All the Crooked Saints

“By relegating the things we fear and don't understand to religion, and the things we understand and control to science, we rob science of its artistry and religion of its mutability.”

At the heart of Bicho Raro, Colorado you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.
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The miracles the Soria family performs are real, not just smoke and mirrors. They help the pilgrims fight their inner darkness by making it visible. But there's no worst darkness than a Saint's. All of the Soria family are forbidden to help the pilgrims past that first miracle, or to perform the miracle for themselves.
This is a story about all kinds of love, and about courage. We have roughly four main characters, and a lot of amazing side characters, their stories intertwined with one another, shaping the plot.
The Soria cousins are of course in the middle of everything, especially Daniel and Beatriz, the holiest of the Soria family. And also central to the story is Pete, who will come to Bicho Raro looking not for a miracle, but for a chance to prove himself useful.
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“Pete fell deeply in love with it.
This strange cold desert does not care if you live or die in it, but he fell for it anyway. He had not known before then that a place could feel so raw and so close to the surface. His weak heart felt the danger but could not resist.
He fell in love so fiercely that the desert itself noticed.
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The desert, which was not given to sympathy or sentiment, was nonetheless moved, and for the first time in a long time, it loved someone back.”

I sort of fell for Pete too. Not in a romantic way, but it is impossible not to care for him, he is such a nice guy you want to befriend him right away, and he has that hole in his heart and wants nothing more than to fill it with hard work and dedication. Luckily he'll find something even better in the desert 😉
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As every other book by Maggie, it was beautifully written. She has a unique ability to convey feelings with words, something very few authors accomplish so accurately. Her novels also have this atmospheric quality to them, making you feel like you're living the story instead of just reading it, I absolutely loved the setting. And the characters are so deep and human 💞
I declare myself an absolute fan of her work. And about all that crap people talk about, saying that this book is disrespectful or racist or any other nonsense, let me tell you that I didn't think the latinx representation was inaccurate or offensive. I think it was a beautiful tale, and I enjoyed it immensely.
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