Romina Garber’s Lobizona alleviates the adolescent fear of not fitting in by empowering those that defy social norms. Originally published in August 2020 the novel’s paperback version is being released this year, just in time for its sequel Cazadora, which is set for release this summer. Garber uses the fantasy genre to discuss systematic abuse, such as US immigration laws that affect women and LGBTQ+ people. Early in the novel Manu, the novel’s protagonist asks her adopted grandmother, Perla, about the existence of supernatural creatures. Perla answers: “[S]ometimes reality strays so far from what’s rational that we can only explain it through fantasy.” In her fantasy world, Garber smartly draws parallels with real-life issues to examine the unfair treatment of marginalized communities in the United States. Through Manu’s confrontation of these issues, Lobizona advocates for finding acceptance on your own terms – and not letting anything stop you from feeling at home. 

Lobizona is a young adult fantasy. It tells the story of Manuela, or “Manu,” a seventeen year old undocumented Argentinian immigrant living in Miami. Born with the most unusual eyes, golden and filled with stars, Manu is transported to a strange dream land during every full moon. Her eyes have always been a threat to her hidden existence. As a result, the only life Manu has known is running and hiding with her mother: from her absent father’s crime family, from U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and from any chance of someone spotting her eyes. Manu’s life changes when her mother is arrested by ICE, taken to a detention center, and Manu’s home is discovered by her father’s enemies. Forced out of her hiding place, Manu chooses to search for answers about her father instead of running again. Soon she’s embedded into a world connected to her father’s unknown past. 

At El-Labertino, a school that’s connected to familiar bedtime stories of Argentinian folklore, Manu discovers her father is a part of a magical race called the Septimus, who have actively concealed themselves from humans; so much so, that interacting with humans is illegal. Therefore, Manu’s father’s relationship with her mother makes him a criminal. According to Septimus myth, seventh consecutive sons are born lobizon, werewolves, and daughters bruja, witches. As her exploration into her past continues, Manu realizes she is neither a lobizon nor a bruja. Instead, she is a hybrid, illegal in the mythological world too. With the help of her new friends Catalina, Saysa, and Tiago, Manu is forced to dig deeper into her father’s past to stay alive and find out where she belongs.  

Garber creates a colourful, enchanted, and vivid world for Manu and the reader to explore. Like other young adult fantasy novels, the cross from the human world of Miami into El Laberinto is demonstrated through Manu’s perspective. As a reader we learn the rules as well as the history of the universe as she does. Garber’s detailed understanding of young adult fantasy structures makes her ability to play with them that much more satisfying. We’re captivated by the swirling paths, the unknown landscapes, and mythological creatures. During classes as a bruja Manu witnesses a vast indoor meadow; Garber’s description is vivid: “the grove of gigantic, purple-leafed trees…the grass isn’t green but golden, and a low mist hangs on the horizon. It’s a place I’ve only seen in my dreams.” Through the typical fantasy tactic of explaining the world to the reader via a naïve protagonist, Garber is able to introduce new places to us while continuously moving the story. Manu even compares herself to characters like Harry Potter, another outsider who finds his place in a magical world. However, Garber builds upon the tactic through explicit comparisons of injustice at El Labertino and in Manu’s life in Miami. Before Manu has a chance to explore the meadow, she’s already come into contact with the reality that her father is a criminal in this world as well, further displacing her identity. The magical world doesn’t automatically fix her problems, as seen in other YA magical-school stories. 

Lobizona is not free of young adult tropes. There are sprinkles of the “chosen one” in Manu, the “love interest” in Tiago, and the “mean girl” in Catalina, but these labels are simply gateways into the heart of the narrative. Garber builds upon these recognizable character tropes and story structure to create a stimulating narrative that kept me turning the page. Lobinoza is a novel concerned with showing the limits of convention and then pushing past them. Through the novel, Garber champions the evolution of identity, genre, and societal labels. In a confrontation with Septimus authorities in the final pages of the novel, Manu refuses the labels that have been haunting her throughout the novel. When Manu hears the question “what are you?” again, her reaction is far from shame. She declares: “I am beyond classification. I’m an original.” Manu further asserts that “…suddenly it doesn’t matter. If there’s no word in any known vocabulary to encapsulate me, that just means that language can’t define me.” Lobizona champions evolving identity, genre, and societal labels. It is a story of breaking barriers despite limitations and creating your own identity. I will be eagerly awaiting the sequel.