Labyrinth Lost Author: Zoraida Córdova
Publication Date: September 6, 2016
Hardcover
ISBN 9781492620945
Praise for Labyrinth Lost:
“This work is a magical journey from start to finish... A compelling must-have for teens” –School Library Journal, STARRED review
“Córdova’s (the Vicious Deep series) magic-infused, delightfully dark story introduces readers to an engrossing, Latin American–inspired fantasy setting and an irresistible heroine”
–Publishers Weekly
“A brilliant brown-girl-in-Brooklyn update on Alice in Wonderland and Dante’s Inferno. Very creepy, very magical, very necessary.”
—Daniel José Older, New York Times bestselling author of Shadowshaper
“Labyrinth Lost is more like reading Paradise Found. Zoraida Córdova brings us a new generation of witches, enchanting and complex. And every page is filled with magic.” —Danielle Page, New York Times bestselling author of Dorothy Must Die
Córdova’s world will leave you breathless, and her magic will ignite an envy so green you’ll wish you were born a bruja. Delightfully dark and enchanting. An un-putdownable book.” -Dhonielle Clayton, author of The Belles and Shiny Broken Pieces
“Córdova’s rich exploration of Latin American culture, her healthy portrayal of bisexuality and her unique voice allow this novel to stand out among its many peers.” –RT Book Reviews
“Cordova draws inspiration from Ecuadorian, Spanish, African, Mexican, and Caribbean folklore and mythology to craft a page-turning tale about a young bruja unsure of her place in the world.”
–Bustle.com
“Córdova pulls elements from Greek mythology and Spanish and Latin American legends to craft a memorable world in Los Lagos, a supernatural realm that is as fascinating as it is threatening. The history and customs of Alex’s family’s type of witchery are also carefully constructed, giving readers a complete world to sink into with satisfaction and wonder.” -Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“This succeeds with its lush use of Latin American mythologies, an unexpected love story, and, above all, in Alex’s complicated relationship with her family. Alex is a necessary heroine, and this dark fantasy nicely”
-Booklist
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…
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1
Follow our voices, sister.
Tell us the secret of your death.
—-Resurrection Canto,
Book of Cantos
Book of Cantos
The second time I saw my dead aunt Rosaria, she was dancing.
Earlier that day, my
mom had warned me, pressing a long, red fingernail on the tip of my
nose, “Alejandra, don’t go downstairs when the Circle arrives.”
But I was seven and
asked too many questions. Every Sunday, cars piled up in our driveway,
down the street, and around the corner of our old, narrow house in
Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Mom’s Circle usually brought cellophane--wrapped
dishes and jars of dirt and tubs of brackish water that made the Hudson
River look clean. This time, they carried something more.
When my sisters
started snoring, I threw off my covers and crept down the stairs. The
floorboards were uneven and creaky, but I was good at not being seen.
Fuzzy, yellow streetlight shone through our attic window and followed me
down every flight until I reached the basement.
A soft hum made its
way through the thin walls. I remember thinking I should listen to my
mom’s warning and go back upstairs. But our house had been restless all
week, and Lula, Rose, and I were shoved into the attic, out of the way
while the grown--ups prepared the funeral. I wanted out. I wanted to
see.
The night was
moonless and cold one week after the Witch’s New Year, when Aunt Rosaria
died of a sickness that made her skin yellow like hundred--year--old
paper and her nails turn black as coal. We tried to make her beautiful
again. My sisters and I spent all day weaving good luck charms from
peonies, corn husks, and string—-one loop over, under, two loops over,
under. Not even the morticians, the Magos de Muerte, could fix her
once--lovely face.
Aunt Rosaria was
dead. I was there when we mourned her. I was there when we buried her.
Then, I watched my father and two others shoulder a dirty cloth bundle
into the house, and I knew I couldn’t stay in bed, no matter what my
mother said.
So I opened the basement door.
Red light bathed the
steep stairs. I leaned my head toward the light, toward the beating
sound of drums and sharp plucks of fat, nylon guitar strings.
A soft mew followed
by whiskers against my arm made my heart jump to the back of my rib
cage. I bit my tongue to stop the scream. It was just my cat, Miluna.
She stared at me with her white, glowing eyes and hissed a warning, as
if telling me to turn back. But Aunt Rosaria was my godmother, my
family, my friend. And I wanted to see her again.
“Sh!” I brushed the cat’s head back.
Miluna nudged my leg, then ran away as the singing started.
I took my first step
down, into the warm, red light. Raspy voices called out to our gods, the
Deos, asking for blessings beyond the veil of our worlds. Their melody
pulled me step by step until I was crouched at the bottom of the
landing.
They were dancing.
Brujas and brujos
were dressed in mourning white, their faces painted in the aspects of
the dead, white clay and black coal to trace the bones. They danced in
two circles—-the outer ring going clockwise, the inner
counterclockwise—hands clasped tight, voices vibrating to the pulsing
drums.
And in the middle was Aunt Rosaria.
Her
body jerked upward. Her black hair pooled in the air like she was
suspended in water. There was still dirt on her skin. The white skirt we
buried her in billowed around her slender legs. Black smoke slithered
out of her open mouth. It weaved in and out of the circle—-one loop
over, under, two loops over, under. It tugged Aunt Rosaria higher and
higher, matching the rhythm of the canto.
Then, the black smoke
perked up and changed its target. It could smell me. I tried to
backpedal, but the tiles were slick, and I slid toward the circle. My
head smacked the tiles. Pain splintered my skull, and a broken scream
lodged in my throat.
The
music stopped. Heavy, tired breaths filled the silence of the pulsing
red dark. The enchantment was broken. Aunt Rosaria’s reanimated corpse
turned to me. Her body purged black smoke, lowering her back to the
ground. Her ankles cracked where the bone was brittle, but still she
took a step. Her dead eyes gaped at me. Her wrinkled mouth growled my
name: Alejandra.
She took another
step. Her ankle turned and broke at the joint, sending her flying
forward. She landed on top of me. The rot of her skin filled my nose,
and grave dirt fell into my eyes.
Tongues clucked against crooked teeth. The voices of the circle hissed, “What’s the girl doing out of bed?”
There was the scent of extinguished candles and melting wax. Decay and perfume oil smothered me until they pulled the body away.
My mother jerked me
up by the ear, pulling me up two flights of stairs until I was back in my bed, the scream stuck in my throat like a stone.
“Never,” she said. “You hear me, Alejandra? Never break a Circle.”
I lay still. So still that after a while, she brushed my hair, thinking I had fallen asleep.
I wasn’t. How could I ever sleep again? Blood and rot and smoke and whispers filled my head.
“One day you’ll learn,” she whispered.
Then she went back
down the street--lit stairs, down into the warm red light and to Aunt
Rosaria’s body. My mother clapped her hands, drums beat, strings
plucked, and she said, “Again.”
Zoraida Córdova was born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, New York. She is the author of the Vicious
Deep trilogy, the On the Verge series, and the Brooklyn Brujas series.
She loves black coffee, snark, and still believes in magic. Send her a
tweet @Zlikeinzorro or visit her at zoraidacordova.com.
Social Media Links:
Author Website: http://www.zoraidacordova.com/
Labyrinth Lost Website: http://books.sourcebooks.com/labyrinth-lost/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CordovaBooks
Twitter: @zlikeinzorro
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wanderwheel/
Author Tumblr: http://wanderlands.tumblr.com/
Labyrinth Lost Tumblr: http://labyrinthlostbooks.tumblr.com/
(2) Copies of Labyrinth Lost with Signed Labyrinth Lost Bookmarks
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