Actual rating: 4,5 stars Content warnings - hints of animal cruelty - some fighting (including fire, improvised weapons, though nothing extremely graphic) - some blood (mentioned in context of fighting and when a character is hurt by accident) - an almost-drowning scene - mentions of death My opinion Okay, so, let me get this straight: I loved this book. Seriously. I read it for the diversity bingo challenge because of its setting in central america and I didn't excpect I'd like a childern's fantasy book this much, yet here I am, desperate for part 2 already because I fell hard and fast for this story. All of the characteres were really interesting and well-portrayed as far as I can tell. The setting is lovely. The folklore this book is based on is super interesting and refreshing, considering all the same old (kinda boring) fairytales we usually get. Bonus points for diversitsy, of course, although I can't say much about the representation and its quality since I don't belong to any of the minorities included in this book. The writing was so nice I almost immediately got my perfect "reading flow" and finished "The Jumbies" within 24 hours. The only thing that bothered me a little: Although the dark atmosphere is great and there is lots of suspense, especially towards the end, I think the suspense could have been improved by not telling the reader so much so early on. A few secrets kept a little longer from the audience would've worked even better in my opinion. That's why my actual rating is "only" 4,5 stars, not the full 5. All in all I highly recommend giving this book a try, it was really entertaining and interesting to me.

I really liked the story. The writing style is great and I love the characters and the world building/ the island. The creatures were great and Tracey really thought trough everything. I recommend reading it. -1 star because I did not like the ending that much. It was good. But I thought about something different.

I really liked the story. The writing style is great and I love the characters and the world building/ the island. The creatures were great and Tracey really thought trough everything. I recommend reading it. -1 star because I did not like the ending that much. It was good. But I thought about something different.