Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas, #1)

by Zoraida Córdova

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I was super excited for Labyrinth Lost, but I think I built it up too much in my head. I definitely still enjoyed it a lot though, but mostly for the lore and world building rather than the things that drew me to it in the first place. Alex is a bruja, but she wants to get rid of her magic. Her family thinks that her powers haven't manifested yet, but Alex has been trying to keep them suppressed. But then she makes a snake crawl out of a boy's throat and her secret is out. Alex isn't giving up on trying to expel her magic, but then she accidentally makes her entire family disappear instead.

Labyrinth Lost has a lot of interesting lore surrounding the brujas. I loved learning about them! The Deathday celebration was super interesting and a bit creepy. But it was Los Lagos that really drew me in. It's this kind of afterlife, Wonderland, Neverland, limbo, weirdness. Alex enlists the help of the mysterious Nova to help get her there to save her family, and their journey is nothing less than strange. It really did remind me a lot of Alice in Wonderland, but more dangerous.

Where Labyrinth Lost disappointed me a bit was in the plot. It's a pretty typical "chosen one" type of plot where Alex doesn't want this amazing power, but she needs it to do big things. She not only has to get her family back, but she winds up having to save the inhabitants of Los Lagos from a powerful evil. I just wasn't as into that as I had hoped. I felt like I had read this story many times. Everything is wrapped up as nicely as I expected. There is an epilogue which ends on a cliffhanger, but it's not one that I actually cared about.

There is a very minor romance in Labyrinth Lost, and it was one of the elements that initially had me most excited. Alex is bisexual, although that's never explicitly stated. She's attracted to and annoyed by Nova, but it's her best friend Rishi who really captures her attention. There's a few adorable stolen glances and hand holding and kissing, but nothing that screams Romance. I do hope to see more of their relationship development in future books.

In the end, I liked Labyrinth Lost. The plot was predictable and didn't fully engage me, but I was completely drawn in by the world created.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.