Lost Souls--Burning Sky

May 17, 2010
Fantasy/SF writer Odom pens the first book in an interactive, board game–based series, created by Jordan Weisman (the Cathy's Book series), which revolves around the portentous year 2012. On his 13th birthday, Nathan finds that he has the ability to switch frequencies and see "lost souls," ghosts who need help—including his dead mother. As if that isn't enough, he encounters the Mayan god
Kukulkan, who reveals that Nathan is part of a cosmic game, the rules of which Nathan doesn't know. Despite Nathan's discovery that he has fabulous abilities (like flying) while in different frequencies, the book feels slow until he decides to help a police officer who was framed and murdered. There's little new in the plot, and the Mayan thread is subtle and nonintrusive—perhaps too much so. Readers with a genuine interest in Mayan myth may be disappointed: it's more of a hook than an integral part of the story. The strongest moment is the finale, which hints at more interesting and possibly darker stories to come. Board game (with rules) included, not seen by PW. Ages 8–12.

August 1, 2010

Gr 4-7-This first book in a trilogy, which takes the Maya 2012 apocalypse prophecy as a central plot point, is surely intended to appeal to fans of Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" books (Hyperion), but that series is funnier and far less murky. Nathan has been picked by the Maya god Kukulkan to play a mysterious live-action game (board game included with the book). He isn't supplied with any rules or instructions-all he knows is that the Game is dangerous and the stakes are high. Funny, smart-alecky dialogue and neatly drawn characters are not enough to make up for the book's uneven pace and choppy plot. The disjointed action takes place in dreams, in waking dreams, and finally in the real world, but the transitions between these settings are awkward. Nathan's indecision about whether to even play the Game is particularly drawn out and talky, as he is guided and advised by a talking monkey, a dead police officer, the god Kukulkan, and his deceased mother. Screamingly up-to-date, with references to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, this book may attract readers who are gluttons for adventure, but most of them will be put off by the long periods of inaction.-Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2010
Grades 6-9 There has been a great deal of interest in the Mayan prediction of a 2012 apocalypse, and this trilogy kick-off ties the fate of all humankind tosurprise!a wisecracking, unpopular seventh-grader. Nathans daily grind of slugging through boring tests and avoiding sneak-attack swirlies upshifts when he finds an ancient board game in the closet of his archaeologist father. (Lost Souls comes packaged with a replica of this game.) Soon Nathan finds himself locked in a competition that opens new alternate worlds (called frequencies) traversed by a fantastical figure named Kukulkan, Nathans dead mother, and hordes of the frequency-challenged (aka ghosts), who plead for Nathans help in putting their souls to rest. What begins as supernatural fantasy settles into Nathans investigation of the killing of an unjustly demonized cop. So far, the game element is little more than a lackluster metaphor in an overlong book. But there remains hope: both Nathan and Kukulkan are interesting adversaries, and the 2012 connection has only begun to be mined.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)