
He is totally clueless when he arrives in San Xavier, and the more he learns about the country, its history, its gods and goddesses - not to mention his parents and their past - the more he realizes that nothing is as he thought. Soon Max, along with a feisty Mayan girl named Lola, becomes caught up in an adventure involving stolen artifacts, secret passages, vengeful gods, human sacrifice - and howler monkeys.
Elements of this book were highly enjoyable - the setting was an evocative backdrop for the adventure, and the mystery and fantastical elements worked well as part of that setting. And the action-packed pace is sure to appeal to young readers.
I did have a little trouble with the characters, though. In the beginning of the book, Max is depicted as a self-centered, sulking, video-game-obsessed teen, and he is fairly self-absorbed and often rude throughout much of the book; because of this I didn't care as much about him as I would have liked. His about-face toward the end of the book was abrupt and not quite believable to me. I did enjoy Lola, though - she is strong and resourceful, with a fun sense of humor. Her command of the English language was a bit too full of idioms and slang expressions to be fully believable, though. The other characters were not as developed as I would have liked, and they often seemed to serve mainly as mouthpieces for the authors to tell Max (and the reader) details about Mayan history and culture.
Still, this is a fun and exciting beginning to an adventure series that will appeal to readers who enjoy exotic backgrounds, fast-paced adventure, and an intriguing fantastical mystery.
Middleworld (#1 in The Jaguar Stones series) by J & P Voelkel (Egmont, 2007; revised edition 2010)
Source: Review copy from publisher
Also reviewed at:
Charlotte's Library: "The plot is light-hearted, but with scary bits. It was taken to very wild extremes, yet the fantastical, for the most part, avoided the twin traps of jungle-treasure-adventure-stereotype and farce."
The Discriminating Fangirl: " The basic plot shows real promise at being a spellbinding adventure story that would grip all ages. Sadly, the execution could have had a lot more trimming and polishing and the overall effect is a book with great potential that fell far short."
The Reading Zone: "Love, love, love this book! Like Riordan’s Percy Jackson, The Jaguar Stones is a rollicking adventure. Along the way the reader is immersed in Mayan culture."
The plot sounds like my kind of book but I think I may have trouble with the characters...
ReplyDeleteI have to ditto Ladytink's comment because that's almost exactly what I was going to say!
ReplyDeleteHey Darla,
ReplyDeleteThis book looks good, where could i get a copy of it?
Ladytink and Cat - I honestly didn't mean to be so negative - it really is a fun book, and I definitely enjoyed it. I intend to read the second one, so I'll let you know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteMd. Muddassir Shah - I think you can get it through any online bookseller - or with any luck, your local library!