Reviews

Fun and darkly magical adventure into a new world full of witches, monsters, and the power of love and family. Loved how Córdova drew on her own culture and family history to create a new mythology. Sometimes the dialogue moved a little too quickly for me, or didn't quite synch up, so I was confused in some spots, but this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. I'm assuming there will be a sequel because that cliffhanger at the end is hella steep...

adustypickle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

snazel's review against another edition

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4.0

~If there was magic in the world, it would follow certain traditions, and this is not mine.~ That was my reaction for about the first third of the book. "Magic doesn't WORK like that." "That doesn't ring true to the underpinnings of the world as I know them!" "What no you can't buy your magic in a SHOP."

And then basically I got my feet underneath me enough to follow along as a visitor to my neighbour's magic land. (Which was Super Awesome.) And being a visitor was really interesting.

And that's not to say that I think this book is drawing directly from religion or culture on a 1:1 basis, but that the flavour of it, the feel of it, was drawing from different touchstones than my life.

Also the love interest is SO GOOD I ship it.

fridah17's review against another edition

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5.0

I loved everything about this book. The magic, the folklore, the queer stories. It was touching and moving and I truly could not put it down.

hlsimon23's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

wishingfish's review against another edition

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3.0

A painfully average YA fantasy novel that’s really only worth reading for the bisexual Afro-Latina heroine. The writing was mediocre, at best. Some nice lines, but even more outright bad ones. The world-building was mediocre. The brujas and their rituals were pretty good, but Los Lagos could have used further fleshing out. The characters and relationships weren’t very strong. And neither was the plot.

To begin with, Alejandra was stupid. She didn’t want to be a bruja, because she believed being brujas had only brought her family suffering. But I dunno where she got that idea! The recoil from casting spells is like getting tired or sore during a workout — short-lived, no lasting damage, and the exercise is still beneficial. So Alejandra working herself up so much about it was absurd. Otherwise, the family’s magic didn’t hurt them. Her father leaving was unrelated. Her mother having to work hard to provide for her daughters was unrelated. Her aunt dying was (ostensibly) unrelated.

So she tried to get rid of her powers… by consulting a random stranger she’d just met and combining several cantos she’d never cast. Then she was surprised when the canto went wrong. Girl, of course it did! You had no idea what you were doing or what the consequences of your actions would be, and you didn’t bother to find out! And you put all your trust in a random stranger you’d just met!

And all this stupidity is what lays the groundwork for the bulk of the book’s plot.

Speaking of the plot, it was a straightforward hero’s journey. One twist, which wasn’t much of a twist. And then defeating the one-dimensional villain only took two very short chapters. Really?

But worst of all, the plot was driven by way too many deus ex machina contrivances. First, Alejandra’s friend Rishi showed up in Los Lagos out of nowhere. She happened to drop by the Mortiz home (even though Alejandra had never had her over), she happened to notice the portal that none of the police at the crime scene noticed, and she happened to land directly in Alejandra and Nova’s path, and in such a way that she was able to help get them out of a predicament. That last one was the most annoying, honestly. “Portals are unpredictable.” Lol, whatever. Córdova just knew that Rishi couldn’t catch up with the others on her own, but she had to be included somehow, for some reason.

Except that she had no place in this story! She added nothing whatsoever. She was like a child tagging along. Seriously, I did not get 16-year-old from her at all. Córdova tried so hard to make her ~quirky~ with the galaxy-patterned leggings and wings and dumb comments and squealing and interest in dodo birds that she ended up coming off as a little kid. Did she ever say or do anything a teenager would do? Yes, teenagers act childish, but the problem is that she never once acted her age to offset all the piled-on immaturity.

Anyway, back to the contrivances:

Alejandra’s mother and sister somehow projected themselves to her like holograms in order to give her hints from all the way across Los Lagos. And her dead aunt conveniently turned up… in order to give her hints from all the way across Los Lagos. Seriously? I mean, seriously? That is some lazy storytelling.

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