's more interesting is Orquídea's narrative told through her own eyes, but that's just a chapter here and there.
But probably my biggest issue is that, after finishing the story, I'm still confused. There were so many ideas introduced throughout that were never adequately explained. A lot of the fantasy elements, while interesting, were handwaved through with vague or no explanations. And it doesn't help that the writing tends to border on flowery, especially during crucial moments. So instead of elucidating, it just added to the bewildering and chaotic feel of the whole thing.
I had such high hopes for this story going in. And while I enjoyed bits and pieces of it, it just never came together into a cohesive whole for me. I didn't end up making that all-important emotional connection with it, and instead come away feeling dazed and unsatisfied.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
My heartfelt thanks for the copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.
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