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emtees's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Zane Obispo lives in New Mexico with his single mother, his wrestling-obsessed uncle, his three-legged dog and a volcano in the backyard. His biggest problems are school bullies until the night that an alien-like creature crashes into his volcano. Before he knows what’s happening, a mysterious girl named Brooks befriends him only to turn into a bird right before his eyes, demons drag his dog to the underworld, and he finds out that the Mayan gods are real and he’s at the center of a prophesy that says he’s destined to free the god of death, darkness and destruction from his prison.
And he does.
The fast pace of this book makes it a lot of fun. Fantasy series tend to drag out storylines, and a character learning that he’s destined to do something he really doesn’t want to and then being forced to do it anyway could be a whole book. But Cervantes dispenses with the question of whether or not Zane will fulfill the prophesy quickly and then jumps into the aftermath. And it’s fun - here’s a road trip, people losing and gaining powers, a neighbor who gets turned into a very funny chicken, a huge birthday party in Venice Beach, giants and monsters and more animal transformations, and hanging over everything, the mystery Zane’s father.
The book was written through an initiative started by Rick Riordan to encourage diverse stories and the influence of Percy Jackson here is obvious. Zane is a normal kid struggling with normal kid stuff, in part because he’s disabled - one of his legs is shorter than the other and he walks with a cane - until he finds out that he’s secretly the son of a mythological figure and is carried off to a world of magic, prophecies and gods. But that’s where the similarities end. The storyline is unique and the use of Mayan mythology was interesting. I liked the way Cervantes modernized the mythology, making the book almost urban fantasy, whether it was the appearances of the Mayan gods or the mythological figures who own bike shops on the beach or run a magical mafia.
The characters are great. I liked Zane a lot. He feels like a realistic thirteen-year old hero: he makes a ton of mistake - seriously, so many bad decisions - but all of them are understandable from his perspective as a kid desperate to survive, save his friends and do the right thing. I liked that he wasn’t a typical chosen one martyr type - he’s going to do what he has to do, but he’s always very aware that the bad things happening are because of all the adults (and immortals) around him making selfish and stupid choices and he doesn’t take responsibility for things that weren’t his fault. It was refreshing. The supporting cast is really strong - I liked Brooks and her prickly relationship with Zane, and I absolutely loved Hondo, Zane’s uncle, who chaperones the kids on their quest and proves surprisingly helpful as well as acting as comic relief.
There were some places where the writing didn’t work for me. Cervantes seemed to struggle a bit in scenes where a lot of different things were going on emotionally for Zane; the writing got a bit uneven and jumped around in ways that didn’t make sense and the dialogue was sometimes awkward. But these were pretty minor issues.
As far as the disability rep, I had mixed feelings. Zane was a well-written disabled character. I liked how well he adapted to his disability - this is something that gets missed a lot, but people who have mobility disabilities their whole lives get used to moving the way their bodies do. It’s not necessarily easy or comfortable but it becomes natural. And that’s very much the case for Zane. You don’t forget his disability but he smoothly adjusts how he needs to deal with it in different situations. His disability affected his self-image a lot, thanks to the bullying he’d received, but the people who knew him never worried about it or felt he was less capable because of it. At the same time, it wasn’t a non-issue - the underlying fear through the book that Zane has about going into dangerous situations when he can’t run away felt very realistic. Also I found it funny that he kept losing his canes.
But as rep, it’s hard to miss that Zane’s disability kind of… fluctuates where it’s convenient. This is not a disability cure book - sorry if that’s a spoiler but it’s important to say - but it isa book that finds excuses to temporarily remove Zane’s disability. This works on a character level, because Zane has a lot of feelings about his disability and having him get a chance to be without it was a good way of examining it. So I didn’t mind the first time it happened, when it was very temporary and part of a plot point about the characters getting to look “perfect.” But the second time it happened just felt like an excuse to not have to deal with the disability during the final action sequence and I was disappointed because Cervantes had done a really good job with having a disabled pov character in actions scenes before this. So while I was glad that this “cure” also turned out to be temporary - and that Zane’s magical weapon is his cane, that’s really cool! - I wished we could have skipped that part. . Also some people might not like that Zane’s disability was a side-effect of him being godborn. Personally I really liked that but it is the “disability super power” trope and some people won’t enjoy it.
And he does.
The fast pace of this book makes it a lot of fun. Fantasy series tend to drag out storylines, and a character learning that he’s destined to do something he really doesn’t want to and then being forced to do it anyway could be a whole book. But Cervantes dispenses with the question of whether or not Zane will fulfill the prophesy quickly and then jumps into the aftermath. And it’s fun - here’s a road trip, people losing and gaining powers, a neighbor who gets turned into a very funny chicken, a huge birthday party in Venice Beach, giants and monsters and more animal transformations, and hanging over everything, the mystery Zane’s father.
The book was written through an initiative started by Rick Riordan to encourage diverse stories and the influence of Percy Jackson here is obvious. Zane is a normal kid struggling with normal kid stuff, in part because he’s disabled - one of his legs is shorter than the other and he walks with a cane - until he finds out that he’s secretly the son of a mythological figure and is carried off to a world of magic, prophecies and gods. But that’s where the similarities end. The storyline is unique and the use of Mayan mythology was interesting. I liked the way Cervantes modernized the mythology, making the book almost urban fantasy, whether it was the appearances of the Mayan gods or the mythological figures who own bike shops on the beach or run a magical mafia.
The characters are great. I liked Zane a lot. He feels like a realistic thirteen-year old hero: he makes a ton of mistake - seriously, so many bad decisions - but all of them are understandable from his perspective as a kid desperate to survive, save his friends and do the right thing. I liked that he wasn’t a typical chosen one martyr type - he’s going to do what he has to do, but he’s always very aware that the bad things happening are because of all the adults (and immortals) around him making selfish and stupid choices and he doesn’t take responsibility for things that weren’t his fault. It was refreshing. The supporting cast is really strong - I liked Brooks and her prickly relationship with Zane, and I absolutely loved Hondo, Zane’s uncle, who chaperones the kids on their quest and proves surprisingly helpful as well as acting as comic relief.
There were some places where the writing didn’t work for me. Cervantes seemed to struggle a bit in scenes where a lot of different things were going on emotionally for Zane; the writing got a bit uneven and jumped around in ways that didn’t make sense and the dialogue was sometimes awkward. But these were pretty minor issues.
As far as the disability rep, I had mixed feelings. Zane was a well-written disabled character. I liked how well he adapted to his disability - this is something that gets missed a lot, but people who have mobility disabilities their whole lives get used to moving the way their bodies do. It’s not necessarily easy or comfortable but it becomes natural. And that’s very much the case for Zane. You don’t forget his disability but he smoothly adjusts how he needs to deal with it in different situations. His disability affected his self-image a lot, thanks to the bullying he’d received, but the people who knew him never worried about it or felt he was less capable because of it. At the same time, it wasn’t a non-issue - the underlying fear through the book that Zane has about going into dangerous situations when he can’t run away felt very realistic. Also I found it funny that he kept losing his canes.
But as rep, it’s hard to miss that Zane’s disability kind of… fluctuates where it’s convenient. This is not a disability cure book - sorry if that’s a spoiler but it’s important to say - but it is
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism and Abandonment
Ableism: the main character is disabled and experiences bullying because of it as well as internalized ableism. This is mostly addressed and resolved by the end of the book. Abandonment: The main character grows up without a father and resents his father for it, and no one really explains it. This isn’t really addressed that much in this book but might be in future volumes.
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