Review: Sal and Gabi Break the Universe (Sal and Gabi #1) by Carlos Hernandez

Title: Sal and Gabi Break the Universe

Series: Sal and Gabi #1

Author: Carlos Hernandez

Genre: Middle Grade, fantasy, sci-fi

Publication date: March 2019

Published by: Rick Riordan Presents

Source: Purchased hardcover

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Synopsis: How did a raw chicken get inside Yasmany's locker?

When Sal Vidon meets Gabi Real for the first time, it isn't under the best of circumstances. Sal is in the principal's office for the third time in three days, and it's still the first week of school. Gabi, student council president and editor of the school paper, is there to support her friend Yasmany, who just picked a fight with Sal. She is determined to prove that somehow, Sal planted a raw chicken in Yasmany's locker, even though nobody saw him do it and the bloody poultry has since mysteriously disappeared.

Sal prides himself on being an excellent magician, but for this sleight of hand, he relied on a talent no one would guess . . . except maybe Gabi, whose sharp eyes never miss a trick. When Gabi learns that he's capable of conjuring things much bigger than a chicken--including his dead mother--and she takes it all in stride, Sal knows that she is someone he can work with. There's only one slight problem: their manipulation of time and space could put the entire universe at risk.

A sassy entropy sweeper, a documentary about wedgies, a principal who wears a Venetian bauta mask, and heaping platefuls of Cuban food are just some of the delights that await in this mind-blowing novel gift-wrapped in love and laughter.

My rating: ★★★★★

“Do your worst, multiverse,” I told my reflection. “I’m ready for you.”

I love Rick Riordan’s books so I was super excited about the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. This was actually my first read in the imprint and I loved it! I was extra excited because I myself am Hispanic and I don’t read very many books by Hispanic authors/with Hispanic protagonists, so this was awesome! And it was a lot of fun! From the first page I knew I would love this—it was so funny! The characters find themselves in wacky situations, and just the fact that the multiverse is a thing is SO cool!

“We don't know what calamitrons will do to human tissue. They could act like radiation and make you sick, or worse.”
“Or maybe they'll give me superpowers!”
“Dude,” Gabi cacaseca’ed, “you can steal stuff from other universes. You're good on superpowers.”

One fun thing about Sal is that he’s a magician (he’s a manipulative little punk and it’s kinda great 😂). It’s funny cause he also has the ability to pull things from other dimensions, which is a different kind of magic altogether! Speaking of which, we never really find out WHY he is able to do this. Maybe it’s just me, but this is something I would like to know. I’m curious, okay! Lol. But this ability is super cool! The one thing we do know is that he was struggling with his mother’s death, and that’s sort of when this all began.

And speaking of his mom, his stepmom is pretty cool. I love that they have such a healthy relationship. The cliché of the kids not getting along with their stepparent is boring and old, but Sal and his stepmom get along really well and I loved that. And then Sal’s dad is a physicist!

As for feisty Gabby, I also loved her! One thing that confused me was that she had a lot of dads? I’m not sure what that was all about and it was never explained. I’m sure I’m missing something there, but idk 😅

One relationship that was very surprising and intriguing was Sal and Gabi’s relationship with Yasmany, a bully. The relationship and even character development here was great! He has his own terrible issues going on at home, and we saw what a good friend Gabi is . She is just so caring and I love that about her 🥰

Another thing I loved was learning about Cuban culture. I’m Hispanic, as I mentioned, but I’m Mexican American. I am not very familiar with Cuban culture, but I presumed there were a lot of similarities. And there were! But there were also a lot of interesting differences and some phrases and sayings I had never heard before. So yeah, that was very fun! And speaking of that, there was quite a bit of Spanish in here, which I appreciated, and the book did a good job of translating without it feeling like it was hitting you over the head with it. There was also a lot of Spanglish which I loved because I myself speak Spanglish 😂

The book starts off with a chicken in a locker. Sal accidentally brings it from another universe, but as a cover he claims it was just a magic trick since, you know, he’s a magician. BUT because of this “trick,” he is called a ‘brujo’ at school, which is basically a witch. Now, I personally think witches are cool—they are one of my favorite supernatural creatures, BUT in my culture, brujeria ALWAYS has a negative connotation attached to it. Always. And apparently this is also the case in Cuban culture, which totally sucks for Sal. But I thought that was really interesting just seeing all these similarities between Mexican and Cuban cultures. Another similarity I hardcore related to was this:

Like any proper Cuban gathering, it took the adults another forty-five minutes of conversation to actually say good-bye.

YES! This is my mom at every family gathering EVER! 🤣 Also the whole thing with the food... There was one part when Sal meets Gabi’s family and they feed him a heaping plate of food. At a Hispanic party, I promise you you will never go hungry. And they will feed you even if you’re not hungry. Just take the food, don’t refuse it... it’s the best thing you can do for yourself 😂 (Again, my mom, literally 🤣)

Suffice to say, I really loved this! I was a little surprised because as I was reading this I found that this book was more character-driven, not plot-driven, which is what I’m used to/prefer. But it’s a good thing I loved these characters and their relationships with one another. I also loved the setting and the culture and the multiverses and the wacky situations the characters found themselves in... It was such a great book! And that ending was intense! I’m interested to see how they’re gonna, you know, fix the universe 😉

Alternate cover:

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊