A review by flaviathebibliophile
Labyrinth Lost, by Zoraida Córdova
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!