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A review by ellelainey
Season of the Bruja, Vol. 1 by Aaron Duran
4.0
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Season of the Bruja, Vol. 1
by Aaron Duran, Sara Soler, Deron Bennett
★★★★☆
128 Pages
Content Warning: grief, loss
Themes: magic, demons, witches, shapeshifters, corrupt priests, religion vs magic
Season of the Bruja is a graphic novel with a lot of potential. The artwork on the cover is a perfect example of what you'll find inside, as every page is just as gorgeous. The colours, the magical feel of the art on every page, is exactly the vibe you would expect of a story about the magical Bruja.
The story itself was...interesting. I hesitate over that, because I found the main character, Lia, to be an odd choice. On one hand, she's got a struggle to face and is the perfect character for a journey arc. But, on the other hand, she's often selfish, single-minded to the point of being reckless, flighty, and doesn't hesitate to lie, cheat, be cruel or betray even her friends to get what she wants. This made it really hard to connect to her, as a central character. While I did feel a smidgen of sympathy for losing her grandmother, and because she was an untrained bruja without the tools to properly survive her magic, I just didn't feel like she was a well rounded character or someone I would root for. She was too willing to hurt her friends and innocents, to bend the rules of her powers, to get what she wanted, no matter the cost.
The story was, however, packed full of plot. For 136 pages, there were a lot of nuances and twists and turns in the plot, but it sometimes felt disjointed. There were parts where the worldbuilding needed work, because the flow or background of certain plot aspects weren't fully fleshed out enough for me to follow without confusion. For example, the blurb tells us that her besties are a real-life Chupacabra and a were-coyote, but that is *never* actually said or even suggested in the book itself, and that would have been helpful to know and understand. I honestly spent half the book thinking one character was a demon and the other a werewolf.
I was a bit disappointed that the big trial with the priest/church mentioned in the blurb was...just that. A priest sent by the church to eliminate the last of the bruja. There was no real depth or mystery to their involvement. It all felt a bit cliched, to see this delusional priest willing to do anything the church asked of him, and a fanatical elder priest not warning him of the corruption they were involved with.
There were also a few preachy moments that dulled the importance of what was actually being discussed. Such as when Lia is in the museum, ranting about how their history was stolen for them and then showcased in a museum for them. Which is true of a lot of museums and minorities, but the way it was done was more preachy than actually making a valid point about it or even doing something to help change that status quo. And the weird aspect of a corrupt cop stopping her randomly at the museum for what felt like racial profiling was a strange decision. I get that it's a real thing in the world – but, again, the execution meant it was just another cliched moment over too soon rather than making a meaningful impact that it had the opportunity to make.
Despite those faults, I did enjoy the overall story, but it won't be something that I follow into further volumes. I didn't like Lia as a character, or the way valid moments of tackling modern political issues was swept over without real effort, leaving them to be cliched soundbites rather than having any weight. While the story as interesting and start, it wasn't well executed, despite the gorgeous artwork and clever, original concept.
I'd call this a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Season of the Bruja, Vol. 1
by Aaron Duran, Sara Soler, Deron Bennett
★★★★☆
128 Pages
Content Warning: grief, loss
Themes: magic, demons, witches, shapeshifters, corrupt priests, religion vs magic
Season of the Bruja is a graphic novel with a lot of potential. The artwork on the cover is a perfect example of what you'll find inside, as every page is just as gorgeous. The colours, the magical feel of the art on every page, is exactly the vibe you would expect of a story about the magical Bruja.
The story itself was...interesting. I hesitate over that, because I found the main character, Lia, to be an odd choice. On one hand, she's got a struggle to face and is the perfect character for a journey arc. But, on the other hand, she's often selfish, single-minded to the point of being reckless, flighty, and doesn't hesitate to lie, cheat, be cruel or betray even her friends to get what she wants. This made it really hard to connect to her, as a central character. While I did feel a smidgen of sympathy for losing her grandmother, and because she was an untrained bruja without the tools to properly survive her magic, I just didn't feel like she was a well rounded character or someone I would root for. She was too willing to hurt her friends and innocents, to bend the rules of her powers, to get what she wanted, no matter the cost.
The story was, however, packed full of plot. For 136 pages, there were a lot of nuances and twists and turns in the plot, but it sometimes felt disjointed. There were parts where the worldbuilding needed work, because the flow or background of certain plot aspects weren't fully fleshed out enough for me to follow without confusion. For example, the blurb tells us that her besties are a real-life Chupacabra and a were-coyote, but that is *never* actually said or even suggested in the book itself, and that would have been helpful to know and understand. I honestly spent half the book thinking one character was a demon and the other a werewolf.
I was a bit disappointed that the big trial with the priest/church mentioned in the blurb was...just that. A priest sent by the church to eliminate the last of the bruja. There was no real depth or mystery to their involvement. It all felt a bit cliched, to see this delusional priest willing to do anything the church asked of him, and a fanatical elder priest not warning him of the corruption they were involved with.
There were also a few preachy moments that dulled the importance of what was actually being discussed. Such as when Lia is in the museum, ranting about how their history was stolen for them and then showcased in a museum for them. Which is true of a lot of museums and minorities, but the way it was done was more preachy than actually making a valid point about it or even doing something to help change that status quo. And the weird aspect of a corrupt cop stopping her randomly at the museum for what felt like racial profiling was a strange decision. I get that it's a real thing in the world – but, again, the execution meant it was just another cliched moment over too soon rather than making a meaningful impact that it had the opportunity to make.
Despite those faults, I did enjoy the overall story, but it won't be something that I follow into further volumes. I didn't like Lia as a character, or the way valid moments of tackling modern political issues was swept over without real effort, leaving them to be cliched soundbites rather than having any weight. While the story as interesting and start, it wasn't well executed, despite the gorgeous artwork and clever, original concept.
I'd call this a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.