3 out of 4 stars
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Koolura and the Mayans is the third installment in Michael Thal’s fantasy series for young adults who enjoy a healthy mix of action, magic, and adventure.
Koolura and her bff (best friend forever), Leila, are heading to Mexico for Koolura’s dad’s wedding. There, they explore the ruins at Monte Alban, where they find a hidden room and a decoolerizer (psychic absorber) that takes them back in time.
Rather than the Mayan civilization one might expect, Koolura and Leila end up in a 714 AD inhabited by Mayans enslaved by Aquarians, aliens from the planet Aquari. After accidentally using her psychic gifts in front of the Mayans, Koolura is believed to be their god. Can she and Leila set history right and send the Aquarians back where they came from before it’s too late?
I came into this book without having read the first two. I don’t normally like to pick up in the middle of a series, but I didn’t have a problem here. Enough of the previous stories was described to alleviate most of my confusion. Perhaps some things would have made more sense if I’d read the first two books, but my reading experience wasn’t hindered without them.
Koolura is an interesting protagonist. She’s quick-thinking and bright, while still having typical teen girl thoughts, like wanting to look cute. The character that really made this book stand out for me, though, was Leila. She has hearing loss and uses hearing aids. I love coming across any kind of diversity in young adult books, and I feel like disabilities are so under-represented in contemporary literature. Leila’s deafness was so believable. She and Koolura use American Sign Language to communicate. At one point, Leila’s hearing aids are crushed, and she’s forced to nudge her way into conversations she can’t hear. The author handled it all so well without bogging down the story. I won’t spoil, but I also loved how ASL became an essential part of the plot.
While I liked Koolura as a character, her psychic powers baffled me at times. At the beginning of the book, she’s struggling with teleportation. Try as she might, Koolura can’t land exactly where she wants to every time, even when she pictures her destination first like she’s supposed to. This led me to believe Koolura had to be able to picture where she was teleporting to in order for the power to work. Later, though, Koolura teleports past closed doors she’s never seen beyond or into secret rooms she didn’t know were there. I found myself scratching my head every time Koolura teleported. Koolura also had a plethora of other powers. Some were explored more than others, and I just wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be great at all of them or what.
I was fascinated by the Aquarians, too. Far from the water-based lifeforms the name led me to expect, they are humanoids with very advanced technology. Remi, the bad guy’s son, has been hunting for a planet his people can go to that will support them. Since they aren’t allowed to destroy sentient lifeforms, Remi comes up with the brilliant idea to occupy a planet back in time before its sentient lifeforms develop. This struck me as such a neat way to use time travel. Why the Aquarians went to Earth when it was inhabited by Native Americans, I’m not sure, but Remi’s idea is still a solid one, in my opinion.
I rate Koolura and the Mayans 3 out of 4 stars. The Mayan culture backdropped by aliens makes for an interesting story concept. Toss in the original idea about time travel, and this book definitely deserves more than 2 stars. The confusion about Koolura’s powers, though, keeps me from giving it four. The book is very well-edited and just waiting for boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 14 who love fantasy adventure to pick it up. The book would also appeal to older readers who want a feel-good adventure through a unique world. As for me, I look forward to seeing what the prequels have to offer.
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Koolura and the Mayans
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