Early Reader Review: Season of the Bruja by Aaron Duran

Source: From the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review. 

Season of the Bruja by Aaron Duran and Sara Soler (Illustrations) 
Series: Season of the Bruja #1
Publisher: Oni Press
Publication Date:  March 29, 2022

  

Format: EBook


Rating:


Synopsis: 

Althalia Cabrera might seem like any other witchy Portland hipster whiling away her days behind the counter of a freaky occult museum, but there's more to her whole deal than a trendy pursuit of the craft. Althalia is a bruja by blood-the youngest in a long line of powerful magic users from a long-ago culture indigenous to Mexico. In her twenty years, Althalia has studied with her loving abuela by her side, supporting and mentoring her use of the family magic, and protecting her from the darkest parts of their practice's history. But just as Althalia's inner light and power begins to shine, the darkness of the past finds its way into her world and strikes a tragic blow, testing Althalia in ways she might not be prepared enough to survive.

Review: 

Such an action packed first issue! There is immediately a fight scene to set the stage for this comic series, with a demon, a witch, a lizard man, and another teen that can shapeshift. Such an interesting way to begin a comic, we are thrust into a fight with characters that we dont' yet know but at least I was invested already.

The story itself is about a young witch (bruja translated to English for those that weren't sure), she is learning about her culture, heritage, and what it means to be a witch. Althalia seems so normal, but there is a lot to her background and we learn that she has a fair amount of pent-up anger as well. 

In this first comic installment, we meet Althalia's grandmother who wants to go to a museum and while they are there horrible things happen, although I am not going to spoil it for you. This interaction left me with a lot of questions though, and I hope the series follows up with more action but also more depth and answers. 

Overall, this was a fun comic, the illustraions were great and so vibrant, and the history molded with fantasy elements and legends were well done. I can't wait to read more from this series.