BOOK REVIEW: Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1) by Zoraida Córdova

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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 markings 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.

This book had so many great things: magic and great friendships and this amazing, crazy, twisted fantasy world that is part wonderful and part horror. So many things to love! 

Alex doesn't want to be a bruja. Her sisters and her family have been wanting Alex to find her power for years. Little do they know that Alex has already found her power and she blames the fact that her dad left on it. She doesn't feel that being a bruja is a blessing like everyone else does, she sees it as a curse. I kind of had to roll my eyes at the whole "chosen one" thing because that part is a bit cliche. But what isn't cliche is that she doesn't WANT to be chosen. She just wants to be "normal," whatever that means. So she decides to use her Deathly celebration as a day to try and get rid of her powers once and for all. But it backfires when her entire family disappears and she has to go to Los Lagos (the land in between) with Nova, a brujo boy she doesn't trust.

I recently read a book that had magic in the premise, but the actual story was a bit lacking. That was not the case here. The author painted such a vivid picture of Los Lagos. There was so much magic and so many interesting characters. Some were good and some were not so good. She has to find her family, but there are people after her power and Alex must learn to channel that power without her family around. There was a little bit of a love triangle and you know what? I didn't mind it! It was also a bisexual love triangle. Alex is torn between Nova and her best friend, Rishi. I absolutely loved Rishi and maybe the reason why I didn't mind this love triangle is because I loved both characters. Truthfully, I would have loved to know more about Nova and his story, but maybe that will come in the sequel. I also loved the diversity and I loved that no one really cared about Alex's bisexuality. It was treated the same as if she were straight, which is to say that no one cared or made a fuss about it. Love that!

I think my only main issue with the book was that the story dragged a little at times. And even though Alex was trying to rescue her family, I didn't really feel a sense of urgency. I never really thought anything bad would happen to any of them, maybe because the world was just so out there. Maybe the author was focusing so much on the world building because it is the beginning of a series. But there were still a lot of twists and turns and I was pretty satisfied with the ending. It wasn't a cliffhanger, but it did set the characters up for more stories.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Buy this one!