**Spoilers Ahead**
I knew I was going to like this book when it was revealed that Alex and her family of Brujas live in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I may be a little bias but Sunset Park is the best neighborhood in Brooklyn. Anyway, Alex is from a long line of Brujas or as we say in english, Witches. While her family sees their powers as gift sees them as only curses. Her Deathday is coming and Alex will do anything to get rid of her powers. She blames them for the misfortune of her family. She believes they made her father leave when she was a child. When she accidentally banishes her family to Los Lagos, she must venture there herself with a mysterious but handsome Brujo Nova to guide her. This is a story about acceptance. Alex for so long was afraid of herself, believing that her powers were the source of her families troubles and that if she only got rid of them then they would be okay. Over time she realizes that her powers are part of her and ridding them would only getting rid a part of her. For too long she tried to hide who she was that she didn’t even know who she was. The only person she felt she could be herself around was with her friend, Rishi but even there she had to keep herself a secret. As Alex, Nova and Rishi navigate the dangers of Los Lagos, she becomes more at home with her powers but things are not as they seem. For one Nova is not who she thinks he is. It bothered me that she never really questioned why he knew so much about Los Lagos. He is quite knowledgeable about the place that only existed in myths and legends before. The best surprise was who Alex’s love interest ended up being. It was all set up to be Nova when it ended up being Rishi. How refreshing to see Queer representation of Latina and Guyanese girls. Their relationship starts as a sweet friendship. Accepting each other for who they are and not caring that one is a little odd to seeing each other for who they truly are. Alex and Nova shippers have some hope but I do hope that Alex and Rishi are the endgame. As for the rest of the story, it wasn’t perfect but it was entertainment. It’s great to have a strong Latina lead character and being kickass. Now that Alex has come into her powers, it’ll be interesting to see what comes next for her and her family.
The Tearling was founded by William Tear and his followers by leaving the United States that had fallen into Martial Law and extreme poverty. They crossed the Atlantic and through a mysterious portal to land in the “New World” to start an utopian society where everyone was equal. No one was more important then another but this was never truly the truth in practice, even from the beginning of their new colony. William Tear always stood higher then everyone else even though he tried not too. His opinion was enough to sway an issue to right or the left. He was the King without the title. You add the people’s unwillingness to talk about their pre-crossing life led to the downfall of the society after only one generation. They failed to learn from their own past. They felt that had moved beyond the troubles of their past but when things fell apart they resorted back into the old habits and fear that lead the downfall of the past and again fell part again. Three hundred years later, Kelsea inherits a country with very little assets and has the traffic it’s own people to a neighboring country to survive. The people are mostly illiterate and live in poverty. The ideals of William Tear have long been forgotten. Kelsea with the help of the Mace, try their best to right the wrongs of their past but with little army and even less of a treasury she is fighting an uphill battle. Kelsea is not perfect herself. She is young and inexperienced. She has a temper on her that makes to make rash decisions. She was also left in the dark about her own countries history, particularly the resent history that she has to learn about her people as she rules them. She makes some great decisions but she also makes some terrible mistakes. Which is important because it is sometimes to easy to make the protagonist to perfect. It would be very easy to make Kelsea a saint, bringing her country back to it’s former glory but Erika Johansen doesn’t do that. Nor does she give us the perfect happy ending either but I’ll get to that later.
The Tearling is a curious place. It takes place in the future but is clearly a Medieval society. They lost most of their medical supplies and doctors in the crossing and 300 later they still haven’t developed any technology. They don’t even have a working printing press. The Horror! They do have a little bit of magic. Kelsea also inherits two sapphires that give her abilities to see into the past and powers. The ability to see into the past and the future help her but also make things a bit tense. She starts to have visions of the past through two women who helped shape the early Tearling. She sees how life was before the crossing and how the Tearling fell. She struggles to figure out how the past is supposed to help her but she knows it’s important. As her kingdom starts to fall apart and those who are most loyal are starting to question. When she finally figures out what to do it’s ruthless and brave that runs head on into doing not knowing what the outcome will be. In the end *spoiler* she does bring back William Tear’s vision for the New World even though it’s not how she imagined it. It’s very bittersweet that accomplished what she set out to do, she righted all the inequality the country had suffered through but it left her a little alone in her victory. Then again, who knows what the future will bring for Kelsea. Maybe all we have to do is gleam into her past to see where Kelsea will go next.
Stacks is taking a little holiday so don’t expect many updates in the coming weeks. Keep reading and enjoy your summer everybody!