Oh Juan Caceres, I am so conflicted about you.
On one hand, I see where the majority of the people here are coming from, and agree with pretty much all the points stated. Pedophilic shoe cobbler left me feeling super duper squicky and the glorified drug use was a touchy subject, especially in conjunction with poor, wayward boys. There were several details that had me confused, like the dog who could not be affected by magic, but the main one was the idea of Juan, the zapertero, the pixie, and the orc were combined. I did not see how that worked. The orc toe was still affecting Juan, sure, but there was no mention of the orc himself having any lingering effect on Juan. That didn't make sense at all, and ruined the ending for me, because I kept thinking about how that would work.
On the other hand, I liked the dark twist on a traditional fairy tale telling. To go against the crowd, I actually like Juan Caceres. Was he a punk who needs to grow up and stop huffing dead pixies? Oh why yes indeed, he is, but he has conviction and passion, and, excuse my language, he has balls the size of a SUV. I mean, who willingly walks into a drug dealers' house, makes a deal where he could end up "warming" said drug dealers' bed for a week (and then ups the ante to TWO weeks), and then cheats his way to the win? Juan does, and he does because he is reckless, cunning, overly-confident, and believes that ultimately, he is doing the right thing for someone he loves. That does not make him a good person, but man, does it make him a fascinating character.