I definitely got teared up there at the end. It took me a bit longer to get through this than it normally does for graphic novels, but the second-hand embarrassment was strong with this one. Even so, it was such a powerful little story of friendship and the danger of jealousy. Definitely read the author's note at the end--it provides a whole new depth to the story that makes me want to read it all through again.

Also fun fact: this is by the author of The Prince and the Dressmaker, which I didn't realize until I finished. So go give that a read if you like this art style!

So I have a lot of thoughts.

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. It reminded me a lot of the Percy Jackson books, but the writing could have used some improvement. This is a newer author though, and I’m excited to see more from her! She has an interesting and diverse background that she talks about in the author’s note, and those notes were the parts of the book I enjoyed most—the mythology (the staff was so cool!), the diversity of the cast, and the Chicago setting were all really neat.

I do wish that she’d developed some parts of the plot a bit more, especially Maya’s powers and the Lord of Shadows. A lot of scenes where Maya won felt too easy, and I think could have been done better.

Overall, though, this book is a warm and exciting tale of magic and thwarting evil bad guys to save the people you love—and the world. I loved the diversity, and would love to read more like this! The world needs these books.

This was a very unique read. The style was different from anything I’ve read before. It was almost like poetry. Really beautiful, if a bit confusing at times. I only wish it had more Spanish!