Hilarious and surprising sequel to the 2017 Purple Dragonfly prize winning young adult novel Maya's Magical Adventures. Join Maya, her rather grumpy and unhelpful cat Mischief, dragon Blink and friends on another laugh-out-loud mystery as she comes face to face with magical and terrifying foes on an impossible quest to restore her friend's magic bone and with it her powers. To find and restore the lost magic bone and defeat her enemies, Maya and her friends must gather the ingredients for the impossible spell, each of which, naturally enough, it is impossible to find or does not exist. So if you want to find out how to find something that cannot be found, gather ingredients that do not exist and cast an impossible spell that can never be cast ... Stop! Don't read this. It's impossible!
The author has published several books in the very different genres of YA fantasy and Cosmology and theoretical physics.
The serious stuff first - the author has published 2 works on the nature of time and creation. The first book "How to fix the universe" introduced a radical new explanation for what time is and proposed alternatives to dark matter and dark energy. A second publication titled "Everything" builds on the success of the model and proposes a new big bang theory. One which starts from nothing and doesn't break Einstein's laws of general relativity, unlike the current model.
The accidental author - Malcolm started writing in response to his 8 year old daughter's request when he was making up bedtime stories about dragons and other magical adventures one night. "You have to write that one down daddy!" Maya insisted. Maya then provided illustrations and ideas for the book which incorporates a number of characters based on her close friends and family. The book won the YA category in the 2017 Purple dragonfly book awards.
Maya and her magical friends are on another adventure and you won’t want to miss a moment.
In order to defeat those who wish to stop her, Maya must somehow find and regenerate the lost magic bone’s mystical power. How? I’m glad you asked. She must cast a spell with ingredients lost years ago. Sounds impossible? Not for Maya and her gang of adventurous mates. Will she succeed, or will her enemies get the upper hand?
There’s so many things that happen in this book and I didn’t want to spoil it for anyone so I’ve left my review rather vague. I’ll tell you what I enjoyed about this book:
Witty dialogue. With whip-smart timing, the dialogue kept me turning the pages. Each character has its own voice and there were times when I laughed out loud. Think Lemony Snicket, only better.
Characters. Maya is still my favorite but the others are certainly burrowing their way into my heart.
Adventure. The mystery and the impossible spell carries throughout the plot. Well done. In my opinion, it’s the backbone of the whole story. Will she or won’t she find all the ingredients in time?
The only downside was the ending. Cliff-hanger endings don’t impress me and with this one, left me feeling rather empty. I’m hoping book three will tie up all the loose ends.
If you’re looking for the next thing to read after Harry Potter, pick this up today!
Favorite Character/Quote: Maya. She’s still my favorite character. There’s such an infectious giddiness about her I just love. It’s like being around your best friend and giggling over something silly.