Conrad Mendoza de Luna does not know it yet, but there is a significant connection between him and Ignacio. He just knows him as a grateful IT client, who might have sources who might provide underground medication for the so-called “Rose” disease, wherein physical flowers start laying roots, until they bloom through the skin. It is not always fatal, but de Luna’s is located right over his heart.
Magic diseases seem to demand magic cures, but any form of spellcasting is now illegal now that the gateway to the Diwata realm of Lambana has been forcibly closed. Those who were in the mortal world at the time must now live in permanent exile. De Luna will meet several, while following Ignacio through the back alleys and midnight markets of Metro Manila.
After Lambana starts in a noir vibe, but it slowly unfolds into folk-inspired fantasy. Victoria’s intriguing world-building never feels like mere exposition, because it is so richly archetypal, and yet grounded in the various traditions found throughout the Philippines. She convincingly depicts the culture clash between the materialist mortal world and the magical Diwata realm. It is exactly the sort of vision of an intersection of the human and the fantastical that the film Bright should have realized better (but didn’t).
After Lambana is a complete and self-contained story (the first outside of serials Malonzo has worked on, thus far), but it is easy to envision how they might return to the world of Lambana, which wouldn’t be unwelcomed. Fans of gritty of the gritty magical realism of Filipino films like Leonor Will Never Die, After Lambana is now on-sale.
