Review: Labyrinth Lost

 

For whatever reason, nothing about this one clicked for me. The premise – girl from a family of brujas doesn’t want to be a bruja, casts a spell that accidentally banishes her family, and has to save them from dark forces – is perfectly compelling, and I genuinely did quite like the wide variety of mythological creatures that were incorporated into the story. There were beings and creatures that rarely come up because, frankly, Latine mythology just isn’t that written about (though this is changing!). 

But I found Alex really frustrating as a main character, and Nova was flat-out unlikeable – I know we were supposed to get a flirty banter, rivals to lovers kind of vibe from his dynamic with Alex, but I just didn’t get it. But then the other love interest, who may have had more potential, wasn’t there for half the book! So we didn’t even really get to see her dynamic with Alex much at all, which was disappointing.

Beyond that, something about the pacing just felt awkward. I can’t point to what it was exactly, but it made it difficult to settle in. Some things that were totally unimportant took up a lot of time, and some things that were very important took relatively little time. It was just odd to read. So although there was a ton of potential here, it just didn’t work for me.