This is a really strong and hopeful sci-fi story for young readers. Though I didn't enjoy it as much as The Last Storyteller, it still had a plot and setting that drew me in completely. I loved learning about the society and how the technology they had ran on a single drop of water!

The story wasn't as smooth as in The Last Storyteller, which was always going to appeal to me more because I love stories so much. But I loved the idea of putting your consciousness inside a drone and flying about. I loved all the animals that Leadro met. I did find though that I quickly forgot which animal was which character though as it was only mentioned when they were introduced. Some of them have the Spanish name for the animals though, so if you speak Spanish, you'll have an advantage remembering them!

As with The Last Storyteller, this book is filled with Spanish! I loved how bilingual it was, even though I don't speak Spanish. It would be absolutely perfect for bilingual kids. Be advised though, though this was almost standalone, to make sense of the epilogue, you have to have read The Last Storyteller, so the best way to read them is with TLS first and then this one.

Read for dystopia, sci- fi and cool drones!

I enjoyed this unusual dystopian story, it made a refreshing change and the world it was set in was interesting and well developed. I read this with the older (teen) children and was glad that I did, there were some difficult aspects of this world / story that would not have been unsuitable and distressing for the younger members of our reading group. Overall though it was a good read.

Thank you NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK for this eCopy to review

I found Alebrijes a little hard to follow especially at the start, once you get used to all the names and the 2 groups of villages it is easier to understand. There was a lot of Spanish phrases used throughout so unless you use a translator you don't know what they are saying and much of the story is lost

I like how Leandro fights for his sister and his ancestors against the Pocatels and ultimately is able to win their freedom but at a great cost

The epilogue was very weird and was not referred to in the actual story so came out of left field.

I would have loved to know what caused the world as we know it to end and how they managed to survive for 100s of years until this novel is set

This is a remarkable debut that is beautifully written with strong characters and a vividly imagined dystopia that feels horribly possible. The class divisions in the society and the controlling methods of the elite provide a cautionary parallel that is hard to dismiss and the hard choices made by the leading protagonists engage the reader's empathy form the very start. The plot twists and turns and builds to a nail-biting crescendo that gets you reading faster and faster.
I really wanted to engage with this book more than I could, simply because it requires a level of Spanish and a familiarity with Mexican culture that I don't have, and I am not sure that the majority of young teens will have. (I Googled Alebrijes in the end!). At the beginning as you are being introduced to the setting it was often unclear if some of the terminology and phrases were Hispanic in origin or part of the dystopian culture. As you get used to this and the plot unfolds there is still a feeling that some nuances are missed because of the number of phrases written in Spanish. I persevered because I am stubborn and I love dystopian fiction - I am not convinced that the majority of the general target readership would.
So for a niche audience this is a brilliant book. However I fear that many may fall early on.

This book describes a cruel dystopian world, where two young children - 13 year old Leandro, and his younger sister Gabi - are eking out a living by providing labour to grow potatoes, and also using some less legal means. When Gabi gets caught on one of the latter occasions stealing fruit, Leandro takes the blame in order to spare his sister.

The story takes place in a setting where Earth has become a ravaged wasteland, and the remaining humans live in the unforgiving city of Pocatel with its harsh rules and structures.

At one time, the inhabitants there used to look after their own needs, but after the arrival of the Cascabels, a tiered social system has developed - with an underclass made up mainly of those belonging to the new community, including people like Leandro and Gabi.

Beyond the city lies the wilderness, where dangerous threats, including unknown animals, more or less guarantee extinction. Still, Leandro dreams of a better life in a better place.

Leandro's punishment in transferring his consciousness to a Drone but an unexpected side effect is his gradual discovery of the world that lies beyond the city, as well as what lies beneath the surface of life in Pocatel.

This is an imaginative science fiction fantasy story that draws on Mexican culture and myths as well as touching on some of the real threats that our world and societies face. All those the pace of the story telling is initially a little slow, Higuera does an impressive job of world building. And Leandro, in particular, is an engaging character. I give it 3.5 stars.

Incredibly powerful upper middle grade dystopian science fiction with roots in Mexican folklore. I love Higuera's writing. She is one of those rare writers for children who takes her young readers seriously, doesn't talk down to them, over-explain or patronise and most of all expects and demands a lot of them in return. This book is not an easy read, either in terms of content or themes but it is the kind of book that opens and expands minds. Our hero and his sister are orphaned and are living as refugees/slave labour on the edges of a walled town in the midst of a harsh and deadly landscape. They are completely at the mercy of the richer and powerful residents who themselves live in a system designed to control and submit people through use of fear and the constant threat of violence. The situation is grim but thanks to Leandro's complete loyalty and commitment to his sister and the people who help them, his bravery and ability to have compassion and empathy for others there might be a way out for those willing to trust him. The world building is tight, imaginative and believable and the characters nuanced and complex, as real people are. A powerful, exciting, unusual book- I already have a mental list of young readers to give it to.