Lost Jade of the Maya

The “Lost Jade of the Maya,” is the second young adult novel in Marjorie Bicknell Johnson’s series. The first is “Jaguar Princess: The Last Maya Princess.” This second book continues the story of Chanlajun Pesh: Archaelogist, Professor, Shaman, young wife, and new mother of Yash. In this sequel, Pesh, as she calls herself, is in search of the source of her green jade jaguar talisman, B’lam. Pesh fears she is a fallen Shaman and needs to find where her jade jaguar talisman came from for redemption. Where are the ancient, secret, hidden jade mines of the Maya? Along with her Geologist-Pilot husband Kedar, Pesh’s search for lost Jade mines takes her from the Yucatan Mayan ruins that she studies each season into the jungles of Guatamala. Pesh and Dr. Burt, plus her daughter Yash, meet the Andersons who live in Guatemala and process jade into fine pieces. Pesh and Yash also assist a Maya shaman healing children in a Guatamalan jungle village. They have to deal with drug lords, blackmail, mysticism, curses, kidnapping, and more. There is so much non-stop excitement and adventure in Ms. Johnson’s novels that it would be too much to describe in this review. Suffice it to say, there’s never a dull moment. Ms. Johnson knows how to build suspense and carries you along on Pesh’s wide-ranging adventures. The author also provides detailed descriptions of the setting and the characters to totally bring you into Pesh’s world. As an experienced pilot, Ms. Johnson’s aviation scenes are realistic as are her jungle scenes, since she thoroughly researched the area and the Maya culture and history in writing her books. This series has adventure, romance, intrigue/mystery, mysticism, history, edge-of-your-seat excitement, and satisfying endings. Ms. Johnson’s books are the type of books that you hurry to finish but then want more and ask when is the next book in the series coming out? Highly recommended for young adult and up readers.