Tuesday 30 August 2022

Book Review: Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Fiction/Magical Realism)

Title: Signal to Noise
Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Publisher: Rebellion--Solaris
Publication Date: 13 September 2022
Pages: 352
Format: eBook - PDF
Genre: Fiction/Magical Realism
Source: ARC via NetGalley 

A beautiful new edition of Moreno-Garcia's stunning debut, featuring an illustrated cover by legendary artist Jim Tierney

Mexico City, 1988. Long before iTunes or MP3s, you said "I love you" with a mixtape. Meche, awkward and fifteen, discovers how to cast spells using music, and with her friends Sebastian and Daniela will piece together their broken families, and even find love...

Two decades after abandoning the metropolis, Meche returns for her estranged father's funeral, reviving memories from her childhood she thought she buried a long time ago. What really happened back then? Is there any magic left?

 

It's hard to know how to classify Signal to Noise, so in the end I have settled on "Fiction/Magical Realism". One thing I enjoy about reading Silvia Moreno-Garcia's works is that every one of them is different, and with each new book you don't know quite what to expect. Signal to Noise is her earliest work, but one I am only getting to off the back of reading several more recent tales. It has a quiet start, initially seeming mostly to be a drama about family and friendship and wounds from the past, before the magical realism elements start to come in, making you wonder if the events that took place were real or just imagination. Interestingly, I read this shortly after watching the musical K-drama The Sound of Magic, and that series featured a few similar ideas. The theme of music running through Signal to Noise is a delight and ties everything together so well. By the quarter mark I was fully immersed in the action and keen to see how the story would progress, and my interest held until the finale--an ending which I found satisfying. If you liked any of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's other books, you will certainly like this one, and if you are new to her writing, Signal to Noise would be a decent place to start. It gets 4.5 stars from me.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

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