Maya and the Return of the Godlings

by Rena Barron

Overview

In this highly anticipated sequel, Maya and the godlings must return to the sinister world of The Dark to retrieve the one thing keeping the veil between the worlds from crumbling: her father’s soul. Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky and Willa of the Wood. 

The threat from The Dark is far from over. Twelve-year-old Maya knows this. After crossing the veil between the two worlds, saving her father, and narrowly escaping the sinister clutches of the Lord of Shadows, tensions between the human world and The Dark are higher than ever. And even worse, Maya’s orisha powers as a godling are out of control.
 
Now a guardian in training, Maya spends her days patching up veils with her father and cleaning up near-disasters like baby wormholes that her erratic powers create. But when Maya and her friends discover that something went terribly wrong during their journey to bring her father back to the human world, they are forced to return to The Dark and restore what they left behind, the one thing keeping the veil from falling: her father’s soul.
 
The Lord of Shadows is mobilizing his forces for an all-out war against the human world. And this time, Maya and her friends will need all the help they can get. Even if that means teaming up with their greatest enemies, the darkbringers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358106326
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Series:	Maya and the Rising Dark
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	165,928
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Rena Barron grew up in small-town Alabama where stories of magic and adventure sparked her imagination. After penning her first awful poem in middle school, she graduated to writing short stories and novels by high school. Rena loves all things science fiction, ghosts, and superheroes. She’s a self-proclaimed space nerd. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading or brushing up on her French. Follow her at @renathedreamer and renabarron.com.
 

Editorial Reviews

Like the first book in the series, this work is a celebration of diverse community….A sequel solid in character development, plot, pace, and continued world-building.”—School Library Journal
 

From the Publisher

09/01/2021

Gr 5 Up—In this book that picks up where Maya and the Rising Dark left off, middle schooler and guardian-in-training Maya is learning to patch holes in the veil separating this world from the Dark. Her friends Eli and Frankie are also coming into their own powers—and they aren't the only ones. More powers are popping up across Jackson Middle School, making extra work for the elders of Maya's South Side Chicago neighborhood who also happen to be Orisha gods. When Maya learns that her father's soul is trapped in the Dark, the Orisha and godlings meet to discuss sending someone to retrieve it. But the council has a history of caution, and concern for a coming war with the Dark looms. Despite the potential consequences of a return to the Dark, Maya refuses to be stopped from saving her father. Like the first book in the series, this work is a celebration of diverse community. Maya and her friends have a variety of interests, characters' skin tones range from light brown to dark, hairstyles span from locs to cornrows, and family dynamics mirror the beautiful complexity of society today. Maya, Eli, and Frankie journey through the terrain of the Dark, offering readers a closer look at the other world and further demonstrating the close friendship the tweens share. The three are surprised that the Darkbringers are as varied as their own people, with skin in tones of blue, and purple, barbed tails, horns, wings, or all three, and, most surprisingly, differing opinions of the imminent war. VERDICT A sequel solid in character development, plot, pace, and continued world-building.—Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson Univ., SC

School Library Journal

2021-07-13
In this sequel to Maya and the Rising Dark (2020), Maya and her Papa, the orisha Elegguá, are repairing a gigantic tear in the veil, the astral divider between humanity and the Dark.

This exercise is part of Chicago resident Maya’s continuing lessons as a guardian-in-training. Of course, the Lord of Shadows chooses this moment for a vengeful strike in retaliation for the orishas’ killing of his creations, the darkbringers. Maya notices Papa is taking longer to recover than usual; he confesses that ever since the Lord of Shadows held him captive, his strength and powers haven’t quite returned—but he doesn’t know why. During Elegguá’s visit with wise orisha Obatala in the city of Azur, Obatala tells him that the Lord of Shadows took his soul during the battle in which Maya set Elegguá free. Without his soul, Elegguá will slowly die. In the meantime, some of Maya’s schoolmates come into their own godling powers, which causes them internal confusion and their middle school to erupt into chaos—and could lead to celestial chaos as well. Like its predecessor, this volume presents a multicultural universe that centers West African influences; the worldbuilding is developed here in greater detail, with the action picking up later in the novel. Readers are plunged into a continuation of the story with little recap, making knowledge of the first book a necessity.

Ratcheted-up stakes keep readers invested in this rollicking-good sequel. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews