Title: Bomboncita

Author: D.K. Kristof

Genre: Literary / Science Fiction

 

Bomboncita is set on “Isla de la Reina Madre,” a fictional Caribbean island, which has resisted invasions over the centuries to emerge as a proud, defiant, and self-sufficient Sovereign nation with an adored matriarchal ruling line of which Luisa “Bomboncita” Moraga is the heir.

Although aware of her looming duty, Luisa is a free spirit, roaming the island until dawn. However, when she discovers Alma, a fascinating humanoid robot, what begins as an amusing curiosity develops into a profound reflection of her own destiny.

Kristof’s novelette has echoes of Asimov, Matos, and Philip K. Dick but undoubtedly has the author’s stamp. His lush, vibrant imagining of Reina Madre grows more chromatic throughout the book.

Flushed with heat and sensuality but also a curiously sinister undertone that gets the reader’s mind racing with perplexity, Reina Madre becomes wonderfully evocative and immersive within a few paragraphs due to Kristof’s soft poeticism and dreamlike imagery, which never veers into pretention.

Indeed, it feels like Kristof isn’t writing about the Island but seems to be writing from within it. The Island is fully realized as a character in its own right, seemingly suspended in time, with strict values and a nicely old-fashioned patina.

During the Prologue, Kristof mentions the specially engineered bipedal robotic workers that harvest the cacao plants. The juxtaposition between the rich, natural beauty of Reina Madra and these beautifully efficient androids, capable of quiet devastation, is instantly sharp and unnerving.

Kristof tells his story through an omniscient third-person narrator, although the focus primarily concerns Luisa. Using this point of view enables him to add emotional dimension to the central characters despite the brevity of Bomboncita, and a few tacit reveals, such as the role of Don Teo in Luisa’s life.

Catalina, “La Presidenta,” is a woman of strong femininity, supremely aware of the weight of her birthright. Although there is an element of maternal indulgence with Luisa, the greater good of Reina Madre is foremost to Catalina.

Luisa could have been a stock character, the wild, tearaway teenager. But Kristof imbues spirituality to her restlessness and a sense of foreboding in her childlike amazement when she first sees Alma.

Whether Don Teo and, by extension, Catalina, mean only for Alma to entertain Luisa and take the edge from the loneliness the girl does not realize she possesses, is curious, as Alma evolves into a robotic projection of Luisa.

She is a wish-fulfilment of the life Luisa would prefer to live, but one that turns into a chilling prediction of the prosaic constraints and moral obligations of her predetermined life.

Bomboncita is beautifully crafted and presented. Kristof breaks the story into small chapters that read as a sequence of short, distilled scenes, lending the narrative simplicity yet focused intensity.

It was a good decision to include a chapter where Luisa has to rise to her coming responsibilities and receive the foreign delegation alongside Catalina. It provides contrast but also unease as Luisa suffers the boorish Lucien, son of the visiting Ambassador.

Although Lucien’s behavior requires retribution, the chapter in the nightclub seems misplaced and unconvincing in the context of Bomboncita’s narrative fabric. Additionally, Tammy, although a fleeting character, felt jarring and lacked some credibility.

Nonetheless, the chapter is pivotal, leading to Alma’s outcome, which Kristof conveys with subtle yet harrowing density. It’s a powerful, poignant conclusion for Alma and Luisa, with layers of meaning and symbolism that take on allegorical proportions.

Bomboncita is a vivid and enchanting story driven by a beguiling protagonist. Kristof’s exquisitely beautiful prose effortlessly intertwines the realism and surrealism of his mesmerizing narrative, which whispers promisingly of a sequel.

 

 

This Editorial Review was written by the Book Review Directory staff. To receive a similarly honest, professional review for one of your own books, click here.