Thursday, July 28, 2016

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova

Title: Labyrinth Lost
Author: Zoraida Córdova
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication date: September 6, 2016
Pages: 336
Source/format: e-ARC from publisher

Rating: ☆☆☆

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):

"Enchanting and complex. Every page is filled with magic."-Danielle Paige, New York Times best-selling author of Dorothy Must Die

Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.

Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation...and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can't trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.

The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland...

Praise for Labyrinth Lost:

"Zoraida Cordova's prose enchants from start to finish. Labyrinth Lost is pure magic." -Melissa Grey, author of The Girl at Midnight

"Magical and empowering, Labyrinth Lost is an incredible heroine's journey filled with mythos come to life; but at its heart, honors the importance of love and family." -Cindy Pon, author of Serpentine and Silver Phoenix

"A brilliant brown-girl-in-Brooklyn update on Alice in Wonderland and Dante's Inferno. Very creepy, very magical, very necessary." -Daniel Jose Older, author of Shadowshaper

"Labyrinth Lost is a magical story of love, family, and finding yourself. Enchanting from start to finish." -Amy Tintera, author of Ruined.

M Y  T H O U G H T S

Alejandra Mortiz (Alex) lives with her mother and her sisters Lula and Rose in Brooklyn, New York. Alex always wanted to have a normal life without magic. Alex is approaching her Deathday and her powers have not waken yet. Deathday, a bruja's coming-of-age ceremony, is similar to a quinceañera.

After wakening her powers, Alex unfortunately find out that she is one of the most powerful brujas of her generation, an Encantrix. When she casts a canto to rid of her magic, something goes wrong. Instead of her magic gone, her family ends up being trapped in another dimension. With the help of Nova, a brujo, Alex enters Los Lagos to save her loved ones.

The family dynamics are strong between the females in the family. I also like the connection between living and the dead. The first person perspective works well in Labyrinth Lost. Zoraida Córdova creates a world with magic and diversity. Córdova enlightens her readers with Latin American culture and folklore. There aren't many paranormal books rich with culture and diversity in terms of ethnicity and bisexuality.

Labyrinth Lost is an bewitching coming-of-age journey exploding with magic, love and family values. Labyrinth Lost sets a new bar for paranormal fantasy!

2 comments:

  1. This book sounds really interesting! I'm always on the lookout for paranormal reads because I haven't read that much of them! I'm glad you enjoyed this one!

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    1. I hope you have a chance to pick it up. It's very unique!

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