Review: Bruja Born, by Zoraida Cordova

Bruja Born, by Zoraida Cordova

Recorded Books - 2018
Fantasy, Paranormal, YA
Brooklyn Brujas - Book 2
Audiobook
Narrated by Maria Liatis
8 Hours, 19 Minutes

The Mortiz sisters return in the second book of the Brooklyn Bruja series. A series steeped in rich Latin American Folklore.  

If you want a reminder of the first book, you can read my review of Labyrinth Lost HERE.

In the months following the events that occurred in Los Lagos, Lulu struggles to recover. She just cannot seem to regain her emotional footing.

On the way to a school sporting event, there is a catastrophic accident involving the school's bus, carrying among the  many others, Lula and her boyfriend Maks. Almost everyone on that bus was killed or seriously injured in the accident. 

Lula, though badly injured, wakes in the hospital to find that Maks is in ICU and death seems imminent. Lula, unable to let Maks go, performs a canto to take him back from death's tentative grip . Again, like in the first book, the spell goes wrong. Shortly after performing the canto, she discovers that the bodies of the dead that were involved in the crash, have gone missing from the morgue.  Her spell has gone awry and she has created a group of zombie-like creatures known as casi muertos. 

I enjoyed to story, but  not overwhelmingly so. 

It seemed to follow the same formula as the first book - spoiled sister bruja ignores the rules and tries to have things her way, putting the entire family in jeopardy when their spell goes wrong. Not a bad formula at first, but as a sequel it seems a tiny bit redundant. Of course after the events of the first book, it seems a little more reckless of Lula and makes her less likable because of it.  The one aspect that I felt seemed a little "forced" in the firsts book, I am happy to say felt much more organic in this one.  

I really do enjoy the Latin American folklore woven into the series story. That richness of culture makes the series enjoyable

Narration was provided by Maria Liatis.  At first I was a little disappointed to find that this book was not narrated by Almarie Guerra as was the first - but then it became clear that this book was being told by Lula's point of view - not Alex's, so it made sense to have a different narrator. Liatis performed with a clear, pleasant voice, good tone and cadence, and was able to portray the emotions relevant  to the events of the story. 

I have enjoyed the two books available so far in the series.  The third book in the series - Wayward witch is expected August 2020. 

Happy Reading,

Christine