Hey, guys! Things have been really out of my hand for few months, and getting new articles out was harder than I imagined. Unfortunately I was not tuned with Riordan world because I wasn’t engaged much in the internet. However, recent news got me flared up. Not much time has passed since the last Rick Riordan Presents book was published, but RRP is ready to release another book filled with adventure.
Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares will be released on August 3, which is next month.
I think that day will be epic as I’ve another thing planned that day. Anyway,
speaking of Paola Santiago saga will
make you remind of the girl leaning to look towards a river with her torch and
from that river a hand was coming out. This basic description had been from the
cover of Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, the first book of the series.
But now, the picture is
about to change. Things are really intense now, and no matter what you think,
the book is ready to defeat you in that. Predictions would’ve been awesome, but
I might be a failure trying to think like Tehlor Kay Mejia.
Let’s dive in the world
of Mexican folk stories, and see what we can find out…
Warning: Some spoilers are available in this article from Paola Santiago and the River of Tears.
Readers are requested to read the book before reading this article if not yet
read.
Part 1: Old Paola and New Paola
There was a new sneakpeek out some days ago from Read Riordan platform. Teasing fans makes them warm
up (and mostly boil up) for the book, and I think Read Riordan did a good job
with that. If I didn’t know better, I might think Tehlor had planned the first
two chapters like that for teasing us.
I feel great in being
teased, and I think many fans do. If you have read the first book, you might
encounter almost all of the chapters with majority of lines filled with Paola’s
thoughts, rather than action lines. I enjoyed that a lot.
Tehlor’s humors mostly
come from Paola’s thoughts which expand the story in a unique way giving us a
better understanding of the whole story. But here I’d like to point out another
thing.
The old Paola couldn’t
bare her mother’s beliefs in superstitions (until she started believing in them
too), and she thought it went against her philosophy of science (in which I
think she’s not quite interested in now). But in the next book’s sneak peek, we
find that this differentiation has changed. But there are more bad changes than
good.
Paola has become
distant with Emma and Dante. While we understand that she might have some kind
of chemistry with Dante and their relationship (if I presume correctly) is
going downhill, but being far from Emma was indicating more that she has become
more distant. If you see the chapter 2 in the sneak peek, you can find that
without judging that kissing on cheek or holding hands, both of them are quite
distant than they used to be.
We found that Dante has
quite changed his idea about Paola in their last journey. But whatever Dante
thinks of Paola, we can’t establish the reason from a one-sided point of view. Beside,
Dante also seems not going with Paola and somehow we might discover a better
and important reason next. Dante’s mysterious closing of his own self, could
work in the plot of this new book.
After we talk about the
changes of friendship, we might want to look more at Maria Santiago, Paola’s
mother. Maria got a new boyfriend with whom she went to Pizza Pete’s plus Paola
accompanied them. Paola had held a firm shield with the banner no-Aaron. She
seemed not to accept the new man in her father’s place added to it the fact
that she is having nightmares where she can see her father (though not quite
clearly, she believes that).
In brief, we can say
two things clearly: the new Paola has changed from before, and Tehlor weaved a
story with a different river of thoughts.
Part 2: Society and Family
All the readers who’ve
read the book, I can of course tell that Tehlor had put spotlights on various
social and family issues. I became quite impressed when I went through this
book. This book gives emphasis in things that we need to be concerned.
For example, Tehlor
deeply discussed the depths of mother-children relationship by Maria-Paola, La
Llorona-Ondina and some other pairs. If you look at Maria and Paola’s
relationship, it was some kind of one sided. Maria cared for Paola, but not in
a way that touched Paola deeply to be helping her out of her problems. Paola loved her mother too, but a little embarrassed about her beliefs. This
later showed why Paola wasn’t really open with her mother as she was with her
friends. In case of La Llorona, Tehlor explored a complex mother-daughter or
mother-children or parents-children relationship. Though La Llorona is termed
as an evil mom, she also has got some problems that we see now in our society.
Tehlor also explored
the idea of friendship. 'How this friendship works and what do you get from it?': these complex equations the way she explained through a perfect story, is quite
impressive. Another thing she brought up was racism in the society. In the big
saga of horror and ghosts, she made a space for these big matters to be placed
in the right places of the story.
You might say that I am
talking about the first book of the series rather than discussing the new book.
Well, I can assure you that Tehlor will put more focuses on these intense
points that ought to be discusses and resolved in our country, society and
family to build a better world. This might be a ghost story based on an old
folklore, but this story had brought up issues to be thought about.
Part 3: Things Are More Mixed Up Now
While we were somehow
sure of the last antagonist (though I became quite doubtful near the end, but
changed that soon), the new antagonist might be someone we aren’t quite
familiar as La Llorona. We can start thinking of Paola’s dad as some kind of
turned-up evil, but that’d be quite a bad prediction if we think of Franco or
Ondina.
I mean, predicting
Tehlor’s plot would be quite a big mistake in my life, as I am not quite such
acquainted with Mexican heritages. It’d be best for me to find out the story and
get a better view of these stories like I did for the last book. Though I’ve said in The Last Fallen Star predictions or
articles that I think it’s awesome to predict something and be wrong (at least
in case of books), but I think it’d be cooler to completely discover
something and be blown away.
For the record, don’t
think I’d do much research on the next Gifted Clans book like I did for the first one. I don’t think there’s much I can
do as Korean mythology is quite vague to me though there is internet, and all the sources aren't very reliable. But I may
try to predict things based on the cover. Which brings us to this new book,
what can I predict based on this cover?
Part 4: What about the Cover?
Predicting cover and
thinking about them gives you an unknown access to the plot whether you understand
it or not. Maybe till a certain point. We know that the Rick Riordan book
covers are done based on some certain scenes from the book or mostly a
particular scene.
We can say one thing
for sure from the cover: the famous torch would not be in this book, or maybe
if Paola brings it to her quest, she might lose it or break it beyond repair. I
can predict that as Paola is holding a lamp instead of a torch in her hand.
Another thing to
predict is that the mysterious silhouette or the black shade might be indicating
her father just how she had seen in her nightmares. I can say that this scene
in the cover isn’t actually from the nightmares, as there is no crack here. But
still I can’t be sure about that.
There is also a river
(or maybe some stream of water) just little behind her, which might not be Gila
actually. If I remember correctly, there was cactus field, no forest. If you
want to say cactus forest, then you’re probably wrong as those plants are
definitely not cactuses.
There is another thing
mentioned in the cover: Paola is alone. Maybe it is like the old alone quest
she did at the end, or maybe she had some problems with her friends, or maybe
her friends are somehow badly wounded, or maybe (this is really hard to take)
the betrayal that was mentioned in the synopsis has already happened. Still,
there are a lot of maybes to choose from, and I am still getting to a lot of
them.
If you look closely at
the left side, you can locate some freaky eyes staring right at Paola. Judging
that Paola Santiago is based on stories full of ghosts and the books are
horror, these might be ghost-eyes too. I cannot say that these eyes can belong
to a shady body as some of these eyes are looking from branches or stems of
trees. Still, three of the far left and two from below, may’ve got ghost
bodies.
There are also some
weird glaciers like purple things around. Anyway, this cover made it more
mysterious for me and it gives you a vague idea which you cannot understand.
But I can of course understand something, I would never have gone to that place
which you can call ‘Forest of Nightmares’ if I’d have to choose between the
River of Tears (hint: it was already liberated of ghosts), and it looks quite
creepy and ghostly even from the cover.
Last thing I want to
say is, science has got in creepy places like this nightmarish forest too. Just
look at Paola’s clothes and you’ll see round shape with the word MOON written
above. As Paola said, these weird things are just something science hasn’t
discovered yet.
Part 5: From the Read Riordan articles
Though the first
article published recently based on Paola
Santiago’s new book ‘Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares: 5 Monster Hunting Tips from Naomi’ contained
not much information about the new book. But there were some certain points
that were hidden very skillfully among the words.
One point in the
article is that Naomi will of course appear in this new book and as so will
that Niños de la Luz will also come as Naomi is a member of this group. If I
interpret things right, we can see various members of Niños de la Luz including
leaders like Marisa
Martínez and Franco, and some other familiar members.
In the
second article, ‘Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares: Catching Up with Emma Lockwood’, we find out a lot
about Paola’s best friend, Emma Lockwood though now they’re a little distant.
Read Riordan Staff did a pretty good job in pointing out several important
points like the differentiation in color, power and money among them though
Emma didn’t care for it as we’ve seen in the last book.
But the
juiciest information comes from these two points: “The Girl in the Chair” and
“A New Responsibility”, the last two points of the article. We’re caught up
with the fact that Emma isn’t the adventure-type and it might be better for her
that she wasn’t with Paola in the last book. Anyway, Emma is staying home while
Paola and Dante are going to the quest. She will also take care of Abuela Mata,
and “offer Pao support over the phone”.
She will
also cover for Paola and Dante’s absence, and as indicated at the last part of
this second-last point, Pao goes missing “again” and now in the Forest of
Nightmares. And another thing is that, Emma will take care of Bruto, the
Chupacabra puppy who likes yellow Starbust. I am now wondering why Paola would
leave her puppy instead of bringing him in her quest like the last time where
he’d be of more help. There might be a pretty good reason.
From the
synopsis we’ve got the information that Dante’s abuela is sick and Paola thinks
it has some connection with her father or with the dreams of the ‘Forest of
Nightmares’. In fact there is another thing that came in my attention. While
the mythological books don’t extend to using electronic devices, recent books
like The Last Fallen Star and Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares
from RRP might change the tradition. I am wondering how Emma could connect with
Paola from far away.
Part 6: What is the Betrayal?
Betrayals are mostly
done by someone you know well or someone you trusted. Mainly this indicates
friends and family relations. But still, this might get a big complicated if
you enter the RRP books. If you’ve read the synopsis of The Last Fallen Star, you might’ve tried to guess who’d be the
betrayer or traitor; but when you read the book, the whole concept of betrayal
was just blown back towards you.
It’d not be a surprise
to expect and find that the betrayal in Paola
Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares also follows the same concept. Still,
we cannot scratch out the fact that this can be someone Paola know. I wouldn’t
particularly suggest any names, but you obviously reached the same conclusion
as me. If you’re thinking of her friends, you might also consider one of her
family members.
Calling someone traitor and being wrong about that someone would be very embarrassing for me. So, I have refrained from writing any names which might be wrong. If you’ve read all the RRP books, you can find the betraying story in almost every book. Every book of the Pandava series is literally filled with at least one betrayal from someone of close. This common concept can be helpful for all the RRP readers.
Part 7: Paola Once Again Again
Paola Santiago is
coming again and again. After the first book Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares is coming in August 3
(trivia: Paola Santiago 1 came in August 4 last year).
There is a third book
coming called Paola Santiago and the
Sanctuary of Shadows (this might also be a place like the last part of
other ones does; still the titles keeps getting more vague).
You can also discover
Tehlor Kay in the upcoming RRP anthology The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities. You might get the story from Paola’s POV or
in a new different way. Tehlor has got quite a lot of things packed for the
ready. It’d be you responsibility to pick the things up.
Get ready for picking
up Paola Santiago and the Forest of
Nightmares on August 3, 2021 (I mean this year, and next month!)
Part 7: Suggestions for More
Those who want to know
more, I will recommend you click on the links you went through in this article.
The links are up-to-date and official. I wouldn’t say you to go to Riordan Wiki
and read the whole Paola Santiago and the
River of Tears article or Paola
Santiago and the Forest of Rivers article, as it’d be bad and filled with
spoilers for people who haven’t read yet. Still, it’d be good for the others
who’ve read it though I might want to warn you about the writing that you will
find filled with a large plot and some not very much necessary materials.
And if you want to know
a lot about Riordan and the universes around it, it’d be very bad and wrong of
me if I don’t mention ‘The Half-Blood Report’ or in short known as HBR. Their episodes are awesome and filled with information and discussions every fan will
like. If not, then why’d Read Riordan call them for some cool videos? And more
specifically look for the episode: Episode 69 – Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares Predictions. There are
many episodes you might’ve missed based on this series which would delight you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Note: I think this article has been a good read for all of you. Just comment what you liked or didn’t like in any of the platforms. By the way, you’re getting the links now in the article, not at end, which I think is quite better. Extra links are available at the end. Another thing is that, instead of writing a whole big name, there will only be a title without ‘:’. Here, I mentioned the name ‘Paola Santiago’ which can ring a bell in your head.
Thanks to those who stayed with ‘Iman Awakens’ though I failed to reach your expectations. I might try to give you several excuses, but it is genuine that I am not surfing the internet much these days and I’ve got a lot in my head. I hope you will forgive me for this change of schedules and wait for the articles to be released.
And if there are any mistakes though I tried to do my best to give my best, please forgive me. Any complaints and comments are very welcome as it might push me to make any change or work for more. And don't forget to pick up Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares on sale 8/3.
Special note: My maternal grandma is very ill. Please pray for her; I'd be vert grateful for that.
Copyright information: All Paola Santiago characters, plots, materials and stories are copyright owned by © Tehlor Kay Mejia. Paola Santiago cover arts copyright by © Vanessa Morales with designs my Jamie Alloy. ║ Article-art illustration by Md. Iman Anwar. ║ Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares 3D excerpt from Read Riordan.
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