Charlie Hernández & the Golden Dooms
by Ryan Calejo (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Booktalk: After hitchhiking across Central and South America to rescue the Witch Queen and face off against La Mano Peluda, Charlie Hernández is pretty much grounded for life. But after all he’s been through, some quiet time at home with his parents might be nice. Though it would be better if he didn’t have to share his room with his obnoxiously perfect cousin Raúl, who’s staying with them.
But quiet is hard to come by when you’re the fifth and final morphling, and it’s not long before death walks back into Charlie’s life. Or at least, the dead do, starting with a mysterious young calaca who corners him at school, dropping cryptic hints about trouble brewing in the 305. With the League of Shadows focused on repairing fractured alliances and tracking gathering armies, this one’s up to Charlie to solve.
Following the clues only leads to more questions, and not even teenage investigative journalist extraordinaire Violet Rey can figure out how a sudden rooster infestation, earthquakes, missing persons, and a pet-napping gang of lizard-men–whom Charlie doesn’t recognize from any legend–are all connected. Most concerning of all is when they learn a map has been stolen that reveals the locations of the Golden Dooms, the twelve ancient calaca watchmen who form the magical barrier between the realms.
To stop the impending invasion, Charlie and Violet must outwit an ancient evil and unravel the most sinister of schemes. That is, unless they’d rather watch the Land of the Living get overrun by the dead.
Snippet: Death came for me at around lunchtime. I was walking out of Ms. Alonso’s third-period history, on my way to the cafeteria, and didn’t even see it coming. No one usually does. In fact, as I started down the hallway toward the little stairs plastered with prom posters, all I saw was a girl. And she didn’t look particularly deadly, either. She was, as a matter of fact, seriously pretty. I mean, who would’ve thought somebody that cute was gonna bring about the end of the world? Definitely not me, or else I wouldn’t’ve stood there like some starry-eyed goof, basically just gawking at her as she slipped her way between the streams of hungry middle schoolers and came right up to me.
“¿Perdona, tú eres Charlie Hernández?”
Large hazel eyes blinked up at me from beneath ridiculously long, ridiculously thick lashes, and I think I might’ve managed a couple of blinks myself. I think….
She tried again. “Are you Charlie Hernández?”
Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.