I’ll admit I’m one of the few people who hasn’t read the Percy Jackson series. I did read The Kane Chronicles though. And when I heard the news of this new imprint taking on mythologies from all over the world, I finally found time to read the first book of each one. Now I know I didn’t get to every series on the imprint but these were the ones that were available at the library.

While I don’t know if I have time or the want to read the rest of the series since some of them were out of my age of interest, I do think they were all well-done delivering exciting adventure that highlight the breadth of mythology anf their importance in sharing universal lessons that make readers want to retell them again and again.

So below are story summaries from Amazon and my quick thoughts on each. Hopefully, it’ll intrigue you enough to take a look at these epic adventures yourselves.

The Storm Runner by J.C. Cervantes

Zane Obispo spends every day exploring the sleeping volcano in his backyard. “The Beast” as he calls it, is the one place where he can escape other kids, who make fun of him because he has a limp and walks with a cane. After a twin-engine plane crashes into The Beast, a mysterious girl named Brooks shows up at Zane’s doorstep, insisting that they meet at the volcano, where she will reveal a terrible secret.

Zane agrees, mostly because beautiful girls like her don’t usually talk to him. Brooks tells him that the volcano is actually a centuries-old prison for the Maya god of death, whose destiny is directly tied to Zane’s. 

He’s just a thirteen-year old nobody, and destiny or no destiny, he wants nothing to do with any of it, especially some god of death.  But Brooks opens his eyes to the truth: magic, monsters, and gods are real, and Zane is at the center of an ancient prophecy that could mean the destruction of the world. Suddenly finding himself entangled in a web of dangerous secrets, Zane embarks on a quest that will take him far from home and test him to the very core.

This middle school novel by Cervantes brings Mayan mythology to the 21st century. Much like Percy Jackson, it features fast talking gods, snarky friends and funny scenes like Zane finding the portal to the other world is accessed through the local tortilla shop.

Zane goes through a great arc as he knows he is capable of great things but his crippled leg has led to isolation and name calling, making him doubt what he can do. But as the adventure continues and his mysterious lineage is revealed, he starts to gain confidence that if he can fight the god of death, he can do anything. In fact, the leg that he thought made him weak actually becomes his strength, relying on the family that loves him. He realizes he shouldn’t hide anymore.

City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda

Thirteen-year-old Sik wants a simple life going to school and helping at his parents’ deli in the evenings. But all that is blown to smithereens when Nergal comes looking for him, thinking that Sik holds the secret to eternal life.Turns out Sik is immortal but doesn’t know it, and that’s about to get him and the entire city into deep, deep trouble. Sik’s not in this alone.

He’s got Belet, the adopted daughter of Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, on his side, and a former hero named Gilgamesh, who has taken up gardening in Central Park.

Now all they have to do is retrieve the Flower of Immortality to save Manhattan from being wiped out by disease. To succeed, they’ll have to conquer sly demons, treacherous gods, and their own darkest nightmares.

I knew nothing about Mesotopian gods so this felt like a totally different world. . . well a tiny subworld inside New York City. Poor New York, all the natural disasters happen to it. In this case, its the plague.

As noted in the Riordan introduction and in the acknowledgements, this book was written before COVID hit, but as the premise is based on an epidemic, it hits close to home. Therefore, readers may find more emotional connection as Chadda deals with feelings of helplessness that comes with dealing with an incurable disease, the massive loss and changes.

But there is hope. Not just in Sik saving the day by facing the plague god with his demi-god friends by his side. But there is a realistic sort of hope as Chadda shows a parallel “save the day” with the immigrant community coming together to help care for each other and help. This aids Sik’s journey too as he realizes that he can fight the battle with love, love of family, community and his memories of the loved ones he lost. Even in the face of death, love wins always.

Not that love is easy. Sometimes love hurts as Sik is still reeling from the death of his brother and the potential loss of the rest of his family because of the epidemic makes him more determined to save the day, and fearful of what happens if he fails. Chadda takes the time to discuss the phases of grief and trying to cope, leading to meaningful scene with Belet over their respective losses.

Besides the epidemic, the story touches on the immigrant experience in different ways like the financial difficulties Sik’s family resturaunt is dealing with and the stereotyping Sik’s cousin faces with his wannabe-acting career and finding some common ground with his cousin in trying to break out the labels others put them in as Muslims.

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

Twelve-year-old Aru Shah, who has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she’ll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru’s doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don’t believe her claim that the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it’s up to Aru to save them. The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

I was excited to get to this one since I find Hindu mythology to be fascinating with its large pantheon of gods. Here, they’re all in display (albeit I still got confused and needed to check wiki sometimes for the tangled family tree).

This is definately a book for younger middle schoolers as Aru is a typical insecure tween. Feeling out of place with her lower economic status compared to her popular classmates, Aru lies to make herself look better compared to her better off.

But this adventure soon sheds light that there are bigger things going on than whether or not Aru vacations in Paris. Things like finding reincarnations and stopping destructive gods. It’s can be a bit predictable but I think readers will relate to Aru whose fangirl tendencies are adorable.

Plus I think the lessons of learning to let go of your fear (whether it being seen as a loser or fear of getting beaten to death by immortals) and that it’s okay to fail. It’s all part of one’s journey to become your own superhero.  

Pahua and the Soul Stealer by Lori M. Lee

Pahua Moua has a bit of a reputation for being a weirdo. A lonely eleven-year-old Hmong girl with the unique ability to see spirits, she spends her summer days babysitting her little brother and playing with her best friend, a cat spirit no one else can see.

One day Pahua accidentally untethers an angry spirit from the haunted bridge in her neighborhood–whoops. When her brother suddenly falls sick and can’t be awoken, Pahua fears that the bridge spirit has stolen his soul. She returns to the scene of the crime with her aunt’s old shaman tools, hoping to confront the spirit and demand her brother’s return. Instead, she summons a demon.

Thankfully, a warrior shaman with a bit of an attitude problem shows up at the last minute and saves her butt. With the help of this guide, Pahua will have to find her way through the spirit worlds and rescue her brother’s soul before it’s too late. Little does she know she’ll have her own discoveries to make along the way. . . .

I believe in this case, one should read the author’s note in the back first because it gives great insight to Lee’s process writing this and the interwoven traditions of oral storytelling within the Hmong community.

Here, Pahua, unlike the other protagonist is a bit different as she’s not introduced into the mythology of her community. She already has some idea of it since she sees spirits but hasn’t told anyone of her fantastic powers.

Suddenly, she wishes she did when her brother falls ill and takes a crash course thanks to her new ally, Zhong. The world is ephemeral and eerie as the spirits they encounter and both end up aiding each other more. Pahua feels more connected to her community and starts to feel less insecure about fitting in with her all-white town, but comes to understand her mother’s view in maintaing tradition. As for Zhong, coming from a super warrior shaman family, she feels the competition when she’s with Pahua whose natural talent outshines Zhong’s years of training.

A good story and one where I was actually interested in seeing what comes next.

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

In order to heal after his mother’s death, Sal learned how to meditate. But no one expected him to be able to take it further and “relax” things into existence. Turns out he can reach into time and space to retrieve things from other universes – even his mom! He has promised his dad and stepmom that he won’t bring back his mother anymore (it causes a lot of marital tension), but sometimes, he can’t help himself. Why can’t they all just get along? 

Sal doesn’t talk about his ability with anyone. At Culeco, his performing arts middle school, he just chalks it up to being a magician. But when he meets Gabi, the student council president and editor of the school paper, he realizes she is someone with whom he can work. She could use his help, too, because she has a newborn brother on life support. 

But just because Sal and Gabi can do some interesting things to improve lives, does that mean they should? When things get out of hand, it’s going to require some truly out-of-the-box thinking to set things right.

This book was off the walls! But what else can you expect from a book full of multiverses, it’s as bright as the neon colors of the cover.

This was a def break from the other series in this imprint as Hernandez doesn’t focus on a specific mythology but it’s more of sci-fi/magical realism combo.

I’m not much of a fan of magical realism nor sci-fi so this book wasn’t for me. With so much happening, I felt like it lost a bit of the emotional core that was offered in the story summary.

However, it is funny with the banter between class president, Gabbi versues trouble-making, wannabe magician, Sal. Also you just can never guess what happens next so you’ll always be at the edge of your seat.

The Last Fallen Star by Graci Kim

Riley Oh can’t wait to see her sister get initiated into the Gom clan, a powerful lineage of Korean healing witches their family has belonged to for generations. Her sister, Hattie, will earn her Gi bracelet and finally be able to cast spells without adult supervision. Although Riley is desperate to follow in her sister’s footsteps when she herself turns thirteen, she’s a saram–a person without magic. Riley was adopted, and despite having memorized every healing spell she’s ever heard, she often feels like the odd one out in her family and the gifted community.
Then Hattie gets an idea: what if the two of them could cast a spell that would allow Riley to share Hattie’s magic? Their sleuthing reveals a promising incantation in the family’s old spell book, and the sisters decide to perform it at Hattie’s initiation ceremony. If it works, no one will ever treat Riley as an outsider again. It’s a perfect plan!

Until it isn’t. When the sisters attempt to violate the laws of the Godrealm, Hattie’s life ends up hanging in the balance, and to save her Riley has to fulfill an impossible task: find the last fallen star. But what even is the star, and how can she find it?

This book is also based on Korean mythology, specifically shamanism with a comprehensively built world filled with twists and interesting characters throughout. Kim was helpful in providing a page depicting the pantheon tree and the six main witch clans that Riley belongs to or interacts with. It’s like a big extended family with the family fights and grudges that are inevitably involved. Well, you know, if one part of the family tree was literally evil.

Just as Riley finds out who her birth clan is. She always knew she was adopted, but to find out she was from a cursed clan? Biology versus nurture is always an interesting topic that is further heightened by the powers gifted to the families and the huge subject of destiny tied to their futures.

I really enjoyed Riley’s journey and her learning to believe herself and finding where she belongs, that it’s not a matter of origin but of your loved ones.

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Space-obsessed 12-year-old Paola Santiago and her two best friends, Emma and Dante, know the rule: Stay away from the river. It’s all they’ve heard since a schoolmate of theirs drowned a year ago. Pao is embarrassed to admit that she has been told to stay away for even longer than that, because her mother is constantly warning her about La Llorona, the wailing ghost woman who wanders the banks of the Gila at night, looking for young people to drag into its murky depths.

Hating her mother’s humiliating superstitions and knowing that she and her friends would never venture into the water, Pao organizes a meet-up to test out her new telescope near the Gila, since it’s the best stargazing spot. But when Emma never arrives and Pao sees a shadowy figure in the reeds, it seems like maybe her mom was right. . . .

Pao has always relied on hard science to make sense of the world, but to find her friend she will have to enter the world of her nightmares, which includes unnatural mist, mind-bending monsters, and relentless spirits controlled by a terrifying force that defies both logic and legend.

I have always been fascinated by the Legend of La Llorona so I read this right away. Paola is a classic sort of science protagonist who doesn’t believe in “silly superstition.” In fact, she actively does everything she can to define herself as different from her immigrant mother so she may fit in better with her peers. But when those legends turn out to be real, Paola has a sudden crisis of faith.

I love the combination of not only legend but religion as both are often see as in conflict with science but I believe that they can be all balanced together, and Paola comes to see that too as not everything can be explained, things have layers and you sometimes just to have faith in the unknown.

As for La Llorona, Mejia gives her some depth which is perfect considering her backstory and only adds to Paola’s lessons that not everything is so black and white, it also adds to the conflicting emotions Paola deals with in her harrowing journey.

There’s also the YA bits about drifting friendships and new feelings for crushes but it doesn’t feel out of place. Instead it adds the personal investment Paola has in her unexpected mission.

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s notebook. Tristan chases after it–is that a doll?–and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree.

In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price.

This book not only tackles West African mythology but mythology from the African-American diaspora. You know, I never thought America having a mythology but I guess it kinda does so this book became even cooler in my opinion. As if the title wasn’t enough.

But all the combining mythology across the diasphora gave a great message about how stories connect us, not only in understanding the past but hopes for the future and a guide to the present.

Which is exactly what Tristan needs when he ends up in MidPass, still grieving the loss of his friend. This adventure doesn’t distract him from his troubles but rather they bring them to the forefront as Tristan learns what it truly means to be strong. True strength is mental and physical and grief challenges both of them.

This was a powerful, and emotional book that adds to the storytelling canon in sharing how stories can save a life.

Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Lately, seventh grader Nizhoni Begay has been able to detect monsters, like that man in the fancy suit who was in the bleachers at her basketball game. Turns out he’s Mr. Charles, her dad’s new boss at the oil and gas company, and he’s alarmingly interested in Nizhoni and her brother, Mac, their Navajo heritage, and the legend of the Hero Twins. Nizhoni knows he’s a threat, but her father won’t believe her.

When Dad disappears the next day, leaving behind a message that says “Run!”, the siblings and Nizhoni’s best friend, Davery, are thrust into a rescue mission that can only be accomplished with the help of Dine Holy People, all disguised as quirky characters. Their aid will come at a price: the kids must pass a series of trials in which it seems like nature itself is out to kill them. If Nizhoni, Mac, and Davery can reach the House of the Sun, they will be outfitted with what they need to defeat the ancient monsters Mr. Charles has unleashed. But it will take more than weapons for Nizhoni to become the hero she was destined to be . . .

There are thousands of Native tribes but I believe the Dine are one of the most well-known so it makes sense that the first Native story on the imprint. Much like the other protagonists, Nizhoni is aware of her family’s traditions and mythologies but she doesn’t believe they’re real. In fact, she has lost her spark for the family traditions since her mother’s disappearence. But when a new person comes on the rez, Nizhoni’s bad feeling turns into full fledged panic when she begins seeing monsters.

Everyone thinks she’s exaggerating, and Roanhorse makes it excruciating for Nizhoni and the readers that she’s alone in her fight, but that quickly settles once her dad is kidnapped and her baby brother sees the monsters too. Then it’s a classic journey through the mythological world where Nizhoni learns what really happened to her mom and is forced to confront her feelings of abandonment.

Maybe after reading all the others, I felt a bit myth-burn out

The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities by various authors on the imprint

All but one of the heroes previously starred in a popular book from Rick Riordan Presents. You’ll be reunited with Aru Shah, Zane Obispo, Min the fox spirit, Sal and Gabi, Gum Baby, Nizhoni Begay, Paola Santiago, Sikander Aziz, and Riley Oh. Who is the new hero? Read Rick Riordan’s short story to find out!

Since this was an anathology of stories, I’m just going to point out the ones I most enjoyed like the further adventures of the Gum Baby Files.

Aru and her friends finding out the pain and desperate things people do for love in Beware the Grove of True Love

Nizhoni reacclunting her demon slaying at a traditional dance in The Demon Drum.

Plus a new Irish- inspired hero by Rick Riordan in My Life as a Child Outlaw that I’m sure fans will be excited to see the new addition to the Riordan universe.