Labyrinth Lost, by Zoraida Cordova
Recorded Books - 2016
Fantasy, Paranormal, YA
Brooklyn Brujas - Book 1
Audiobook
Narrated by Almarie Guerra
Fantasy, Paranormal, YA
Brooklyn Brujas - Book 1
Audiobook
Narrated by Almarie Guerra
9 Hours, 27 Minutes
Alex lives in Brooklyn with her mother and sisters. While Alex just wants to be a normal teenager, her life is anything but normal.
Alex is a Bruja (a type of witch), coming from a long line of Brujas, and she is a powerful one at that. During a celebration attended by her family, both living and dead, there is to be a ceremony in which she is to perform the rites to accept her powers in full, and to become the great Bruja she is destined to be. But Alex doesn't want to be a Bruja.
During the ceremony, instead of performing the rites to accept the full power of her magical gifts, she performs a different spell in an attempt to banish her gifts. The spell does not work as Alex had expected, and instead of her magic, it is her family that is banished, vanishing into thin air right before her eyes.
In order to get her family back, she enlists the aid of Nova, a Brujo with strange dark markings and tattoos that she has only recently met, and cannot trust. They travel to the darkly magical realm of Los Lagos, where they embark on an epic and dangerous journey and must get past many darkly strange creatures and spirits in an attempt to find and free her mother and sisters.
The basic story line was intriguing and really caught my interest. I loved the Latin American mythology that is at the roots of this story. I enjoy exploring other cultures through books steeped in that culture's mythology.
I felt like the book could have used some additional minor polishing. Without dropping spoilers, I will say that there was an element of this story that felt forced for me. As if it were added to adhere to a certain formula, but did not feel like it fit tightly into the story. I would have like to have seen it snugged into the story a little better, or failing that, removed completely. I'm sure that is an unpopular opinion, but it is mine. To be fair, there is another book in the series, and perhaps that part of the story will create the shape needed for that part to fit better for my tastes.
Narration was skillfully performed by Almarie Guerra. Guerra told the story in a clear and pleasant voice, her tone and cadence were good, and she performed with good range of emotion and character. She easily switched between a Brooklyn accent, and a Latin American Accent and back again. She made the audiobook a pleasure to listen to.
At the end of the day, I felt it was a good book, that was well performed and I plan to continue the story with the next in the series, Bruja Born.
Alex is a Bruja (a type of witch), coming from a long line of Brujas, and she is a powerful one at that. During a celebration attended by her family, both living and dead, there is to be a ceremony in which she is to perform the rites to accept her powers in full, and to become the great Bruja she is destined to be. But Alex doesn't want to be a Bruja.
During the ceremony, instead of performing the rites to accept the full power of her magical gifts, she performs a different spell in an attempt to banish her gifts. The spell does not work as Alex had expected, and instead of her magic, it is her family that is banished, vanishing into thin air right before her eyes.
In order to get her family back, she enlists the aid of Nova, a Brujo with strange dark markings and tattoos that she has only recently met, and cannot trust. They travel to the darkly magical realm of Los Lagos, where they embark on an epic and dangerous journey and must get past many darkly strange creatures and spirits in an attempt to find and free her mother and sisters.
The basic story line was intriguing and really caught my interest. I loved the Latin American mythology that is at the roots of this story. I enjoy exploring other cultures through books steeped in that culture's mythology.
I felt like the book could have used some additional minor polishing. Without dropping spoilers, I will say that there was an element of this story that felt forced for me. As if it were added to adhere to a certain formula, but did not feel like it fit tightly into the story. I would have like to have seen it snugged into the story a little better, or failing that, removed completely. I'm sure that is an unpopular opinion, but it is mine. To be fair, there is another book in the series, and perhaps that part of the story will create the shape needed for that part to fit better for my tastes.
Narration was skillfully performed by Almarie Guerra. Guerra told the story in a clear and pleasant voice, her tone and cadence were good, and she performed with good range of emotion and character. She easily switched between a Brooklyn accent, and a Latin American Accent and back again. She made the audiobook a pleasure to listen to.
At the end of the day, I felt it was a good book, that was well performed and I plan to continue the story with the next in the series, Bruja Born.
Happy Reading,
Christine
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