“The darkness has teeth…”
Labyrinth Lost
Zoraida Cordova
Alex wants little to do with her bruja ancestry. Her sister Lula is exceptional at healing magic, and Rosie’s gifts with the Veil allow her to speak with the dead. But the Deos have other things in mind for Alex, bestowing the title (and powers) of encantrix upon her. Alex would much rather be a typical high school student though.
After losing control of her long suppressed powers and conjuring a venomous snake from a bully’s throat, her Deathday is decided. She will receive her family’s blessing and inherit the full scope of her abilities, whether she wants it or not. But a chance encounter with a brujo-boy named Nova makes Alex think there might be another way… a way for her to forsake her powers for good.
The ritual at her Deathday backfires though, and everyone in Alex’s family vanishes into thin air. Turning to work with Nova and right what’s been turned wrong, Alex ventures into Los Lagos to reclaim her family from the darkness that took them.
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Labyrinth Lost pulled me in from the beginning, and set up what I was hoping was going to be an excellent magical quest. It was definitely chuck full of adventure, but I was let down by the predictable nature of certain plot points, and the rushed way Alex is pushed through her journey of Los Lagos. I almost wished this book had been a little longer to allow for more nuanced story telling. Moments when there’s supposed to be emotional depth are shallow due to poor writing.
From the beginning Nova’s established as this gorgeous boy with starry eyes who seems to undo Alex at every turn with his painful past. I mean, c’mon. How could he not be the love interest? I was pleasantly surprised, however, by Alex falling in love with another character besides Nova. No spoilers here, you’ll have to read it to find out who the other love interest is!
Most of the other twists or reveals in the book were easily predictable though, and I think it’s because Cordova was trying to fit an entire magical journey into a one-sitting book. It took me about 4 hours to read Labyrinth Lost, and when it comes to fantasy, especially ones that take place in a different realm, it requires a lot more world building than Cordova created. At times I was reminded of Libba Bray’s The Sweet Far Thing from her Gemma Doyle series. In fact… the more I think about it, the more it feels like a condensed version of the series, and I don’t know how that makes me feel.
Moving on though, I enjoyed Alex as a character. I found her lacking when it came to introspection, as well as her apparent and sudden proficiency with magic after rejecting it for so long. Certain scenes where it would have been more evocative to have her fail simply didn’t exist. Presented with tough decisions, Alex never finds herself in a quandary over what is right, and without any of that moral ambiguity, I feel like she was done a disservice.
The magic system in this book is trying to be balanced. There’s a supposed “recoil” or price for every magic that gets done even with the use of a Canto (book of spells). This is shown decently for the healing magics, but there’s little nuance again when it comes to the recoil Alex faces it seems when she uses her magic. Mostly, it’s just blinding pain, and she manages to push through that easily enough, regardless of how much recoil she’s experiencing too.
I wanted to like Labyrinth Lost, and I did, but it didn’t tell an original enough story for me to love it. In fact, if it had been longer and with more character development, I’m sure some of the things I wasn’t surprised by might have actually been surprising. I will still recommend it to readers, maybe those looking for an entry into fantasy since it doesn’t get too bogged down by the details and has a fast-pace, but for my hardcore fantasy lovers it might get a pass. Overall not great, not terrible, just okay.
The Little Book Witch 