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Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, Things We Lost in the Fire

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Release Date: February 2023

General Genre: (BISAC)Horror, Gothic, Hispanic & Latino, Romance

Sub-Genre/Themes: Cults, occult, secret societies, families, fathers & sons, romance, child abuse, grief, ritualistic sacrifice, death & dying, supernatural, friendship, LBGTQ representation, Argentina (1960s & 1980s) Hispanic/Latine

Writing Style: Multiple POVs, family saga, intricately plotted, epic/sweeping

What You Need to Know: I read the eBook but I have the physical book. I need to say that you must be in the proper mood/headspace for this book. It’s so heavy–meaty. It’s difficult to even read any other books at the same time, this story occupies a lot of mental bandwidth. When you decide to dive in, do so with the intent to stay for the long haul. Prepare to settle in with the storytelling style–don’t rush.

My Reading Experience: My 3 notes and 66 highlights are available
The world-building and expansive scope of this project is staggering. Mariana Enriquez crafted an entire family saga from beginning to end and told the story in 600 pages. Going into this book, I had only ever read her short story collections, which I loved (I enjoyed Things We Lost in the Fire a bit more than Dangers of Smoking in Bed) but it was so impressive to go from a fan of these tight little horror packages to this sprawling saga.

A secret society known as The Order works together to achieve their mission in life. Led by one of the most terrifying women in literature, Mercedes, The Order will stop at nothing to find powerful mediums/oracles that will unlock the secrets to the power of the Darkness.
“Mercedes was the firmest believer in the exercise of cruelty and perversion as the path to secret illumination.�

We first meet Juan, one of The Order’s powerful mediums, and his son Gaspar. Juan believes that The Order will come for Gaspar once Juan is no longer of use to them so he is on a quest to hide his son from their reach.
“Juan was determined that his son would not belong to the Order, at least as long as he could avoid it. They would not have that prize.�
Enriquez uses multiple perspectives to tell this complicated story over a few decades. The writing is lush and decadent; descriptions of Juan’s ceremonials and demonstrations of power are so visually cinematic, that I saw them in my mind as an animated movie like Howl’s Moving Castle or Spirited Away–vibrant colors with dark, whimsical fantasy.

Despite Juan’s boorish, violent nature–the romance between him and Gaspar’s mother Rosario, and also her sister Tali, is beautiful. One of my favorite aspects of this tale. Some of the lines were so sexy
“Please don’t leave me alone, haunt me.�

The hardest part of this book was the relationship between Gaspar and his father, Juan. God, it hurt so bad. The back-and-forth emotional struggle between love and pain was gut-wrenching. The lengths Juan would go to protect his son were too much–too extreme. All of the young people in this book suffer. And that’s the horror of this book–what the children and young people must endure at the hands of those who love them or want something from them like the physical torture inflicted upon those Mercedes believes to be mediums or oracles. Some scenes were just mind-altering.

Final Recommendation: One of the most intricately plotted horror novels of our time. A masterpiece. Defies genre boundaries with its violently graphic horror elements, characters with supernatural abilities, dark fantasy-style descriptions, and the fiery passions of romance. The full package.


Comps: Firestarter by Stephen King (a powerful entity hunting a gifted child), The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas (supernatural, Gothic, family, occult), Saturnalia by Stephanie Feldman (occult, mediums, secret societies)