This amazing cover has a book birthday coming up on Tuesday, October 4. This new entry in the Rick Riordan presents imprint takes readers into Maya and Aztec culture and story, with Ren, a 14 year old witch (or bruja) who can control shadows, as a compelling lead character. Loads of excitement, lots of dark challenges for Ren and her crew of misfits, and a massive cliffhanger ending. Strong readers Grade 5 and up will appreciate this one, and it will open up a whole new world of demigods for them. I found it frustrating as a reader to be dropped into a book that decidedly expected me to have some prior knowledge of the characters. I assumed this was book 2 of a series, but it is in fact a companion to Cervantes' Storm Runner series. If I was buying this for a classroom or school library, I would be sure to get both, and suggest Storm Runner for kids before they dive into this one. Aliens, demons, a magic time rope, and a manipulative god character you're not sure can be trusted? What more can the average middle grade reader ask? This is a 4 star read for me, mostly because of that sense of not quite having the full story. Thanks to @netgalley for the e-ARC. #LordsOfNight #NetGalley

Thank you to #NetGalley, J.C. Cervantes, and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Ren is a normal girl with regular hopes and dreams. She does believe that there is a connection between aliens and Mayan civilization which she keeps a blog on. She just wishes it would be more respected. When she gets an email about a possible alien sighting, she jumps at the chance to go to prove her theory. When her friends won't help, Ren has to team up with two strangers. Will the three of them be able to prove Ren's theory and will she start earning the respect she deserves?
This was a cute, fun, and fast paced adventure! I love the Rick Riordian Presents books, especially the ones with strong female leads for young girls.

Thanks to Netgalley and Disney Publishing for the advance Kindle copy of this 10/4/22 release. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this new series starter, which is an extension of the Storm Runner series. You definitely need to read that series first; I have only read the first and I think there were some gaps in knowledge that I needed filled. Anyway, it follows Renata (Ren), the most powerful godborn of them all. She has shadow magic AND this magical rope that controls time. When she hears that some of the defected godborn (like a rebel group) is planning on awakening the Lords of Night (like, THAT can’t be good), she teams up with a motley crew to stop them. Hand to fans of the first series, and get fans of Percy Jackson hooked on that one. Recommended for grades 5+.

Oh my gosh, that ending! I cannot wait for the next book in the series! Although this book has many of the same characters as The Storm Runner series, it has a completely different feel to it. Ren gets pulled into a quest involving her Mexica/Aztec heritage. The Lords of Night are awakening one by one, and Ren must find a way to put them back to sleep or something bad will happen. What exactly that is going to be is unknown. She is joined by god of darkness A. P., godborn son of war Marco, a half-demon, and an Aztec hunter hoping to earn her powers.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I enjoyed reading about Zane Obispo in The Storm Runner books; so I knew this series would be just as good and it did not disappoint! I liked that we learned a bit about the other gods and Ah-Puch was back again. It was great to explore more of the Mayan and Aztec myths and legends.

This book started off fast and quick, and I actually felt like it was book 2 of the series. I had so many questions about what had happened before, especially because they kept referencing it. Not my favorite book just because I felt like there were so many holes (a prequel would help this so much!), but it was fun and surprising to me! I’m not often surprised.

It’s fair to state that The Lords of Night was my most anticipated non-Star Wars book for this year. Everything about this book had me excited. From the premise, to the great mytholigcal universe JC Cervantes established in the Storm Runner trilogy, to the amazing cover we got for this book. Also, does not hurt how many wins the Rick Riordan presents imprint has been doling out since its creation. There have been very few misses within the imprint.

With all of this going for it, there is no way it could live up to my internal hype, right? Wrong, so wrong. This book beat my expectations right into the stratosphere. This first book in the Shadow Bruja duology is surprisingly connected to the main Storm Runner series, but also stands on its own two feet. One thing I have come to learn is that in these MG books, they tend to repeat things a lot that might be lore related. So even for readers who have not read the Storm Runner trilogy, fear not, as you can still get the summary version of those events and enjoy this book.
The book itself is a joy from cover to cover. Well a joy, that might be oversimplifying things. It is a joy to read, but the ending, well I don’t like being a tease, but you could tell that every step in this book built up to that step. It left me making sure there was no extra pages for me to read. After that, I simply got up, walked away the book, and attempted to process the book. Definitely one of those type of amazing heart shredding endings. The Storm Runner trilogy has nothing on this book, and that is why I am giving this book a perfect 5/5 stars. 100/100. 10/10. All the perfect ratings!

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

I am so grateful for the J.C. Cervantes and Rick Riordan for bringing mythology vack to our minds. This is part two of Rena's story. Once again she needs to save the world but with strangers. What happens next is awe inspiring and edge of seat good.

This book is the second in the series, and I highly recommend reading the first before starting this one. I enjoyed the characters and the adventure, but the world building and a lot of character development was obviously in the first book. Overall, a fun read, but it definitely would have been better to read the first one prior to reading this one.

Very interesting spin off from Cervantes' other Mayan series. I have to admit I found Ren a bit annoying and overly sensitive in this one, but it didn't detract from the work too much. I'll be very interested to read the second volume, as it ended on QUITE the cliffhanger.

Thank you, Disney Publishing Worldwide, for allowing me to read The Lords of Night early!

J.C. Cervantes returns to the fantastic world of the Storm Runner trilogy with an exciting new adventure. I had the best time reading this.