Publication: September 6th 2016 by Sourcebooks Fire
Source: While I received an advanced reader's copy of this from RT Booklovers Convention, I also received a free copy of the e-book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley. Thank you!
Goodreads Summary: 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...
Goodreads Page
My Thoughts:
I'm not going to sugarcoat it: this book is weird. And awkward in so many cringe-worthy parts. There was so much potential within the storyline but ultimately I feel that it's a book that was published too soon. If more time had been put into it to really dig into the characters and develop them and the plot a bit more, I really feel like this could've been a good book. But it fell very, very short from my expectations.
Firstly, the good things: I loved that the characters are brujas. That is so incredibly cool and I was really looking forward to learning about their culture; and I did in fact learn a bit I would say. As far as the brujas' practices go, Cordova did a great job at showing instead of telling. And I definitely feel that the overall plotline is intriguing. It's also a pretty quick read (even though it took me over a month to read it but I only dedicatedly read it for 4 or so days).
But there were so many parts of it that were too underdeveloped in my opinion. The beginning was amazing and really pulled me into the world. I was fully engaged in Alex's storyline as we learn her secret and the hardships that her family has faced in her short lifespan so far. But as the book progressed, it really lost its steam. Parts of the Los Lagos plotline was interesting for me, parts of it were hard to follow and didn't make much sense honestly. I did like meeting the different characters and creatures that Los Lagos harbored. But the plot felt jumbled to me as well, a bit like Splintered by A.G. Howard, and I really felt like I was spending the entire time trying to figure out what some of the events had to do with the plotline. I was expecting to go on a specific path with Alex on her journey to the Tree of Souls. Like Alex and her friends were going to select a way to travel to their destination and we'd spend our plot coming up on different roadblocks. But instead we're bounced around with the characters spontaneously deciding where to travel to next based simply on recommendations of different, sometimes shady Los Lagos characters and even the moon?? Their journey is normal in the beginning with the characters struggling with hunger/thirst and weariness from walking, then transforms halfway through the book to the characters seemingly apparating to different locations with no apparition actually taking place. Other strange parts also consist of: the villain's eyes being ripped out then 2 pages later the villain looking in surprise at characters; the Tree of Souls having 400 years of generations contained within it but those 400 years of generations should've been devoured a long time ago based on the assumption that the villain drains them at every eclipse; it's established that the villain is able to leave the world when she drains enough victims which I assume is meant to be the overarching conflict yet at the ending of the book, it's seemingly a surprise to the main character that the villain can leave the world when she drains enough victims; instead of fighting the villain in the culminating scene, the aforementioned 400 years of generations take some tea time out and bless the main character, before realizing that the villain is still alive and well and standing right in front of them. There were definitely some flaws that I overlooked because my copy is an advanced reader's copy but these plot points are ones that cannot be overlooked.
Lastly, the characters. I anticipated to really love Alex. I really thought she would be a favorite character of mine when first meeting her. I was disappointingly wrong. While I loved seeing as she embraced her power and accepted who she was meant to be, I really felt that she was lacking in some common sense and, most especially, in emotionality. Her emotionality was perfect as far as her family goes. But what even was the most award-winning awkward insta-love romantic pairing ever? There is no backstory to Rishi and Alex as far as romantic pairings go (friendship definitely, romance no). Alex never had feelings or stirrings. Alex never mentions or thinks of Rishi in any romantic way. And then suddenly they're the most awkward couple ever. Rishi's side of it was much more believable in my opinion and felt more natural, but it was like it had never crossed Alex's mind and was just dropped into her lap with *literally* no thoughts about it. Most characters would at least stop and have a moment of appreciation/amazement about how their friendship turned to romance if the character was meant to be relatable or believable, but no, not Alex. Besides even that, however, the villain was barely developed. There's very little backstory given for her and we know very little of how she even became what she is. I wanted to know why she became so evil. I wanted to know how she became so evil. I wanted to know what happened. But don't worry because Alex is in love now so it's all good. *rolls eyes*
Overall, this copy of mine is going to be a giveaway on my Booktube channel when my review video is put up and I'm disappointed I used one of my choices in the goody room from the book convention on this.
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