Koolura and the Mayans

(2nd Place Winner in Royal Dragon Fly Book Awards – Middle-Grade Fiction)

The Mayans need a goddess powerful enough to save them from alien taskmasters. Is Koolura up to the job?

Koolura and best friend Leila travel to Oaxaca, Mexico for a wedding. The girls visit a Mayan archeological site. There they are mysteriously transported back in time to the Mayan era.  Koolura and Leila are imprisoned, used as a sacrificial lamb to a Mayan god, become food fodder for a monstrous snake, and chased by alien teens bent on exploiting Koolura’s gifts. During their thrilling exploits the girls wonder if the Aquarians are planning to take over Earth? And can they stop them in time?

First Place Gold winner of the 2018 eLit Awards Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction

Red City Review gave Koolura and the Mayans  ★★★★ and had this to say: Koolura and the Mayans is the third entry in author Michael Thal’s young adult series about a girl named Koolura with mystical powers. Koolura and her friend Leila are on vacation in Mexico City, where Koolura’s father is getting re-married, when the girls unwittingly stumble upon a derelict relic in an old Mayan tomb that whisks them thousands of years into the past.

There’s just one problem: she doesn’t know how to get back! Now, stranded in history with her best friend, Koolura must hide her abilities from an alien race known as the Aquari, who have subjugated the native population for nefarious reasons. This Mayan mishap could end up costing Koolura much more than a few extra days in Mexico!

A unique hybrid of science fiction, folklore, and pure fantasy, Koolura and the Mayans is a fun romp through time and space. Readers do not have to have read the first two books in the series in order to keep pace with the plot, but if you enjoy Thal’s tale here, take comfort in knowing there are two more books about Koolura to devour.

As with any story this brief, readers might find themselves wishing there was a bit more meat to occupy their appetites, especially during one short journey which finds Koolura jetting off to an unknown planet in search of a device that could help the Aquari leave Earth. Still, it must be said that Koolura is a charming and unpredictable protagonist. The result is that readers will simply have no idea where the story will take them next—and that feeling is utterly magical.