Title: Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1)
Author: Zoraida Córdova
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 336
Genre: Fantasy
Review copy: Digital ARC via Netgalley
Availability: September 6, 2016
Summary: Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.
Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.
The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…
Review: Portals, cantos, ghosts, love, blood, monsters, death and more are swirling around in Alejandra’s life. In spite of this, Alejandra, or Alex as she’s also called, is reluctant to take on the role of bruja. She’s holding onto secrets that have convinced her to avoid awaking her powers.
Alex comes from a long line of magic. Everyone else in her family seems to see magic as a blessing rather than the curse Alex feels. Most of them are busy trying to change Alex’s mind, but even so, there is a feeling of love and support as they prepare for her Deathday celebration. When it all goes horribly wrong, Alex is determined to fix everything. Family bonds of love are what keep her going through nightmarish conditions as she attempts to find and rescue her family.
Speaking of nightmares, there are some seriously creepy creatures and beings along Alex’s journey. One animal Alex and her guide Nova encounter is described this way, “it’s what you get if a saber-toothed tiger and a snake demon had a baby.” Of course those horrific monsters are stalking and attacking Nova and Alex which is more than a little unpleasant for them. It’s not a terror-filled book, but has a nice dose of chills throughout that keeps things interesting.
I enjoyed the land of Los Lagos with it’s many different landscapes and inhabitants. The journey itself seemed a bit like an obstacle course with one trial after another through many types of terrains. This is a fairly traditional type of fantasy journey, but still managed to seem somewhat unique.
As for the characters, Alex is coming to grips with who she is and deciding who she wants to be. I appreciated her attempts to be true to herself. She only has one close friend in the beginning, Rishi. Readers get to know Rishi, but not as well as I would have liked. Alex describes her as a calming presence and they are close, or at least as close as they can be with all of Alex’s secrets. Nova is a newer addition to Alex’s life. He’s obviously attractive, but Alex has trouble determining whether he’s trustworthy. In addition to these three, Alex’s family members play roles intermittently in the book. With three central characters you may be wondering about a love triangle. Yes, that happens here to a certain extent, but the shape of their relationships made sense in my mind and didn’t detract from the story.
The author provides an author’s note about brujas and some of the other terms she used in the book. Bruja is a Spanish word meaning witch. She was not basing the story on the brujeria faith, but she did chose to use the word bruja rather than witch because “Alex’s ancestors come from Ecuador, Spain, Africa, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Her magic is like Latin America–a combination of the old world and new.” Córdova explains how she created some of the elements of this book like the Deathday ceremony with inspiration from the Day of the Dead and Santeria. I appreciated learning about the many influences and some of the factors in her creative decisions.
Recommendation: If you want a quick and action packed fantasy, get it as soon as you can. Labyrinth Lost satisfies a hunger for magic and wonder.