"Our Share of Night" by Mariana Enriquez is a haunting and chilling tale set against the backdrop of Argentina's tumultuous history. Gaspar's life takes a dark turn when the Order, an enigmatic and malevolent group, comes for him and exploits his father's supernatural abilities. The novel explores themes of sacrifice, family, and the horrors of a brutal dictatorship. With a gripping narrative and a sense of impending doom, Enriquez weaves a powerful story of a father's desperate attempts to protect his son from a sinister destiny.

Our Share of Night is unique in many ways. It’s a cross between a horror story and literary fiction, but in a way that, when you reach a point where the relationships between the characters are evolving, you are plunged back into the terrifying Darkness. We hear so often about “page turners” when they are actually fairly rare (for me). This was definitely an unputdownable book for me though!

4.5*
This was a truly bonkers story and not what I initially expected. I did expect a story of a son and his father hiding from a rich influential family and their nefarious magical uses of father and intended use of the son, and while yes, that did happen, I did not expect an epic, multi generation political horror set in multi time lines and the use of an entire web of co-joining stories that will make sense over hundreds of pages.
This was a real fever dream of horror too, shocking body horror on children, tortuous, enslavement, with real sinister elite families.
If you don't mind the epic tome that is this book it's worth the investment of your time but be prepared to not know what's going on most of the time but it's worth it for the reveals and grossness!

Our Share of Night is a colossal book, both in terms of its sheer size and also its scope.

This is an Argentinian horror novel that brilliantly blends the genres of cosmic horror, dark academia, and what might be called “Stephen King-esque” horror.

We begin with Juan, a man on the run from a cult that has been using him as a tool since childhood. Juan is a medium, and his son has begun showing signs of that same power.

In order to spare his son the same fate, Juan is attempting to shadow Gaspar from the Order’s watchful eye.

The Order — through the power of a medium — is able to connect itself to a cosmic god known as the Darkness, and therein lies the cosmic horror.

However, beyond the novel’s halfway point, it shifts into the realm of dark academia books, as the narrative rewinds to Juan’s childhood and we see the Order from the inside.

This section of Our Share of Night has all the trappings of dark academia: rich and powerful people studying the occult, abusing their privilege, and tampering with things that should be left alone.

Mariana Enriquez is at her best when weaving together the complex history of Argentine political struggle and Western occultism. Sadly in novel form the narrative takes too many trivial tangents and in the end out stays its welcome. A brilliant premise which could have been sharper in the end.

Another beautifully crafted selection of stories that explore the liminal spaces between the living and the dead. I love the Buenos Aires setting that adds to the atmosphere Enriquez has created so well in her past works too.

Oooooh this was amazing. A mammoth of a book that is easy to read but will take you a while. The characters drive this incredible weaving narrative. Some of the plot could have been fleshed out more but honestly Mariana Enriquez’s writing never fails. I adored their short story collections and this truly blew me away, I cannot wait to see what they do next. All the stars.

This was an epic novel that moved back and forth in time and was like nothing else that I had read before. Hard to describe but harder to put down simply put this was intriguing and although I'm finding it hard to write this review all I can say is give it a read, you won't be disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

I kind of don’t know where to start with this one. There’s a lot going on in Our Share of Night, and not just because it’s 736 pages. The novel spans decades, covering a large period of upheaval and tragedy for Argentina under a military dictatorship. The aftermath is explored, too, with a focus on two generations.

Juan is a medium, able to draw a dark and hungry god to him. The Order would rather he live forever, but that requires the sacrifice of Juan’s young son, Gasper. The Order will stop at nothing to get their successor, and Juan will stop at nothing to protect his child.

There are a number of themes at play here, bridged together by elements of Fantasy and Horror. At its heart, the book is about trauma; each character is suffering their own kind of trauma, and the way one experiences it impacts on the others. The clearest example are Juan and Gasper. The Order are a group of upper class fanatics, who commit atrocious acts in the name of their ‘god’. As politics shift around them, they remain separated from the rest of the Argentinean people, seemingly unaffected. There are heavy indications that the Order are involved in the disappearances, but even where they aren’t directly linked, it’s clear they benefit from the turmoil.

Enríquez does a brilliant job with shifting you from one character to another, of evoking the different time periods each part is set in. She expertly guides you by the hand, giving what feels like it could be three or four different novels, and gently directs your attention like a magician, leaving you to focus on exactly what she wants you to see, until ready to end the trick with a reveal and a moment of “aha!”.

Honestly, there were times I felt caught off-guard by what was happening, as the proverbial pennies dropped. The first section is about Juan and Gasper, from Juan’s eyes. And we see him exactly how Enríquez wants us to see him; we put faith in him, and trust him. Even when he crosses lines, we see his reasons for doing so. Once we’ve had Juan’s road trip story, we enter a section of the book that feels a little IT-like in the best possible way. We see Gasper’s formulative years, as he goes from child to teenager against the backdrop of 80s Argentina with his three best friends. It’s very much Coming of Age Horror. Here is where we get a shift in how we view Juan; we know he’s doing everything he can to simply keep his son safe, but he is cold, distant, and cruel as his health deteriorates. He’s a troubled man, struggling to do the right thing. Later, we see him through another set of eyes, and understand more about the Order and what Juan has been put through.

Admittedly, this is a pretty dense book. There is a lot going on, a lot of various things conveyed, and at times it was a bit of a struggle to keep up with it all and the variety of characters who surround Juan and Gasper. It’s both the biggest drawback and biggest appeal, to be honest – this feels almost like it could have been three separate books in one series. I will admit, the ending was worth the journey, especially with the way Enríquez ties things together.

Our Share of Night is at times brutal, harrowing, and cruel, a story of trauma and destiny and cutting bonds, and one where certain scenes linger longer after the book is closed. There’s little else a horror fan could ask for.

What can I say about this mammoth of a book! It is such a terrifying, amazing, sad story and I loved being able to read longer fiction from Enriquez after having only read her short stories.

I love how she was so unafraid to write about the horrors of Argentine dictatorship and politics in this and to cross them with the fantasy elements in the book. The main character, Juan, was such a strange character as I loved him at the start but then his morality seemed to deteriorate the more he became involved with the Order. His relationship to Gaspar was so intense but I loved how it was written and Enriquez explored their problematic relationship.

The strongest element in this was the teenage relationships. You can really tell that she was inspired by the works of Stephen King as she wrote about these children growing up in the 80s and discovering a terrifying new world. I loved the pop culture references to her own teenage years and also how the teenagers experienced as much horror as the adults.

Another really strong point was the family trees and the familial relationships between the characters. It made the Order and their history feel so archaic and interesting and like you were discovering a lost part of history.

The book is easy to read but it is very long. It keeps you hooked at points but it skips around to different times and characters quite a lot. Some of the parts I definitely enjoyed more than others, for example I liked it when Gaspar was a lot younger and his initial friendships during the first couple of parts in the book. But it really was an incredible story which will leave you feeling both devastated and exhausted at what you have experienced. I hope she can write more novels like this which both expand the Argentine horror canon as well as examining its political landscape.

Easy to read writing, and an interesting concept, this was a fun read. It did lack pacing at some points, and was quite long, but it was immersive and i had a good time with it!

Thanks to the publishers and netgalley for an e-arc!

I feel like I’m sadly an outlier on this one - I’ve really seen nothing but rave 5 star reviews about this and had such high expectations for it. there’s no mistake that Enriquez is a brilliant writer (i loved Dangers of Smoking in Bed), but i felt like this book was in severe need of editing. there is a GREAT story in here but for me the payoff didn’t warrant slogging through 600 pages. the writing of the characters is where this story really shines but the horror aspect was just too much of a slow burn for my taste.

I did not like The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez when I read it but I could see a lot of potential in her writing. When I read Our Share of Night I think it becomes clear that Mariana Enriquez isn't my cup of tea. Her writing style and pacing did not work out for me at all. Horror as a genre is always a miss for me and its not different now. I really wanted to love this but in the end I just kept falling asleep and putting it down for other books.

I discovered Enriquez pretty recently with The Dangers of Smoking in Bed. There's a real visceral quality to her writing, it takes the Latin American magic realism and dirties it up with genuine horror. In all honesty, this novel didn't grab me as much as her short stories did, but it is still worth a read.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez.
While I thought this book sounded really good and i really wanted to love it.
Sadly I felt it was way too long and I was often bored while reading it.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

One of my favorite books of the year! My full review will be published in SCREAM magazine! LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Love reading Mariana Enriquez but I had to dnd this book halfway through. Maybe it's girth could have meddled with my wish to read it and sometimes things just went above my head. I'd still be looking forward to read her works in the future.

Mariana Enriquez can do no wrong, frankly. I’d read the phone book if she’d written it. This is every bit as good as her short stories and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

As a child from a poor background, with serious health issues, Juan is 'adopted' by the wealthy Bradford family, ostensibly to give him the care he needs but actually to exploit him and his 'magical' abilities - for behind the facade of respectability and money the Bradford family are members of a strange cult, known as The Order, participating in demonic, horrific rituals, and Juan is a natural medium, able to make contact with the Darkness they worship.
As he grows up, he falls in love and marries into the family, but when his son, Gaspar, is born, Juan is determined that The Order will not manipulate another generation, and he begins to lay plans to ensure Gaspar's safety.

This disturbing book is hard to quantify - part horror, part political tale with parallels to Argentina's military regime, part a story of love between father and son, and the lengths one will go to to save the other. Overall though I'd say it's an examination of the corruption that too much power and wealth can bring.

It's told in sections, moving backwards and forwards in time, and the Bradford/Reyes family emerge as an untouchable clique, acting beyond moral or legal restraints, with a total disregard for anyone outside the family; imprisoning, torturing, and executing them with impunity. There are definitely echoes of Argentina's troubled past here.

Be warned - it's not a book for the squeamish. The rituals are bizarre and grotesque, full of blood-letting and mutilation. At the time of reading, I found them so disturbing that I wondered whether or not to continue, but I'm glad I did, as the story is about more than the horrors people can inflict on each other. In retrospect, I'd go so far as to say it's life-affirming; that such cruelty is now in the past, and won't be allowed to infect the future.

DNF - 40%

I so wanted to love this book, the premises is so interesting and the author is obviously so very talented a writer. However, it totally didn't hit the mark for me, I felt I was reading and reading and reading and NOTHING was happening. I gave up around the 40% mark, which sounds like hardly anything but this is a BIG book so it was a lot of pages for very little reward.

I don't know if it was a translation thing? or the book just isn't my thing …or I am just too stupid for it? who knows.

Either way not for me!

Thanks for NetGalley and publisher for the ARC (sorry I couldn't finish it!!!)