Re: IRAMI (e-book)

Review on www.kirkusreviews.com
TITLE INFORMATION
IRAMI
Mendozova, Jindriska
AuthorHouseUK (112 pp.)
$15.18 paperback, $3.99 e-book
ISBN: 978-1468582710; June 27, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
Mendozova offers a slim, fairy-tale-like story of love in the Amazon.
Upon graduating law school in Spain, Manuel Castro’s parents gave him the gift of two months travel in Ecuador and the
wild beyond. Manuel had become captivated by “the mysterious kingdom of the tribes of female warriors—the
Amazons.” He hires a guide, Jose, who wants little more than to mug his client at the first opportunity but chooses the
wrong moment; the jungle might have seemed to be a good spot to cold-cock Manuel, yet Amazons lurked and captured
both men. Mendozova swings the story between the days in the jungle and Manuel’s kindling love for Irami, queen of
the Amazons, and Manuel’s intended back home in Madrid, Luz, who has her eye on Fernando rather than her wayward
boyfriend. The strongest writing describes the various locales: chugging down the river on a raft, parrots squawking in a
jungle of every known shade of green or sipping orange juice in the mansion of Manuel’s parents. Episodes on both sides
of the ocean slide together snugly with no sense of hurry. There are awkward pieces of writing—“ ‘So Manuel called
you?’ Teresa asked, or rather concluded, excitedly.” and an occasional flatness of delivery: “Manuel was already able to
recognise some of the sounds and to correctly determine their origins. But there were others that he had no idea where
they came from or who made them.” And though detail is one of Mendozova’s strong suits, sometimes it gets the better
of her; that orange juice was served in “elegant, slightly red-tinted, large, thick-walled glasses.” What keeps the story
buzzing is the strength of characterization, principally for Irami and Manuel, though also for the bustling lives of the
secondary figures.
An ethereal, atmospheric, occasionally clumsy tale that’s over before you know it.
Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Rd., Austin, TX 78744
indie@kirkusreviews.com