The Review

When I was little, I had the BIGGEST crush on Antonio Banderas. Technically, it started because of Spy Kids, but The Mask of Zorro was chef’s kiss. So, the second I heard about a gender-swapped, YA, Zorro-inspired fantasy, I was invested. A masked Latina vigilante with a sword, a hat, and a sassy attitude? Say less.

Salvación stars Lola de La Peña as our masked vigilante… you guessed it… named Salvación, with an assist from her older brother, marksman Víctor, in the event anything goes astray. The two live in the mining town of Coloma, Alta California, where sal negra, a magically infused black salt that can heal the sick and wounded, can be found. The goal is to protect the town from the encroaching Yankees, but then one day a nearly dead woman arrives with a warning about sal roja, a deadly red salt capable of annihilating anything it touches.

As a whole, the novel genuinely worked for me and was an enjoyable narrative to follow. The premise of magical salt as a stand-in for the Gold Rush was such a cool idea, and I loved the dichotomy between sal negra and sal roja. The historical backdrop, post–Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, is rich and compelling, and I appreciated the way the story brushes up against the colonialism, land theft, and shifting borders of the Yankees, whereas The Mask of Zorro focused on the Spanish. Lola’s family dynamic and her complicated relationships with her parents are another strength. While there really was hardly ANY action, the coming-of-age arc for Lola hopefully set up the sequel for some more dramatic sword fights.

Where the book lost me, however, was in the execution and depth. The book leans heavily into internal monologue and moral conflict rather than physical action, but the pacing and style undercut a lot of the tension. I had to remind myself constantly that this WAS a YA novel. However, I was still bothered by how almost every other chapter Lola had to narrate what sal negra was, who the characters were, or what the conflict was. Have the youth of the world really experienced that much brain rot that they are incapable now of remembering basic plot points? It came off as a way to make the novel longer than it needed to be, like stuffing an essay in college to stretch it to that extra two pages you needed. There also were plot points that just… vanished. For example, the very first scene was Lola scaring off the Yankee with the heirloom pistol who vowed to return… but then he never did. I wondered if this was setting up the premise of the next novel… but if the kids can’t even remember that sal negra is a magical salt that heals people, how will they remember the first chapter of this book?

My biggest disappointment, though, was that we barely actually get to see Lola being Salvación. Throughout the novel, we never gain a true understanding of why Lola and her brother decided to pick up the mantle other than to scare off Yankees. The novel could have been elevated by one flashback chapter showing how the whole ordeal started. There also is a major plot hole, too, because the novel only ever mentions three women in the town—Lola, her mom, and one elderly woman. Which makes sense given it’s a mining town; however, no one seems to be able to figure out who the young woman Salvación is?

Overall, I’d give this one 2.5 stars out of 5. If you go in expecting nonstop swordfights, elaborate schemes, and a swoony, central romance, you’ll probably be let down. But if you are looking for just a fun, fluffy story about magical salt to read at the beach, you will be in good hands. I do think this would be a great novel for a pre-teen/teenager because the concept was phenomenal. The reading level was just below what I normally prefer as a 30-something-year-old woman. Ultimately, I decided to round this down to 2 stars because if a sequel comes out, I wouldn’t go out of my way to read the next book like I would for other YA novels I’ve read.

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Short Review (AKA TLDR)

As a whole, the novel genuinely worked for me and was an enjoyable narrative to follow. The premise of magical salt as a stand-in for the Gold Rush was such a cool idea, and I loved the dichotomy between sal negra and sal roja. The historical backdrop, post Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo, is rich and compelling, and I appreciated the way the story brushes up against the colonialism, land theft, and shifting borders. Where it faulter was that the book leans heavily into internal monologue, but the pacing and style undercut a lot of the tension. I had to remind myself constantly that this WAS a YA novel. However, I was still bothered by how almost every other chapter Lola had to narrate what sal negra was, who the characters were, or what the conflict was. Have the youth of the world really experienced that much brain rot that they are uncapable of remembering basic plot points?

If you go in expecting nonstop swordfights, elaborate schemes, and a swoony, central romance, you’ll probably be let down. But if you are looking for just a fun, fluffy story about magical salt to read at the beach, you will be in good hands. I do think this would be a great novel for a pre-teen/teenager because the concept was phenomenal. The reading level was just below what I normally prefer as a 30-something-year-old woman. Ultimately, I decided to round this down to 2 stars because if a sequel comes out, I wouldn’t go out of my way to read the next book like I would for other YA novels I’ve read.