Argument:

We are facing a fantastic story where witches, vampires, independence heroes and other immortal creatures wander through cities as different as Caracas, Seville, Paris, Moscow, Porto Novo, Salvador de Bahia or the mythical kingdom of Dahomey, crossing portals that take them to different times. Here the furious erinias of the Yoruba cult will be released.

Who is the executioner who bleeds the propitiatory victim?

Opinion:

“El arreo de los vientos” is the second part of a trilogy that began with “JInete a Pie” and will end with “The Inverted Tower.” Although connected, they can be read independently. We are facing a heterogeneous variety of meta-referential influences that, however, do not clash as a whole. A novel that navigates in different universes rooted in Latin American fantasy. Games of mirrors, Chinese boxes and strange puzzles in which the reader will be involved, stories whose protagonists coexist in parallel worlds or in unison.

A gothic fantasy, where Santeria will join the Venezuelan political caudillo, creating an anguish difficult to digest. A dark and somber narration within a poetic and at the same time heartbreaking language. The voice of his characters manages to stay with us once the book is closed, his realism is what the author works best. Israel Centeno plays with the reader, leaving one story to enter another from another time. This will sometimes confuse us, because beyond what the protagonist seeks or lives, we will feel revealing silences.

It is not a novel to pass the time or entertain, there is a background, some messages. There are moments in which we will read a strong erotic charge accentuated by both violence and incest, accompanied by political and social contradictions.

Immortal creatures navigate among its pages: who is Ludmila, why is she confused with Alenka, what world did Roberto Morel escape from? We will learn about the dismemberment of deserters, we will travel through portals, we will meet someone who is looking for a tyrant and a dwarf who takes care of a cauldron. We will feel amazement facing the story that Alenka herself tells us, of her life together with Merlinda’s and her Kimbisa initiation in the kingdom of Dahomey. Immortal vampires, servants against their will of the perverse black cauldron.

Sometimes they run, sometimes they fly across the roofs of Seville. They quench their thirst on the white necks of marquises or perch on the spire of a fallen branch. From the Black Death to the end of the Romanovs and another return to Caracas. Witches, vampires and a strange philosopher will play with the universe.

A work that, although it feeds on the mythological essence, has a lot of intelligence that we will not overlook. Israel Centeno is one of the most influential contemporary Latin authors. I attest.

Violeta Lila

http://www.anikaentrelibros.com/el-arreo-de-los-vientos