This review was originally posted at Rachel Reading. If you like this review and would like to see more like this, find me there!

I heard this book raved about on many of the book podcasts that I listen to. I am fluent in Spanish, and very familiar with Hispanic culture so this book was especially intriguing. I did go in kind of blind, which I'm really happy I did. All I knew about this book was that it was about a girl who is a bruja. At first, it gave me something of an older Percy Jackson vibe, which I totally dug. It's one of my favorite MG/YA series ever, so I was all here for a hispanic version of PJ, and this did absolutely have elements of that.

Alex doesn't want to be a bruja, and when she casts a spell on her deathday, her entire family vanishes and she has to go rescue them. This turns into a wonderful fantasy adventure story as Alex explores the underworld, all while she's trying to figure out how to get her family back. She starts this journey with a boy named Nova, who seems to know his way around very well. One of the other things that I really like is that there is a GLBTQIA+ love shape of sorts that I didn't expect, but I really enjoyed it. The story wasn't solely focused on how different~ or whatever, this is, which I've seen often in stories written by non GLBTQIA+ authors (disclaimer: I do not know how Cordova identifies), and I found that very refreshing. I love to see all types of love represented in ways that just show it as normal and not anything strange or different, because it is.

I recommended this book to a friend of mine who was looking for YA adventure fantasy and he absolutely loved it. I would highly recommend to all, and, while I did not hear the audiobook, the voice on this book seems absolutely perfect for it.