Maya and the Rising Dark, Books 1 & 2 by Rena Barron

Maya and the Rising Dark, Book 1

In this highly anticipated contemporary fantasy, twelve-year-old Maya’s search for her missing father puts her at the center of a battle between our world, the Orishas, and the mysterious and sinister Dark world. Perfect for fans of Aru Shah and the End of Time and Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky.

“A truly #BlackGirlMagic, cloudy-day, curl-up kind of book." —​Kirkus, STARRED review

 

“A must-read tale." —School Library Journal, STARRED review

 

SLJ Best Book of 2020 Kirkus Best Book of 2020 Chicago Public Library’s Best Middle Grade Book of 2020

Twelve-year-old Maya is daydreaming about summer break in her southside Chicago neighborhood when she witnesses the color bleed from the world. She’s the only one who sees it and other weird occurrences like werehyenas stalking the streets at night. Not to mention, there’s a scary man made of shadows plaguing her dreams. Her best friends try to find a reasonable explanation—perhaps a ghost uprising or a lunchroom pudding experiment gone awry. But to Maya, it sounds like something from one of Papa’s fantastical stories or her favorite Oya comics.

When Papa goes missing, Maya is suddenly thrust into a world both strange and familiar as she uncovers the truth. Her father is the guardian of the veil between our world and the Dark—where an army lead by the Lord of Shadows, the man from Maya’s nightmares, awaits. Maya herself is a godling, half orisha and half human, and her neighborhood is a safe haven. But now that the veil is failing, the Lord of Shadows is determined to destroy the human world.

Maya will have to unlock her hidden powers, save her father, and bring order to our world before darkness consumes it. She just hopes she can do it in time to attend Comic-Con before summer’s over.

Maya and the Return of the Godlings, Book 2

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. Now that she’s crossed 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 tears in the veil 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.