Hey guys! Today I'll be sharing a Q&A with Ms. Zoraida Córdova, author of Labyrinth Lost, followed by my review of the book. Thank you to Raincoast Books for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this tour!
(Brooklyn Brujas #1)
by Zoraida Córdova
September 6, 2016
339 pages
339 pages
Goodreads Summary:
Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.
I fall to my knees. Shattered glass, melted candles and the outline of scorched feathers are all that surround me. Every single person who was in my house – my entire family — is gone.
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 markings 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…
Beautiful Creatures meets Daughter of Smoke and Bone with an infusion of Latin American tradition in this highly original fantasy adventure.
I fall to my knees. Shattered glass, melted candles and the outline of scorched feathers are all that surround me. Every single person who was in my house – my entire family — is gone.
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 markings 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…
Beautiful Creatures meets Daughter of Smoke and Bone with an infusion of Latin American tradition in this highly original fantasy adventure.
Q&A
BCP: Hi Zoraida, could you talk about the inspiration behind Labyrinth Lost and the research you did into writing this book. Thank you!
ZC: When I set to write Labyrinth Lost, I wanted to write a Latina version of Charmed. I’ve loved magic and the supernatural since I was a kid, and have always wanted to write my own version of it. That’s when the Brooklyn Brujas, Alex Mortiz and her sisters, were born. I should warn you that even though the words “bruja” and “brujo” are used for Hispanic and Latinx witches, the magic in the book is not a reflection of brujeria in the real world.
The scene we chose for the book trailer is the moment where Alex makes a terrible decision that changes everything. This is the Deathday ceremony. The Deathday is a magical coming of age for the witches in my world. It’s like a Sweet 16, except instead of just a party you also sacrifice an offering to the spirits of your ancestors in order to get their magical blessing. Don’t worry there is cake afterwards.
A mythology class I took in college inspired the ceremony. I kept thinking about the power of family, and how that works in relation to the gods and individual magic. But I needed to be careful. One person’s myth is someone else’s belief or religion. The look of the Deathday needed to feel organic but new. I was born in Ecuador, and raised in Hollis, Queens. I’ve been surrounded by different cultures my whole life, which is another reason why the magic in this book couldn’t be European like other witches in Pop Culture. Don’t get me wrong, I love those stories, too, but I’m ready for more. While I read books about witchcraft throughout history, I also read about the Day of the Dead and Santeria because I wanted to know the things I shouldn’t use when creating this world. There were three things I always went back to: power, family, and sacrifice.
Alex is very much a girl from Brooklyn, but her roots and the magic in those roots is what makes her the bruja she is. I hope you cheer for her as she journeys through Labyrinth Lost.
Thank you so much for sharing this. It's truly wonderful to see how much thought you put into writing Labyrinth Lost!
