Photo credit: Chris KWM via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
Hooray for social media! And libraries!
I saw one of my friends raving about this book by Zoraida Córdova a few months ago, and a day or two later I was in the library and the book happened to catch my eye (the cover is pretty awesome) so I grabbed it.
This book was fun, but I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as my friends did. It’s about a girl named Alejandra (Alex) who comes from a long line of witches and wizards (brujas and brujos), but Alex wants no part of it. The way she sees it, magic has brought her family nothing but pain and suffering (she’s a bit melodramatic, but then, she is a teenager) so she decides to use a spell (canto) to rid herself of her magic.
The canto opens up a portal to a place called Los Lagos, which is kind of like Purgatory. Some souls choose to move in while others get sent there when the Deos don’t want to deal with them any more. One bruja who was banished there is still pissed about it, has taken over Los Lagos, and wants more. She wants Alex’s power and tries to take it when the portal opens, but Alex’s family steps in to protect her and they all get sucked into the portal, leaving just Alex and Nova, a cute brujo she just met.
Because Alex has been so set on not being magical, she hasn’t bothered to learn anything about the magical world, including Los Lagos, other than what she has absorbed naturally by being in a magical family. Fortunately, Nova knows quite a bit about Los Lagos and he volunteers to be Alex’s guide through the spiritual realm so she can get her family back.
It reminded me a little of Percy Jackson and other stories in which people travel to the Underworld or some sort of spiritual realm because they think it will solve all their problems. A lot of the same rules apply (be careful what you eat and nothing is as it seems), but of course Córdova puts her own twist on everything.
Alex does have a slight case of WTS (Whiny Teenager Syndrome), although she’s not as bad as some *cough* Katniss! *cough* At least Alex realizes she’s the one who created the mess and she’s actively trying to fix it while she whines about it.
Also, I know kids tend to blame themselves when a parent leaves, but Alex’s extension of that to thinking she can’t be loved at all was a bit too melodramatic for my taste. I did appreciate that Córdova made her realize her mistake before the end of the book and contrasted her situation with Nova’s. Alex’s family is by no means well off, but they have everything they need and, most important, Alex has a strong support system in her loving mother, sisters, and their whole extended family.
I also appreciated that Nova and Rishi (Alex’s best friend) were basically fighting over Alex. It was adorable and I was satisfied with the way that love triangle played out. I hope Córdova finishes the sequel soon and I hope we get a whole lot more of Rishi in that sequel because I loved her.
I also hope Sourcebooks does a better job of publishing the sequel. This one was full of typos and missed words that an editor should have caught. I normally expect better out of Sourcebooks, but this is what happens when you’re too busy pumping out books to worry about the quality of those books.
What did you guys read this week? Anything else your friends have been raving about?