The Difficult Loves of Maria Makiling by Wayne Santos
Publisher – Solaris
Published – out now
Price – £12.99 paperback £3.99 Kindle eBook
Maria is, in no particular order: a concept artist at a videogame studio, the goddess of Mount Makiling in the Philippines, and in love. And when Maria falls in love, tragedy and death follow. It’s going to take everything a goddess, her newly-befriended demon-horse, and Canadian national treasure Margaret Atwood have to break the cycle.
Stories stay with us and can change us. Stories also get changed by us as we move to other countries and take on other influences. Santa for example has less cuddlier versions who would take away badly behaving children (this may or may not be a good thing). Wayne Santos explores how we change myths in the fantastic novella The Difficult Loves of Maria Makiling where love turns into a battle for live, awakening godlike powers and learning to do things differently.
Canadian video games designer Maria Malihan is trying to live her best life – a successful career creating backgrounds for games gives her joy and now she has met Tate. A handsome kind barrista who just always knows how to make her feel better. However, his first declaration of love sends her dizzy and worried at a cosplayer event. Until then her only concerns were Aurelio; her boss who only just about stays on the line of appropriate working behaviours, and Mateo; a very good but occasionally leery gym instructor. Tate’s love though means danger is coming as evidenced by Maria getting dreams of an angry horse demon swearing at her. Soon Tate is nearly killed, and Maria’s latent divine side awakens (named Maria Makiling) but this time the legend will end very differently through the power of Canada and Margaret Atwood.
This was a joy to read and is very very unpredictable. What initially felt like just going to be a charming geek love story then turns into an exploration of toxic masculinity with men who can’t take being rejected and then becomes a mythical adventure that warps from Canada to modern day Philippines. As with the main characters of Maria and Brett we have a merging of old Filipino culture and twenty-first century life (with a strong Canadian feel to it!). The reader discovers that all the main characters have for four hundred years been in a deadly cycle that means Maria has changed her identity to help get it right next time. But this time our hospital technology and our improved morality allow for some great changes.
Prepare for something different with the characters. Maria is an intelligent sharp-witted and kind woman trying to save the man she loves but now notices that when she is angry she gets taller and green plus can use magic to pull demons out of bodies. She finds herself working with the reluctant Teek – a demon-horse man who quite like staying in the imagination of Margaret Atwood. I was really impressed how Santos makes these two characters finally have a reckoning that does make you question how Maria has been handling things in previous cycles. A lot of mythological beings tend to smite first and ask questions later and as the story widens we may sense that Maria has been messing some humans around too albeit unwittingly. I also liked how Santos with Maria’s would be suitors shows good and toxic examples of male masculinity – which is refreshing from a male author!
If this sounds a little serious then fear not this is one of the funniest reads that I’ve read this year with an array of geeky jokes, one liners and gentle mocking of Canadian lifestyles. Although I thank them for Pineapple on Pizza. How can I not love a story that says to some serious male critics that if they say post feminism in a mirror three times that Margaret Atwood appears and will question their role in the patriarchy? Importantly just as it is funny it has emotional depth with people coming to terms with falling in love and learning to forgive and be better at being who you are. Just with added demon chases, fast car escapes and magical swords – all perfectly plotted and well-paced.
This is a novella with a Pratchett-like sense of intelligent humour, plotting and exploration of morality. A delight to read, a book you will laugh out loud too and also be pondering about after reading. A great success and again Santos has proven they’re an author to watch. Strongly recommended!
