I got an early review copy of this from the publisher, lucky me! It's set in Guatemala City, amidst environmental protests and state corruption and a long political history of violence... and a jaguar who shapeshifts into a human. I think it's more accurate to call Felipe that instead of calling him a human who shapeshifts into a jaguar, although he's so consistently close to human behaviour that in many ways it makes little difference.

I think that's what I like best about this book. There's this central character whose abilities are something of a fantasy staple, and yet that's not really the most important thing about him. I don't want to call his jaguar nature an afterthought, exactly, because the plot often hangs on Felipe's supernatural abilities, but far more important are the relationships that Felipe builds with the people around him. These relationships are increasingly impacted by the growing, extremely dangerous popular resistance to corruption, exploitation, and violence imposed by state and corporate actors. The story, then, is very much entrenched in the magical realist tradition, which is something I've always really enjoyed. As someone who's interested in politics, and in how politics is explored in speculative fiction, I find that magical realism is typically much subtler, much more clear-eyed, and ultimately a more cruel and compassionate observer than the other speculative genres. 

The magic overlays the politics, and such is the case here. It's not only Felipe, whose jaguar nature makes him want to stay unobserved and uninvolved. It's the other main character, Cristina, whose own oracular abilities are complicated by artistic ambition and family responsibilities and her own shifting nature. They're both enormously sympathetic characters, and their journey together culminates in this incredible scene that I won't spoil because it's the very end of the book - but it gave me chills, it really did.