Daughter of Fire: caught between worlds, a young woman comes of age

Daughter of Fire by Sofia Robleda is a coming of age story of a young woman in 16th century Guatemala. Catalina Cerrato has been raised by her widowed father, Don Alonso. In 1551 Guatemala, it has been thirty years since the Spanish invasion, her father is a member of the Spanish hierarchy who has sway over the Indigenous communities, who have been relegated to the lower class. As the daughter of a Spanish father and a Mayan woman, Catalina is caught between worlds and struggles to honor both her parents. She made a vow to her late mother, to preserve the lost sacred text of the Popol Vuh, a treasured but now forbidden history of the K’iche people, that she has committed to memory. Catalina begins a secret quest to rewrite the text. 

As an Amazon First Read, I was intrigued by the book’s beautiful cover, the intriguing premise, and the historical setting. I have not come across many books set in Guatemala that I was eager to read this story. Daughter of Fire is beautifully written with lyrical mysticism and imagery that take readers on a wild adventure. I was hooked in the beginning and yet the story was choppy and bogged down at times and I was bored and confused as the story progressed. While it has a historical setting, it is not essentially a historical novel. It is more of a mystical fantasy with a historical setting. Overall, I enjoyed the setting and the characters but I found the story lacking. If you enjoy a mystical fantasy story, I recommend you try Daughter of Fire. 

Daughter of Fire is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook