I received a review copy from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: MG
Star Rating: 3.5 stars
Series: final book of trilogy
*SPOILER ALERT: contains SPOILERS for MAYA AND THE RISING DARK and MAYA AND THE RETURN OF THE GODLINGS*
Blurb:
War is coming. Despite everything Maya and her father have done, the veil that protects the human world is failing. The Lord of Shadows has raised an army powerful enough to challenge the orishas. And it’s only a matter of time before he breaks through the veil and destroys Maya’s neighborhood and the rest of the world.
Maya and her friends aren’t going down without a fight. She’s honing her guardian powers, with the help of two new allies—her long lost guardian sister and a mysterious darkbringer (who might be a double agent). But when an attack hits close to home, Maya doesn’t have any more time to prepare. She must face the Lord of Shadows or risk losing everything. With her friends—Eli, Frankie, Zeran, and Eleni—by her side, Maya leads the charge in an epic showdown that takes her across worlds and to the edge of the universe.
Will she succeed or will Darkness prevail, once and for all?
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
I finally made it to the end of this series! Only took two years…
MAYA AND THE LORD OF SHADOWS is a triumphant finale to this trilogy that brings West African mythology to life in modern-day America, very PERCY JACKSON style. There’s plenty of sass, peril, and monsters to go around. This is a series for fans of PERCY JACKSON who want more books like it focusing on a wider ranger of mythologies, sitting alongside the ARU SHAH series and others that have grown up in the wake of PERCY JACKSON’s success.
I am a little outside the target age range for this series, and the near three years since reading the previous book did make me feel a bit lost at time. In all, it was a good read and I can see it’s appeal to the target audience.
Maya and her friends are going to need all the allies they can get as the Lord of Shadows, the series’ big bad, is ready to unleash his attack on the world. But he’s also been recruiting. There are new creatures introduced but old ones also make a return
There are plenty of battles and action in this story, letting the characters show off their various powers. It’s a fun tale with high stakes and a high pace as the cast race to find a way to save the world before they all die. I liked that schools were central battlegrounds, the kids fighting to defend places that should be places of safety for them.
Read my reviews of other books by Rena Barron
Middle Grade:
Maya and the Rising Dark (this series):
Young Adult:
Kingdom of Souls:
- KINGDOM OF SOULS (#1)
- REAPER OF SOULS (#2)
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 