Paola Santiago and the River of Tears

By: Tehlor Mejia

Narrated by: Frankie Corzo

Bestselling author Rick Riordan presents author Tehlor Mejia and his thrilling fantasy adventure based on the Mexican legend of La Llorona (the Crying Woman).

Space-obsessed 12-year-old Paola Santiago and her two best friends, Emma and Dante, know the rule: Stay away from the river. It's all they've heard since a schoolmate of theirs drowned a year ago. Pao is embarrassed to admit that she has been told to stay away for even longer than that, because her mother is constantly warning her about La Llorona, the wailing ghost woman who wanders the banks of the Gila at night, looking for young people to drag into its murky depths.

Hating her mother's humiliating superstitions and knowing that she and her friends would never venture into the water, Pao organizes a meet-up to test out her new telescope near the Gila, since it's the best stargazing spot. But when Emma never arrives and Pao sees a shadowy figure in the reeds, it seems like maybe her mom was right. . . .

Pao has always relied on hard science to make sense of the world, but to find her friend she will have to enter the world of her nightmares, which includes unnatural mist, mind-bending monsters, and relentless spirits controlled by a terrifying force that defies both logic and legend.

Great story, fun characters, good pacing

Great start to a new Riordan presents series. Loved the characters, especially Paola… we haven’t had a scientist enthusiast yet in the serials, so it was fun to follow her as she discovered there’s more to the world that science has yet to discover and explain. I loved that the author understands science enough to know that science isn’t about proving anything, it can only prove things to be untrue… and Paolo learns her assumption that science has proven a lot of thing is quite incorrect. It was a fun way of kinda bringing the mythical and otherworldly together with the observable and scientific.

Great new middle grade book

I love how this book combines elements of magic and science. In my opinion, magic is just science we dont understand yet. While others might think that magic and science have to be in contrast with each other, this book proves that they don't have to be. I really like how much the characters in this story are developed. The author's in depth scene settings and descriptions make it easy to understand why Pao and Dante fear the chancla. I would too, man. The interactions between Pao and Dante are cute, as they're at that age where you're not always screaming about cooties and you're just starting to discover that you like others in a romantic way. I'm rooting for them! No idea what their ship name would be though 🤔

This book had me hooked from start to finish, can't wait to see its big screen adaptation (Eva Longoria announced that she is handling that ) and the sequel - Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares. 2021 can't come soon enough (for more reasons than one).

As a seperate note, I listened this book in an audiobook format. Frankie Corzo put on a great performance and I hope that they keep her as the narrator for the next book. She really helped bring the characters to life.

loved this book!

I was drawn into this story from the very beginning. I didn't really know anything about Mexican folklore before reading this book and I really enjoyed reading about it.

Paola, Dante, and Emma are such a strong friend group. I love their loyalty to each other and the strong bonds they have with each other. No matter what obstacles got in Pao's way to slow her down or get her off course, she never lost focus from getting to her friends. I loved all three of these characters, as well as Paola's little companion, Bruto.

I can't wait to see what happens in the next book!

The narrator, Frankie Corzo, was fantastic! She had distinct voices for each of the characters and did a great job of bringing them to life. She was a joy to listen to.

Good hard and sad

I liked it but I don't agree with Paola and it's sad and hard

once you start you cant stop!

this story pulls you in just like the monsters (not sure how to spell the name) pull people into the river! I recommend for ages 7-16 although most age groups will enjoy! (it may get a bit scary for younger audiences).