An intriguing, dreamlike story about coming of age in a mirror universe to our own with similar ongoing crises (climate change catastrophes) but also very fantastical elements. I absolutely loved the art in this; every other scene looked like an incredibly rad band poster.

Maya’s family has a gift, or maybe it’s a curse. No one is really sure. Those who have it see a mysterious pillar of light that lead them to their destiny. Maya’s sister followed her light and has been missing ever since. When Maya goes searching for her sister, she finds herself approaching her own light. She must decide how far she’s willing to go.
This coming of age story integrates themes of magic and mythology with apocalyptic elements and found family. There were wonderful elements, such as the relationships between the main characters and the dynamic illustrations. However, there was so much going on in this story and so many ideas that none of them every came fully to fruition and then it ended on a massive cliffhanger. I hope that a sequel allows this story to fully develop and express the ideas that were introduced but not coherently fleshed out.

Me 5/5: I wasn’t originally planning on reading this with my 11 and 8 year old gremlins but they thought the cover was cool and I didn’t see any tags that concerned me. Their thoughts are below. As a parent, the kids had a good time and none of the content felt inappropriate for my kids understanding of the world. The cursing my 11 y/o mentions is very light.

For me, I loved this. I love a powerful and complex sibling relationship and Greater Secrets delivers on that. I also enjoyed the various family dynamics shown that gave each character a lot of depth. The friendship built between Maya, Cardea, and Dyno was probably the best part for me. The art was also incredible.

11 year old: 3/5 there was some language I didn’t like (cursing), I really liked the flash backs.

8 year old: 10,000/5 I really liked it and I liked the part when she was talking about her ancestor and the lights and snakes.

I can not wait for the second installment. While I dread a cliffhanger, jumping into this with no knowledge of it, made me speculate the ending more and more! The pacing was good and the characters' emotions aligned with the story. The character's personalities were explained greatly through the art style and their dialogue. This graphic novel is full of good representation. A truly lovely coming-of-age novel that you will quickly breeze through!

This graphic novel has absolutely gorgeous artwork and a lovely story about three teens coming together for a road trip with mystical elements woven in. With the way this ended, I hope there's a sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

This is a story with a found family. Our main character is looking for her sister and thinks that she went in search of the light that her family can see. She goes on an adventure to find her sister with a couple strangers who have their own goals and an adventure that makes them some of the best of friends and a journey they will never forget.

I have such mixed feelings about this one! The art was super gorgeous, and I was really invested in the plot. It follows a teenage girl, who is looking for her sister, and dealing with a family "curse?". The mystical elements were interesting, and I was thoroughly engaged in the book throughout! But without giving too much away, I felt like the ending was really, really abrupt. I so wanted a conclusion of some sort, but it just makes me look forward to book 2! (Please let there be a book 2 lol)

Overall, a fun graphic novel with some great fantasy elements and fantastic illustrations! Thanks to NetGalley, Ananth Hirsh, Tess Stone, and Random House Children's for the chance to read and review. My opinions are my own.

that was kinda good, but I’m confused lol what does the ending mean??? what does the title mean??? felt like there could be few more extra pages to make the ending clearer.

i love found friendship between Maya, Cardea, and Dyno tho. and Maya being desi was also interesting. i just didn’t really understand the light beam & snake things.

I have loved several of Anath Hirsh and Tess Stones's works, so I was so excited to read a graphic novel by both of them together! The art, of course, is gorgeous. I absolutely love the art, and the page flow is pretty fantastic. Unfortunately, the story itself falls a bit flat for me. It had several story concepts I enjoyed, but the overall plot felt confusing. I think I understand what their journey is meant to represent, but the plot ideals are so nebulous that I found myself confused about what is actually meant to be real or not within the story. Also, is magic real in this world or is it not? I enjoyed that the story's magical elements are based on Hinduism which is something I feel like I rarely ever see! If the story had been less vague in certain plot sections, I think I would have enjoyed it more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Depending on who you ask, Maya's family is blessed, or cursed. Each member of the family can see a pillar of light on the horizon, and any of those who give in to the call to seek it out are never heard from again. A few years ago, Maya's sister disappeared presumably chasing the light as well. Now, with new clues to follow, Maya and two virtual strangers go on a roadtrip to try and find her. The setup of the story was very interesting, but the bulk of the story is more about the three main characters becoming friends and facing their issues than learning more about anything potentially supernatural going on. The ending was a bit lackluster, though open enough to make sense for the kind of story being told. The art, however, is great and I loved the style and the color choices. I do wish that the story had focused more on the aspects of the curse and the pillar of light, however.

With the limited detail in the blurb, I wasn’t totally sure what I was getting into with this graphic novel. There’s a fantastical element, an apocalyptic element, and a high school road trip element.

Maya, Cardea, and Dyno each have their own motivation for wanting to search for Maya’s sister Amara. There’s family stress/angst, and there are also strong familial bond with strong currents of love.

The authors’ note mentions combining elements of a world falling apart/things feeling wildly apart with elements of living life…because life keeps going on no matter what. This absolutely shows up across the story.

I can’t tell if there’s an opening to continue the story for these characters. I’m also not sure how I feel about the ending, though I think it’s overall positive.

Though the characters are in high school and thinking about college, this is still very accessible and appropriate for a middle school audience, and I look forward to adding it to my classroom library!