Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan || Mexico, Monarchs, and the Monarchy

Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs

Middle-grade fans of Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Esperanza Rising, will find a new Mexican heroine to love in Solimar and a fresh, magical story!

On the brink of her Quinceañera, and her official coronation, Solimar visits the oyamel forest to sit among the monarch butterflies. There, the sun pierces through a sword-shaped crevice in a boulder, which shines on her and sends the butterflies humming and swirling around her.

After the magical frenzy, she realizes she's been given a gift—and a burden: she can predict the near future! She has also become a protector of the young and weak butterflies. This alone would be a huge responsibility, but tragedy strikes when a neighboring king invades while her father and brother and many others are away. The remaining villagers are taken hostage—all except Solimar.

Can this princess-to-be save her family, the kingdom, and the future of the monarch butterflies from a greedy and dangerous king?

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Perfect for readers who want:

• Charm and magical realism similar to Encanto.
• A story infused with Mexican culture.
• A theme of protecting the environment and its creatures.
• Adorable sibling bonds!
• Lots of action and adventure.
• The bucking of gender roles and stereotypes.

Many thanks to Disney-Hyperion and Rockstar Book Tours for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes taken from an unfinished product and may differ from the final book.

A middle grade story that touches on Mexican culture and is full of adventure and bucking gender stereotypes? Yeah, I was always going to read this one! Plus, looking at that gorgeous, charming cover. What’s not to love there?! I honestly had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book, but I had a feeling it’d be a good one.

Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs is a charming story about a Mexican heroine who has to face danger in order to protect the monarchs that mean so much to her people. It’s full of sibling bonds, magical realism, and action.

While it’s not a direct parallel, I definitely got a lot of Encanto vibes from this book in the way the family ends up coming together and the way Solimar bucks unhealthy traditions, etc. There’s a marked lack of music (and Bruno), but young fans of the movie will likely enjoy this book all the same. It’s a delightful exploration of Mexican culture, protecting the precious environment we live in, and an interesting blend of adventure and action. The entire book didn’t pull together quite as fully as I had hoped personally, but I still enjoyed this book, nonetheless, and I suspect young readers won’t even notice.

This story is historical magical realism, with a princess on the brink of her Quinceañera, charged with the task of protecting the monarchs.

In Mexican culture in general, monarchs hold a very special place, and many traditions exist around them. So it’s maybe not a huge surprise that for Solimar and the people of her kingdom in San Gregorio, the monarch migration is an important event. Of course they’d want to protect them. Not everyone in the area feels the same, though, of course. So when Solimar finds herself charged with protecting the monarchs who aren’t quite strong enough to rejoin the kaleidoscope (yes, that’s really the word for a group of butterflies—I looked it up just for this!), it’s both an honor and maybe a little bit of a curse. Because she has something others are bound to want: butterfly magic!

The entirety of this setting is just absolutely charming. It’s steeped in Mexican culture, but in a way that I think will make an impression on middle grade readers without confusing them. with terminology they don’t understand. Ryan does a fantastic job with her description that it’s clear enough with context with all of the Spanish means. I haven’t read a lot about Mexican princesses, so this was a nice change of pace, and one that I think does a really good job of introducing young readers to a different culture that’s wrapped in magical realism and adventure.

Solimar herself is an extremely interesting character, and one that wants more from life than just being a princess and having no real say in the kingdom.

Actually, what Solimar really wants is to be king. Not queen, queens also have no real power. But king. She wants to be able to change her people’s lives for the better, to introduce more democracy rather than just a monarchy, and to protect the precious monarchs and their forest that mean so much to the kingdom. Her heart’s definitely in the right place . . . if only tradition wasn’t against her.

Gender roles play a big part in this book, which may not be surprising given the historical and cultural context. Several characters, though, aren’t keen on inhabiting the role that has been handed to them, and I love the way they challenge it! Solimar is far from fearless, but she’s capable and determined, and that’s what matters the most. She sets off on an adventure to save her people because that’s precisely what she’s wanted to do all along, even if traveling down a dangerous river wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.

Though it takes a little time to get going, there’s a fun river-based adventure in this book that will take readers along on a quest to save the kingdom.

I wouldn’t necessarily even say this little quest is the main focus of this story. It’s a facet of the larger story. But what that means is that there’s a little something for everything. The story definitely would’ve lost something if the majority of it was spent on this river, but there’s just enough adventure and danger to really give the story a quest-y feeling. If you know what I mean. Can’t be too easy or it gets boring, right?

What I liked about this is that it feels very approachable for younger middle grade readers. I read a lot of books geared towards the upper end of middle grade, but they’re very hard for struggling readers or the younger end of the age category. This bite-sized adventure felt perfect for the younger readers who might be more likely to pick up this book.

The magical realism in this book is a huuuuge win! It’s utterly charming and adorable, and I really enjoyed it.

Solimar ends up with not one but two sidekicks. Only one of them is technically magical, but I won’t spoil what that is in this review. The other, of course, is Lázaro—a bird with a bit of an attitude. While Lázaro himself isn’t actually magical, he does have a personality and slightly supernatural ways to communicate, which is fun. Plus, who doesn’t like a bird sidekick?

The magic in this book is pretty low-key, as it should be for magical realism, but it’s still quite charming and sure to tickle readers’ imaginations!

About Pam Muñoz Ryan

Pam Muñoz Ryan is a New York Times best-selling author and U.S. nominee for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award. She has written over forty books, including Esperanza Rising, Becoming Naomi León, Riding Freedom, Paint the Wind, The Dreamer, and Echo, a Newbery Honor book and the recipient of the Kirkus Prize. She is the author recipient of the National Education Association’s Human and Civil Rights Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award for Multicultural Literature, and is twice the recipient of the Pura Belpré Medal and the Willa Cather Award. Other honors include the PEN USA Award, the Américas Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, and the Orbis Pictus Award. She was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, but now lives near San Diego with her family. Many of her stories reflect her half-Mexican heritage.

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3 winners will receive a finished copy of SOLIMAR: THE SWORD OF THE MONARCHS, US Only.

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