Labyrinth Lost

Another long-overdue review. I did end up buying a copy of my own, and I'm really glad I did because I loved this book. Once I started reading this, I could not stop. I sped through it in nearly one sitting, and when I wasn't reading it, I wanted to be.

Cordova has created an amazing world of brujas and gods and other worlds. Alex comes from a long line of brujos and brujas - witches - and she hates and fears her magic. At her Deathday celebration, after she comes into her powers, she casts a spell to rid herself of her powers. Instead, her entire family - present and past - get sucked into another world where they are held prisoner by a power-hungry being who will kill them and consume their powers.

A bit Alice-in-Wonderland, Alex and show more her reluctant ally Nova, travel to Los Lagos and journey to save her family. Lots of interesting characters along the way, as well as the obligatory acceptance of magic on Alex's part.

It was also incredibly refreshing that Alex is depicted as bisexual, being attracted to both Nova and her best friend Rishi.

I loved this book. And as soon as it ended, I wanted more! I loved this world Cordova's created. I loved her characters. And I cannot wait for the next book to find out what happens next.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. show less

I love that this is a vastly different take on a pretty common teen identity journey trope magic. Very cool mythos based on Dia de los Muertos. I also love that the main character is probably bi, but the book isn't about that -- it's about family and connection, acceptance and betrayal. The idea that she might be attracted to her best friend is just another part of the scariness of new love -- true for anyone, regardless. The story-journey itself didn't really do that much for me, but I appreciate so, so much both the world and the casual acceptance of sexuality.

https://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/labyrinth-lost-zoraida-caordova/

Holy cow, y’all, this book is incredible.

I had the amazing blessing to meet Zoraida, the other night, and she said her vision was to have a Charmed style story with latina brujas. And, it is that but it is so much more.

Alejandra grew up in a cluster of powerful, female brujas (witches in Spanish but her family is quick to remind her of the differences between the two) and wants very little to do with the family business. Stuck between her perfect older sister, Lula, and her clairvoyant little sister, Rose, Alex just wants a normal Brooklyn teenage life.

That wish is shattered when she tries to return her powers to the Deos and instead of her powers going show more missing, her family disappears. Whoops, big time.

She ends up on a trek into the underworld to bring back her family, mashing together Latinx folklore, family ties, heavy magic, and a whole lot of snark.

I grew up in a female-dominated family, with my mama and my little sister, my grandmother, and various aunts. Though ethnically different and, well, minus the magic part, that was a warm fuzzy thread that endeared this story to me from the very beginning.

The other piece I absolutely loved was the undertone of bisexuality during the journey. Y’all know by now that I love a good queer story and this one did not disappoint. It wasn’t as much in your face as some but it was a calm, cool stream, running throughout the entire story.

I highly recommend this to fans of the Rick Riordan set for its mythology and adventure. And anyone who loves love, magic, and an incredible story. show less

Listen, a book that takes place in the outer NYC boroughs, features witchcraft, has a potential bi protagonist, AND oh yeah, she's latinx as well? I WAS SOLD IN A HEARTBEAT! Maybe it was wish fulfillment, but Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova was just everything I have wanted in a very long time. Because of this, it had the potential to let me down, and yet, it gave me life.

Centered around a family of brujas based in Brooklyn, Labyrinth Lost follows middle daughter Alex as she fights against who her family thinks she should be, struggles to find who she actually is, and oh yeah, travels through a magical land akin to the Underworld after a spell goes awry, risking her life in the process. What really makes this book so special isn't the show more magic (though it's pretty cool), but the emotion. The ties that bind Alex so tightly she feels like she can't breathe, but when they're gone, she feels lost. That everything is centered on her relationship with the family, and on the search for her place within it, while magical events are afoot, just makes this feel so real and let's it stand out from every other typical YA magical girl story.

I would be a liar, however, if I didn't admit that it does still follow some YA conventions -- namely romance with 2 love interests. However, like with everything else in the book, Cordova gives it her own take. We have a potential love triangle that DOESN'T really involve the two parties fighting constantly and forcing Alex to choose; there are moments, yes, but mostly, they are able to put differences aside for Alex's sake and because to do otherwise would put them all in danger. Also, it's a queer love triangle!

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova is a great read that stands out among all the other YA magical girl stories. Cordova creates multidimensional characters that feel real with realistic reactions and emotions that carry the fantastic story forward. I cannot wait for the second book in the Brooklyn Brujas series to come out!

For more in-depth commentary on Labyrinth Lost, check out the Pages and Pause Screen Podcast where I talk about the story along with my co-host Ally as it happens (Full Spoilers). show less

Honestly, I was a little disappointed with [b:Labyrinth Lost|27969081|Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas, #1)|Zoraida Córdova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456428801s/27969081.jpg|42472829] and not because it wasn't interesting, but because there just simply was not enough of it. I was devouring the book up until Alex's entire family disappeared as it was at that point the story started to flag.

Alejandra, our main character, is fabulous. She's a bisexual Latina and those things are just matter-of-fact; they're a part of her. Alex struggles more with the magic she was born with, the power of it frustrating her until she decides to rid herself of it on her Death Day rather than embrace it. Big mistake, obviously. From there we're show more treated to a great progression of Alex as someone scared and uncomfortable with aspects of who she is to a young woman who emerges, fire-forged, from the trials she faced.

The world created by Zoraida Córdova is clever, imaginative and vivid. Los Lagos is a limbo of sorts, heavily reminiscent of the magical realm in Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle series. Now, perhaps this is where my frustrations started because Bray's realm is lush, intoxicating and corrupted, much like Córdova's world, but the reader spent three books travelling through that realm. I just wanted more of Los Lagos. It seemed to go by so quickly, not delving into the world with as much detail as I think it warranted. Possibly because of that, the rescue plot just seemed a little too straightforward and easy.

Likewise, the Big Bad, the Devourer was underutilized. She was way too interesting a villain to only really appear at the end and be vanquished within a chapter. I was so up for her and Alex to be true opposites, to delve into the meat of magical conflicts within the self. To have her held up as a genuine mirror for our protagonist.

Finally, while I loved the inclusion of a female love interest for Alex, I wasn't really impressed with how it was done. It seemed like Córdova was far more interested in the relationship between Nova and Alex than in the one between Rishi and Alex. It felt tacked on, underdeveloped. Nova felt like the author's favourite character, the one she enjoyed writing the most. I was confused about why and how Rishi was there, what her purpose was other than to be a love interest. Which frustrates the hell out of me because a queer Guyanese-American girl is not something you see in fiction often and I just wanted more. Considering she was already Alex's best friend, it felt like a perfect opportunity to flesh out a different Alex than the one we saw with her family.

I loved Alex's family and it's no coincidence that the book weakened without them. The dialogue between sisters, mother and extended family is snappy, loving and frustrating in all the familiar ways. They really sparked.

I'm readily anticipating more books in this series, despite my criticisms, because I feel like there is so much potential there. show less

I enjoyed this a lot within the bounds of what it was, it's just that I have some problems with the standard elements of some of the things it was. To whit:

1) Quest/travel storyline. This is the one where our characters are travelling from x to y, and encountering plot elements along the way. I actually mostly passionately hate this structure, because I want plots to blossom from and build upon themselves, winching inexorably tighter. I find and-then-the-next-adventure-happened leaves me with no continuing tension of development. (Yes, this means I'm often setting books aside for this, because fantasy as a genre loves this, I have no idea why.)

Now, despite that, I thought this book did really well with its quest, mostly by frontloading show more the book with heavy investment in the main character, her relationships, her goals, her flaws. The tension on her and on those carried me through the questing; the focus wasn't on the next thing encountered, but on what it meant for her.

2) YA's zeal for pace at the expense of depth. I am constantly crying about this when it comes to YA fantasy--the world, the characters, the moments of wonder, the big reveals all seem to go flying past without time to really feel them, because things have to move fast at all costs. (It particularly saddens me because YA is so good at having interesting worlds and characters and wonders.)

There was so much going on in this book, and I would've given my eye teeth (or some other teeth; I have my wisdom teeth in a bag somewhere!) for just a few more lines grace around every significant moment. Everything just whisked past slightly too briskly; I wanted to luxuriate.


But as it was, all my fundamental format issues aside, this was a beautiful, intriguing, woven-with-wonder urban fantasy with some cracking characters who I really enjoyed spending time with. I'm keen to read more in the series. show less

4.5 stars.

Boy, do I hope that Labyrinth Lost is the first of a series, because I loved this book! I was immediately pulled in to this novel when I first read the description and realized it contained many of my favorite elements: Brujas and brujos (witchcraft); a coming-of-age Deathday celebration that takes its inspiration from Dios de los Muertes and Santeria; and a journey into an Underworld-type land called Los Lagos. And a glossary. I absolutely love when novels include glossaries!!

The main character, Alex, is a teenage bruja that lives in Brooklyn with her mother and two sisters. She does not want the magic that runs in her blood, that ties her to her family and ancestors. We meet Alex shortly before her Deathday celebration. show more Along the lines of a bat mitzvah, but fictional, a teen’s Deathday is a special family celebration where the ancestors give their blessing to the brujo/a, which allows their magic to grow and reach its full potential.

Alex, however, fears her power, and in a hasty decision, uses a canto to try to revoke her magic and give it back to the Deos (Gods). That plan backfires, terribly, and Alex embarks on a journey into Los Lagos to try and correct the terrible mistake that she made. She is accompanied by Nova, a young mysterious brujo, and her best friend, Rishi.

Overall, the story works really well. One of my favorite things about the story was the world of Los Lagos, an ethereal world in another dimension. Córdova did an excellent job with both the plot and the world-building, and I really hope that Los Lagos makes another appearance in a future book! Alex and her companion, the brujo Nova, jump through a portal early on in the novel in an effort to save Alex’s family. The reader is literally dropped into a world filled with duendes, fairies from the Kingom of Adas, and the evil Devourer, a bruja gone bad, who has been sucking up power from the land through the Tree of Souls.

I also love the cast of characters, who are mostly Latinx. Most of the characters – with the exception of Rishi, who is Indian – are Latinx, and the magical creatures that fill the pages of Labyrinth Lost are influenced by Latin American culture and mythology. For the most part, all of the characters are well-developed, with two exceptions: Alex’s mother, and Rishi. I was surprised when I finished the novel and realized I knew almost as little about Rishi as I did at the beginning. Which to me is an oversight, since she is one of the love interests in the story. My favorite character was definitely Alex’s deceased Aunt Rosaria, and I knew she was going to play a larger role than one would imagine from a deceased relative from the opening sentence:

“The second time I saw my dead aunt Rosaria, she was dancing.”

Another aspect about Labyrinth Lost that I really appreciated: respectful bisexual representation. I have to admit I began to worry when the love triangle first began to make an appearance, with the fear that we were headed down a rabbit hole, and Rishi would be turned into another token LGBT character that gets left in the dust for the “true” love interest. That was absolutely not the case! The romance was also very understated, which I appreciate. I am not a big fan of the romance genre, and fantasy books that tread to far into that department aren’t usually my cup of tea.

With all of these wonderful elements, why did I not give it 5 stars? It comes quite close, but one problematic aspect brings it down a notch in my book. It always bothers me when an author misuses mental illness terms in an ableist manner, and I caught at least two examples of ableism in Labyrinth Lost. The first is the frequent use of “crazy”, as in “Crazy Uncle Julio”. The second, is this:

“I’ve never seen a boy with such bipolar eyes, let alone a permanent wrinkle between his brows, like he spends more time frowning than anything else.”

What, exactly, are bipolar eyes? In my opinion, this is definitely not an acceptable description, and it is used multiple times do describe Nova’s eyes. Frankly, I was surprised that a book that as diverse as this one would use such harmful word choice.

Overall, I definitely recommend Labyrinth Lost to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy, especially stories rich in witchcraft and mythology. The ending seemed to leave an opening for a sequel, which I would read in a heartbeat! show less