Bruja Born (Brooklyn Brujas, #2)

by Zoraida Córdova

Next in the Brooklyn Brujas series of fantasy novels that follow three witch born sisters as they develop their powers and battle magic in their hometown and the worlds beyond.
Lula must let go of the ghosts of her past to face the actual living dead of her present.
Lula Mortiz feels like an outsider. Her sister's newfound Encantrix powers have wounded her in ways that Lula's bruja healing powers can't fix, and she longs for the comfort her family once brought her. Thank the Deos for Maks, her sweet, steady boyfriend who sees the beauty within her and brings light to her life. Then a bus crash turns Lula's world upside down. Her classmates are all dead, including Maks. But Lula was born to heal, to fix. She can bring Maks back, even if it means seeking help from her sisters and defying Death herself. But magic that defies the laws of the deos is dangerous. Unpredictable. And when the dust settles, Maks isn't the only one who's been brought back…
"Cordova keeps the flame on high… Fantasy and zombie fans looking for flavor—organ-meat, in particular—will not be disappointed." —New York Times Book Review
Brooklyn Brujas Series:
Labyrinth Lost (Book 1): Alex's story—set in the mythical fantasy world of Los Lagos Bruja Born (Book 2): Lula's story—urban fantasy set on the streets of Brooklyn Wayward Witch (Book 3): Rose's story—set in the magical lost realm of AdasPerfect for fans of:
Zombie books Epic fantasy quests Latinx books Paranormal fiction Witch books Sister book series

• ISBN10: 1728209862
• ISBN13: 9781728209869
• Publish Date: 1 October 2019 (first published 5 June 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Sourcebooks Fire
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I became a fan of these brujas via Labyrinth Lost. The story was so rich and captivating, and I couldn't wait to get to know the other Mortiz sisters better. I must admit, I was even more impressed by Lula's story.

Lula was struggling with the new family dynamic following their return from Los Lagos. She had to adjust to her sister, Alex, being this powerful witch, her own disfigurement, and the return of her father. Let's just say, that Lula was NOT embracing all the changes in her home life. But she had Maks, or at least she thought she did. When the school bus was involved in a catastrophic accident, Lula found herself the lone survivor, but because she was not ready to move on, she made the mistake of misusing her magic to bring Maks back to life....sort of.

Córdova definitely upped her game in this book. There was so much magic and mayhem, I was in overload, and I loved it!

• Like I said - so much magic! We got to see a lot of different characters tap into their magic, and there were some really cool powers revealed, but what really excited me was what we found out about Rose's power, and it was VERY interesting.

• More of the bruja world was revealed and Lady de la Murerte and the casimuertos were utterly fascinating. If you like zombies, I think you will enjoy the casimuertos.

• The sisters spent most of the book working together to solve the problems they created, and I loved the way they played off each other. But, it was not only the sisters who came together, we got to see

• Mom and Dad join the action, and many other members of their magical community as well.
I really enjoyed getting to meet some of the members of the Thorne Hill Alliance and the Knights of Lavant. I can already tell, that I am going to love these guys, and I hope we get more of them in Rose's book.

• There were a LOT of action scenes in this book, and I know they had my heart pumping.
As she did in the previous book, Córdova deftly wove in Latin culture, which just elevated the story.

I want to thank Córdova for the wild ride. It was magical and action-packed, and filled with family and love. I am SO looking forward to Rose's book, and learning more about that little peek we got at the very end of this book.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[justine_manzano]

I loved the first book in the Brooklyn Brujas series, and I found Lula and Rose interesting, but I didn't think Cordova could match Alex and her journey in her second book--I was wrong. In book 2, she follows Lula in an adventure that manages to be even more harrowing and damaging to the world at large than Alex's story was to her own family and another realm. Cordova creates consistently flawed and real characters in the Mortiz girls. Where Alex struggled with her identity as a bruja, Lula struggles with both the changes in her family and the uniquely painful challenge of losing a loved one, and in that, losing oneself. As we follow Lula as she confronts Lady de la Muerte, and works to correct a dangerous mistake, we learn that the first step in healing is learning to love yourself despite the ugly parts we wish to hide. Yet another wonderful adventure--I look forward to seeing where Rose leads us next.

[Empress of Sass]

First, the usual disclaimer. I received a free eARC of this novel from the publisher via Netgaller.com in exchange for my honest review. This review will contain spoilers because in this house we do not fear a spoiler, nay we seek them out willingly with a brave heart and a curious mind!

Rating: 3.75/4

Let's start with the cover. 100%, the cover of this book is what initially lured me in. So much so that I failed to realize that it was a sequel, and had to get my hands on book one so that I could read it! I love everything about this cover. The clean geometric lines, the blue and gold colour scheme and the moth at the centre of it all really speaks to me. Oh, and the phases of the moon, because I love me some phases of the moon worked into art.

I enjoyed this story much more than the first book. With Labyrinth Lost, I felt like I was always wanting more from the story- something was just off and lacking. I enjoyed it, but I didn't -love- it. This book improved in leaps and bound, in my opinion.

Confession. I hated Lula in Labyrinth Lost. In Bruja Born, I hated her less, but I also felt like her character got the "protagonist scrub", that some of her difficult behaviour and sharper edges were filed down for palatability when the spotlight was turned on to her. I wanted to see her really bond with Alex, express her forgiveness and understanding, but instead it felt like she forced Alex to help her by manipulating Alex' guilt, and still felt like her endangering the world was justified, and that Alex's was not. There was a bit of a turn around on those thoughts, but they really didn't have a satisfying scene together hashing it out.

The plot of this one felt more immediate and faster paced, and I was a big fan that the Deos were more present in this one, that their stories and myths were delved into. I love me a magic system that is divine in origin, and this didn't disappoint.

Alex was still in a weird place for me. The romance between her in Rishi felt odd in book one, and this book didn't do it any favours by shunting Rishi off to Fort Lauderdale (I think? She had almost zero screen time and was only ever mentioned in barest passing). The number one complaint I have with these books is that while the idea and characters are great in concept, the execution can be a little weak and thin, especially the relationships between all the characters, romantic, friendship and familial. Everything stays on the surface, and the book surfaces for it. We barely see Rishi and Alex as friends at the begining, so when they develop a romance it seems sort of dropped out of the blue, considering the book up until that point explored Alex's romantic curiosity and complicated alliance with Nova almost exclusively.

Bruja Born continues that trend, by popping Rishi on a plane out of Brooklyn and dropping Nova back into Alex's orbit. They barely interact, just mostly circle each other, clearly both feeling some complicated things about each other, but never really having a good moment to figure anything out between them. Then Nova starts spending time with the youngest sister Rosie, and book three warning bells are going off in my head.

The plot in Book 2 revolves around Lula being unable to let go of her love for Maks, her longtime boyfriend, both relationship wise, and then letting him pass on in death. She wrangles first her sisters and Nova into things, and then half the magical community of Brooklyn when they accidentally kick off a Casimuerto apocalypse. Oops. Teenagers in love, am I right? Always starting world ending events instead of doing their homework and helping out around the house.

Lula and Maks' relationship ends before we can see any of it, as he breaks up with her immediately. This makes the emotional side of the rest of the book fall flat when it needs to be a pillar for the plot to stand on. How can we understand Lula's drastic decisions to save and hold on to this love no matter the cost, when all we are shown is this jerk breaking up with her for struggling and not being as bubbly and outgoing as she used to be while acknowledging he knows she is going through some heavy stuff? I'm glad he stays definitively dead in the end, good riddance to his garbage personality.

The magic seems better flushed out in this one, and I'm very, very hyped to explore Rose's in the next book. Her newly discovered power really speaks to me, and hands down, she is my favourite Mortiz sister. It's not even a contest. Please don't let her character drasticaly change in the next book!

All in all, they are fun books, with magic, and teen drama, and a world that is expanding out and becoming more interesting. Love the addition of Thorne Hill Alliance characters and the Knights of Lavant being in this book. I hope to see more of them in later books. It's an enjoyable quick read, but it's missing that something special to truly make it one of my favourites that I will come to again and again. If witches, supernatural creatures and magical realism are your thing, give this series a try.

[leahrosereads]

Before I give my thoughts, let's talk diversity. Most of the people in this story are POCs with Latin American descent, and you see a lot of latin american culture weaved with some fantastical elements and excellent storytelling.

This is the second book in the Brooklyn Brujas series, but instead of following Alex from the first book, we are in the head of her older sister Lula. Lula's also a bruja with healing abilities who went through something very traumatic in the first book and isn't handling it well. Not that I blame her.

Once again, I have to hand it to Ms. Córdova - she created very real characters here. Their personalities are well thought out and pieced together creating cohesively flawed complete individuals.

After all that happened to Lula in the first book, she's hoping to get back to a new normal and has even more heartbreak happen. It's enough to drive any young person to do what she did here, and I can't say that I don't see her logic. I was young once and would do almost anything to keep the love of my life back then.

It's understandable.

Again, I thought this had a wonderful story to it, that I don't want to go too into because I don't want to give anything away. But brujas aren't the only magical creature in this one!

If you haven't read this series yet, you should definitely get on the bandwagon. It's worth it!!