Wayward Witch (Brooklyn Brujas #3) by Zoraida Córdova

 
Wayward Witch by Zoraida Córdova
My Rating: ★★

Rose’s life has been turned upside down. First, she was accidentally trapped in a tree by Alex. Then she had to deal with zombies and everything that came with it thanks to her other sister, Lula. On top of that, she found out that her magic is much different than what she thought it was. Now that her death day has creeped up, she’s convinced her family’s happiness is a band-aid that’s about to be ripped off. Her father’s return is not what her family imagined it would be, and she’s convinced everyone is just pretending to be happy instead of enjoying the lull before the next big crisis. Then she finds out her father has been lying about not remembering his time in the fairy realm, and it opens a whole new can of worms.

I absolutely loved the first two books in the series, so I was excited to read the third and final book in the trilogy. I wish I could say I loved this as much as the previous books. Sadly, I have mixed feelings about this one. Something seems to be missing and I can’t put my finger on what that is other than it felt unfinished when I got to the end. I got to the final chapter and said, “That’s it?” I watched Rose go through so much before finally getting back to her family only to find the closing very rushed and lacking in heart and substance. Unless I’m mistaken and this isn’t the end of the series, this was a pretty lackluster and rushed way to tie up the story in the final chapters.

That said, there is a lot of good here. Rose narrates the final book, and it was so much fun to see the world through her eyes. On top of this, we get a whole new cast of characters when she finds herself abducted and taken to a fairy realm called Adas. The descriptions are so beautiful, and the characters are so complex, that I had a lot of fun watching her journey progress. I loved the new characters so much. I wish that more of them were developed more than they were, but not enough to make me feel that any of them were lacking.

However, I do think that the fast pace and sheer number of new characters was confusing at times, especially early on. It took me a hot minute to get the characters down because it seemed like someone new was popping up everywhere I turned. It’s also fast paced, but it still somehow left me feeling like a lot and nothing happened at the same time. I came out of the book feeling like I got dropped out of a crazy whirlwind where too much and not enough happened. It’s entirely possible that we’re meant to feel this way, but it’s still a strange feeling.

All in all, while the characters and setting is great, I find that this is the weakest link in the series. I hope it turns out that this is not a trilogy because there are a lot of loose ends that have been left open, and I think that there is a lot more story that can be told especially since it feels so unfinished. I’ve got my fingers crossed that a novella or fourth book in the series is something that occurs somewhere down the line.