kstone15's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
spookshow's review against another edition
3.0
You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com
Actual rating of 3.5
Alex is a bruja. She comes from a long line of powerful brujas. Her deathday is coming up, the day where she receives her family (both living and dead) blessing and comes into her power fully. The problem is, she hates magic, and she hates her magic the most. She feels completely responsible for her father leaving them when she was younger, and responsible for the bad luck and death that seems to follow her. As her deathday approaches, she comes up with the brilliant idea to get rid of her magic so she can be a normal girl. What she doesn't count on, is the Devourer poking her head out of Los Lagos, vanishing Alex's family into another realm and leaving her with Nova, a brujo that she's just met. Can she trust Nova to help her get her family back? Will she learn that maybe magic isn't so bad? She's running out of time...
I've had this sitting on my kindle, for no joke, probably around two odd years. The premise sounded super interesting, I love stories centered around witches in general, and I have a weird fascination with Brujas especially. I decided to take a break from my never ending e-galley list and dive into something that I bought on a whim.
Straight up, I love the world that the author has created here. While she does state that some things are entirely fictional and her making, I still feel like it really added something to the whole Bruja culture. I also loved that she went down this particular road and wrote a story that centered entirely around Brujas and Brujos because honestly, I don't feel like it has been done enough and there is a wealth of information that could be used to create absolutely riveting stories.
We get an idea from early on that Alex detests her magic, we get a brief backstory as to why, but I feel like it could have been explored a little more. I really enjoyed the character of Nova but am left feeling that there is a lot more about him than meets the eye, and I'm kinda hoping this gets explored more in the follow up book. Rishi was a cute addition to the cast, but I was left feeling like she was literally just included so there would be a love interest other than Nova. I don't really see what she added to the story. We meet her, then heaps of stuff goes down, then she appears again and seems to take everything WAAAAYYY too calmly which I felt let the story down a little for me. I absolutely adored Alex's family, especially Aunt Ro and Mama Juanita they sound like a hoot and a half and I sincerely hope we get to see more of them.
A lot of the time, I felt like the narration was telling more than showing me, which made it come across a little stilted and I feel like this had a hand in the pacing of the story not being the greatest. I just didn't feel like I WANTED to pick this book up and continue reading which was a bit of a bummer. Especially because the world was so full of amazingness and mostly because it's centered around something that interests me quite a lot. At times the story telling felt kind of clumsy, I think another round of editing may have helped to iron this out and make the writing flow a little better.
I didn't really connect a whole lot with the characters as a whole, and I was more interested in Nova's story than Alex's if I'm completely honest. I'm hoping that things pick up a bit more in the follow up story, which I am planning on reading once I get my stupid TBR pile under some form of control (if that ever happens). So while this was an interesting story, I just felt like it needed a bit more work on the characters, the pacing and the narration to really make it shine. It had great potential but I feel like it just fell a bit short of the mark for me.
Actual rating of 3.5
Alex is a bruja. She comes from a long line of powerful brujas. Her deathday is coming up, the day where she receives her family (both living and dead) blessing and comes into her power fully. The problem is, she hates magic, and she hates her magic the most. She feels completely responsible for her father leaving them when she was younger, and responsible for the bad luck and death that seems to follow her. As her deathday approaches, she comes up with the brilliant idea to get rid of her magic so she can be a normal girl. What she doesn't count on, is the Devourer poking her head out of Los Lagos, vanishing Alex's family into another realm and leaving her with Nova, a brujo that she's just met. Can she trust Nova to help her get her family back? Will she learn that maybe magic isn't so bad? She's running out of time...
I've had this sitting on my kindle, for no joke, probably around two odd years. The premise sounded super interesting, I love stories centered around witches in general, and I have a weird fascination with Brujas especially. I decided to take a break from my never ending e-galley list and dive into something that I bought on a whim.
Straight up, I love the world that the author has created here. While she does state that some things are entirely fictional and her making, I still feel like it really added something to the whole Bruja culture. I also loved that she went down this particular road and wrote a story that centered entirely around Brujas and Brujos because honestly, I don't feel like it has been done enough and there is a wealth of information that could be used to create absolutely riveting stories.
We get an idea from early on that Alex detests her magic, we get a brief backstory as to why, but I feel like it could have been explored a little more. I really enjoyed the character of Nova but am left feeling that there is a lot more about him than meets the eye, and I'm kinda hoping this gets explored more in the follow up book. Rishi was a cute addition to the cast, but I was left feeling like she was literally just included so there would be a love interest other than Nova. I don't really see what she added to the story. We meet her, then heaps of stuff goes down, then she appears again and seems to take everything WAAAAYYY too calmly which I felt let the story down a little for me. I absolutely adored Alex's family, especially Aunt Ro and Mama Juanita they sound like a hoot and a half and I sincerely hope we get to see more of them.
A lot of the time, I felt like the narration was telling more than showing me, which made it come across a little stilted and I feel like this had a hand in the pacing of the story not being the greatest. I just didn't feel like I WANTED to pick this book up and continue reading which was a bit of a bummer. Especially because the world was so full of amazingness and mostly because it's centered around something that interests me quite a lot. At times the story telling felt kind of clumsy, I think another round of editing may have helped to iron this out and make the writing flow a little better.
I didn't really connect a whole lot with the characters as a whole, and I was more interested in Nova's story than Alex's if I'm completely honest. I'm hoping that things pick up a bit more in the follow up story, which I am planning on reading once I get my stupid TBR pile under some form of control (if that ever happens). So while this was an interesting story, I just felt like it needed a bit more work on the characters, the pacing and the narration to really make it shine. It had great potential but I feel like it just fell a bit short of the mark for me.
araleith's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this world. I loved the magic and I love the characters and it was just so well written. I love that the book didn't make a huge thing out of the main character's sexuality. It was just a good magical story.
nyxtingale's review against another edition
4.0
I loved it! My favourite part is probably how Alex doesn't choose Nova, because a) he doesn't deserve it and b) I don't like him very much anyway. LGBTQ+ books are amazing too, and how the author worked it into the story seamlessly without the need to point out its queerness was marvellous. My only fault with it was that it dragged on for a bit too long, introducing fantastical creatures that I didn't think were very necessary. I'm excited for the next book where we get to see from Lula's point of view.
flaviathebibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
MAGIC OOZES OUT OF EVERY PAGE!
I really did enjoy this book overall, and it definitely surpassed my expectations in the amount of creativity and originality with which it was created. There was also at least one con which I could think of while reading this book, but I will be discussing that at the end of my review.
Córdova appears to be the type of author who gives some amount of description when forming the setting / world for her readers, without going into excess. I found at times that I would have liked more descriptions of things, but this is coming from a fan of Tolkien (a.k.a. the King of using pages to describe just one thing). I have no difficulty in using my imagination to fill in the gaps, but I wonder if there are some readers who may have more difficulties with this.
That being said, the world which Córdova has created for her readers is all sorts of lush and wondrous. Los Lagos is extremely different from our reality, and yet, easily imaginable. It was an intense pleasure to follow the characters as they made their way first through the streets of Brooklyn, and later Los Lagos as the story progressed.
And while on the topic of characters, I will say that every person and entity in this book were not only unique, but also quite memorable. Where Córdova may have lacked in describing the setting, she definitely made up in character-creation and development. I absolutely adored every single character, simply because they felt unique and special to me.
As for the writing, I found it to be very engaging. I was easily pulled into the story by Córdova’s words alone. And although I pointed out that I wish there had been more descriptive language, the descriptions that there were present in the book, would drag me into this world for hours, when I had only had time to read for a few minutes. I found the writing to be charming, like this, for the majority of the book, but there were also some minor sections of writing which I found a little disappointing. But these were normally a phrase or two which I would have preferred to be formulated differently, and they were few and far in between.
I really did enjoy this book for all of the reasons stated above, as well as the amount of diversity with which its pages are imbibed. And I really enjoyed reading about a heroine who is not heterosexual, and also about a culture with which I have had close to zero encounters in the literary world!
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO THOSE WHO ENJOY WONDROUS TALES SUCH AS ALICE IN WONDERLAND, AS WELL AS TO THOSE WHO ENJOY ADVENTURE, AND LEARNING ABOUT THE MYTHOLOGIES AND BELIEFS OF OTHER CULTURES!
I really did enjoy this book overall, and it definitely surpassed my expectations in the amount of creativity and originality with which it was created. There was also at least one con which I could think of while reading this book, but I will be discussing that at the end of my review.
Córdova appears to be the type of author who gives some amount of description when forming the setting / world for her readers, without going into excess. I found at times that I would have liked more descriptions of things, but this is coming from a fan of Tolkien (a.k.a. the King of using pages to describe just one thing). I have no difficulty in using my imagination to fill in the gaps, but I wonder if there are some readers who may have more difficulties with this.
That being said, the world which Córdova has created for her readers is all sorts of lush and wondrous. Los Lagos is extremely different from our reality, and yet, easily imaginable. It was an intense pleasure to follow the characters as they made their way first through the streets of Brooklyn, and later Los Lagos as the story progressed.
And while on the topic of characters, I will say that every person and entity in this book were not only unique, but also quite memorable. Where Córdova may have lacked in describing the setting, she definitely made up in character-creation and development. I absolutely adored every single character, simply because they felt unique and special to me.
As for the writing, I found it to be very engaging. I was easily pulled into the story by Córdova’s words alone. And although I pointed out that I wish there had been more descriptive language, the descriptions that there were present in the book, would drag me into this world for hours, when I had only had time to read for a few minutes. I found the writing to be charming, like this, for the majority of the book, but there were also some minor sections of writing which I found a little disappointing. But these were normally a phrase or two which I would have preferred to be formulated differently, and they were few and far in between.
I really did enjoy this book for all of the reasons stated above, as well as the amount of diversity with which its pages are imbibed. And I really enjoyed reading about a heroine who is not heterosexual, and also about a culture with which I have had close to zero encounters in the literary world!
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO THOSE WHO ENJOY WONDROUS TALES SUCH AS ALICE IN WONDERLAND, AS WELL AS TO THOSE WHO ENJOY ADVENTURE, AND LEARNING ABOUT THE MYTHOLOGIES AND BELIEFS OF OTHER CULTURES!
mgreco5's review against another edition
3.0
Decent YA read. Starts out a bit slow but picks up. I’d be willing to check out the rest of the series.
itsy719's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
mikotea's review against another edition
4.0
Here's the thing about Labyrinth Lost, the cover is absolutely gorgeous but when it came to the story itself, I felt like I had read it before (think Percy Jackson but with Witches). And that all on it's own was super disappointing. The beginning started out strong and I was really into it and then I hit 30% and I just kind of lost my focus because I felt like I knew everything that was happening. I'd seen this plot before, this setting, this character but at the same time I really enjoyed the authors writing style.
There were plenty of times when I wanted to just DNF it. Let's be honest, I'm not afraid to DNF a book, I'm not going to like every book I pick up, so why force myself to read something I don't like? Especially when there are plenty of other books I could be reading. Now this is going to sound bad but after the first time I put the book down, I saw a spoiler online about the main characters sexuality and that was really the only reason I picked the book back up.
But I'm honestly glad that I did pick it back up because it surprised me. I wanted to see how the main character played out when it came to her sexuality. I was not disappointed because it was believable. It didn't feel fake or forced or anything but a natural progression of things. I guess you could say there was a love triangle but it wasn't a very prominate factor in the plot. There was no fighting or forcing or obvious grossness that usually comes with a love triangle. And that instantly boosted the book in my eyes. Maybe that's biased of me because I always want to see LGBTQIA+ characters in books, especially main characters but that's just how I feel, I guess.
All in all, I didn't hate this book but I didn't feel like screaming about it and throwing it at people for them to read either. I'd love love love to see more LGBTQIA+ characters, especially main characters in YA subgenres like this. But I'd also love to see a lot more originality as well.
There were plenty of times when I wanted to just DNF it. Let's be honest, I'm not afraid to DNF a book, I'm not going to like every book I pick up, so why force myself to read something I don't like? Especially when there are plenty of other books I could be reading. Now this is going to sound bad but after the first time I put the book down, I saw a spoiler online about the main characters sexuality and that was really the only reason I picked the book back up.
But I'm honestly glad that I did pick it back up because it surprised me. I wanted to see how the main character played out when it came to her sexuality. I was not disappointed because it was believable. It didn't feel fake or forced or anything but a natural progression of things. I guess you could say there was a love triangle but it wasn't a very prominate factor in the plot. There was no fighting or forcing or obvious grossness that usually comes with a love triangle. And that instantly boosted the book in my eyes. Maybe that's biased of me because I always want to see LGBTQIA+ characters in books, especially main characters but that's just how I feel, I guess.
All in all, I didn't hate this book but I didn't feel like screaming about it and throwing it at people for them to read either. I'd love love love to see more LGBTQIA+ characters, especially main characters in YA subgenres like this. But I'd also love to see a lot more originality as well.
krisharris525's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0