A review by megankb
Bruja Born, by Zoraida Córdova
3.0
"They don't understand. Not my sinmago friends and not these witches. Magic transforms. Magic is also unpredictable and unforgiving. You don't know who you'll become after wielding it."
Bruja Born suffers in comparison to Labyrinth Lost, mainly because it is missing the sense of magical wonder and awe that was woven throughout the first book as Alex, Nova and Rishi explored Los Lagos. This book takes place shortly after the events of the first, but deals with Alex's older sister, Lula, who is trying to cope with the mental and physical scars she obtained while she was trapped in Los Lagos. Her beloved boyfriend breaks up with her and then dies in a horrific accident, along with the rest of the soccer team and their cheerleaders. Despite being warned repeatedly not to, Lula, with the help of her sisters, brings Maks back to life. However, the magic backfires and brings him and the other students killed back to life in the form of casimuertos, which are like zombies that eat people's hearts instead of brains. The goddess of Death also ends up trapped in some halfway realm due to this and it is up to Lula to fix her mistakes.
The best part of Córdova's books are the exploration of the Latin American-inspired magic system she has created, but Bruja Born is scarce on that front. We meet some new magical characters and discover new concepts but they just didn't have the same vibrancy as they did in the first book. The third and final book of this series will deal with Rose exploring Adas, a faerie kingdom, so I'm definitely interested in seeing if Córdova will recapture the magic I felt in Labyrinth Lost.
Bruja Born suffers in comparison to Labyrinth Lost, mainly because it is missing the sense of magical wonder and awe that was woven throughout the first book as Alex, Nova and Rishi explored Los Lagos. This book takes place shortly after the events of the first, but deals with Alex's older sister, Lula, who is trying to cope with the mental and physical scars she obtained while she was trapped in Los Lagos. Her beloved boyfriend breaks up with her and then dies in a horrific accident, along with the rest of the soccer team and their cheerleaders. Despite being warned repeatedly not to, Lula, with the help of her sisters, brings Maks back to life. However, the magic backfires and brings him and the other students killed back to life in the form of casimuertos, which are like zombies that eat people's hearts instead of brains. The goddess of Death also ends up trapped in some halfway realm due to this and it is up to Lula to fix her mistakes.
The best part of Córdova's books are the exploration of the Latin American-inspired magic system she has created, but Bruja Born is scarce on that front. We meet some new magical characters and discover new concepts but they just didn't have the same vibrancy as they did in the first book. The third and final book of this series will deal with Rose exploring Adas, a faerie kingdom, so I'm definitely interested in seeing if Córdova will recapture the magic I felt in Labyrinth Lost.