Maya and the Rising Dark

By Rena Barron

Book #1 in the Maya and the Rising Dark series

A girl must unlock her powers to stop a looming war between worlds.

3.9/5 Goodreads · 2,123 ratings

298 pages· 61,958 words· Est. 8.5 hour read

$16.99Save 7%

In stock. Also at Amazon or Bookshop.

Bookroo's summary

Twelve-year-old Maya's father vanishes, thrusting her into a hidden battle between our world and the Dark. As a godling, Maya must harness her powers to stop the Lord of Shadows from unleashing chaos. With werehyenas prowling and shadowy nightmares haunting her, can Maya save her neighborhood and find her father before it's too late?

From the publisher

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 The Serpent’s Secret.

Twelve-year-old Maya is the only one in her South Side Chicago neighborhood who witnesses weird occurrences like werehyenas stalking the streets at night and a scary man made of shadows plaguing her dreams. Her friends try to find an explanation–perhaps a ghost uprising or a lunchroom experiment gone awry. But to Maya, it sounds like something from one of Papa’s stories or her favorite comics.

When Papa goes missing, Maya is 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 led 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 and it’s up to Maya to stop him. She just hopes she can do it in time to attend Comic-Con before summer’s over.

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