Santa Olivia

by Jacqueline Carey

Book Overview

Lushly written with rich and vivid characters, Santa Olivia is Jacqueline Carey's take on comic book superheroes and the classic werewolf myth.

Loup Garron was born and raised in Santa Olivia, an isolated, disenfranchised town next to a US military base inside a DMZ buffer zone between Texas and Mexico. A fugitive "Wolf-Man" who had a love affair with a local woman, Loup's father was one of a group of men genetically-manipulated...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 044619817X
• ISBN13: 9780446198172
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Couldn't Put It Down!

I am a long-time fan of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series. But I was a bit reluctant to read a novel out of the Terre D'Ange universe because I had tried to read (and like) The Sundering duology but couldn't make it happen. I was more than pleasantly surprised with Santa Olivia and finished it in record time. The story moves quickly and succinctly, but never sacrificing wit or emotion--I even cried twice! Santa Olivia is a must-read for any Carey fan.

Santa Olivia

Once in a while, a book comes along that leaves me breathless and just blows me away. I'm still reeling from staying up until 2am reading a book that I honestly wasn't even sure I would like in the first 30 or so pages. Which, completely proves the point, that sometimes,you have to stick and let an author suck you in, in her own way. In a part of the country that has been forgotten, a de-militarized zone that is not part of Texas or Mexico but is know simply as "Outpost", the military men come and go in the lives of Loup's mother Carmen. But one leaves her with a gift that no one else can, a daughter with his genetically altered offspring. It doesn't take long for people to notice Loup is different, superhero different. As people around her learn her differences though, they seem to accept them, rather than shun her. Although she is "different" and makes people uncomfortable, she's a part of the community and they take care of their own. A child who doesn't feel fear, Loup and her friends take it upon themselves to disperse vigilante style justice on the oppressive military presence in their town, blaming it on the patron saint Santa Olivia. For a town that needs some faith, Loup begins to feel her place in the world. As Santa Oliva, she can be herself, she doesn't have to hide her abilities. This is not a werewolf story as the back of the book seems to suggest. This is Loup's story. A coming of age story. This is a story about overcoming impossible obstacles, about love and redemption, and taking a stand against unsurmontable odds. This book left me on the edge of my seat, my heart beating out of my chest, tears in my eyes and cheering! You can read more reviews and enter for a chance to win a free copy here: http://chicbookreviews.blogspot.com

The start of a new series?!?!?! I sure hope so!

I go through books like there's no tomorrow. This book, although completely different than the Kushiel's series, was a true pleasure to read and incredibly hard to put down. It goes without saying that the writing was excellent, the character development was true to Jacqueline's style and for being told in one location, it was a true adventure. What I enjoyed most about this story was the Loup's ability to rise above her gender and circumstances. She was determined and yet conflicted in her resolve to do what she set out to do. It parallel's our own confliction in everyday life to make hard decisions. In the same way Michael Crichton's books were perfectly setup for the big screen, this could easily be turned into a movie, except with WAY better writing! :)

Santa Olivia does not forget...

_Santa Olivia_ is a coming-of-age story; it's a story about being a misfit; it's a story about an underdog up against towering odds; it's a love story; and it's a hero(ine)'s journey story. _Santa Olivia_ is set in southern Texas in a bleak, plague-ravaged near future. The military has taken over the area, supposedly to protect the citizens from a shadowy external threat. Poverty and crime are rampant. Into this setting comes Loup, who rises from humble beginnings to become a symbol of hope and freedom for the downtrodden people of the town of Santa Olivia. Caution: you may find yourself cheering aloud! Despite the very different settings, I was sometimes reminded of Donna Gillespie's The Light Bearer as I read Santa Olivia; the two books brought out the same pumping-my-fist-in-the-air impulse in me. Fans of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels will not be surprised that the love story in Santa Olivia is sensual, touching, and bittersweet. Loup and her lover are painfully "real" to me in their trials and tribulations. Both characters have made very specific plans for the future, and both find that their relationship complicates those plans more than they ever imagined. I should also mention that Carey sets herself a hard task and does it well. One of Loup's special qualities is that she does not feel fear. It can't have been easy to write almost all of the novel from the perspective of someone who simply isn't ever afraid (even when the reader is nailbiting on her behalf)! I could not put Santa Olivia down, and I highly recommend it. It had me on the edge of my seat, and while I was already a Jacqueline Carey fan, it has given me even more respect for her abilities. This is completely different from anything she's done before, and it's darn good.

Different but good

Jacqueline Carey's Santa Olivia is very different from her Kushiel and Sundering series, but is still good. Unlike her other works, which are set on a grand stage with a large cast of characters, Santa Olivia is set entirely in an isolated town trapped in a no-mans-land between Mexico and the United States, created following a flu pandemic that decimated the population and caused the U.S. to take extreme measures. I found it to be a more intimate novel than her previous works, with fairly simple but gripping plot. The main character, Loup, is fascinating study of what a person would be like if they were born with all the human emotions except fear. Despite the suggested tags, this is not a "werewolf" novel - rather than being outside of society, Lupe is part of the fabric of this damaged town, despite (or perhaps because) of her extraordinary gifts. Highly recommended!