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Children of the Spider
The Spiders are coming!
Mayali is a girl on the run. Driven by desperation and the search for her father, Mayali leaves behind everything she has ever known on her home world of Zolpash, a land of sulphur and harsh weather, and journeys to Guyana. There she meets Joseph, a boy without the gift of speech but with much to say. Together they go on a daring, cross-country adventure to save earth from the invading Spider gods and their armies. Will their warning come too late? Will anyone even believe them? And will Mayali be able to find her father?
Children of the Spider is a fast-paced adventure. The story moves from the lush hinterlands of Guyana through to the bustling city of Georgetown where the colonial past continues to rub shoulders with the gritty, contemporary world. It is a refreshing take on Caribbean myth and mythology from an interesting new voice.
Children of the Spider won first place in the 2015 Burt Award for Caribbean Literature.
Mayali is a girl on the run. Driven by desperation and the search for her father, Mayali leaves behind everything she has ever known on her home world of Zolpash, a land of sulphur and harsh weather, and journeys to Guyana. There she meets Joseph, a boy without the gift of speech but with much to say. Together they go on a daring, cross-country adventure to save earth from the invading Spider gods and their armies. Will their warning come too late? Will anyone even believe them? And will Mayali be able to find her father?
Children of the Spider is a fast-paced adventure. The story moves from the lush hinterlands of Guyana through to the bustling city of Georgetown where the colonial past continues to rub shoulders with the gritty, contemporary world. It is a refreshing take on Caribbean myth and mythology from an interesting new voice.
Children of the Spider won first place in the 2015 Burt Award for Caribbean Literature.
- GenresFantasyYoung Adult
208 pages, Paperback
Published July 15, 2016
1 person is currently reading
72 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 27, 2020
This book was out of my norm. There were generational and cultural chasms and mountain tops for me to cross to get to understand this book.
I could not help but feel too old and too European privilege to understand some details of this book and not be shocked by some things.
Religion was only one of the obstacles, bits of creole language made me think Disney pirates and the casual working in of the dog fights into the mix had me on edge most of the time while I was reading.
Most of the geographical references were lost on me and I had to make huge leaps to imagine how it all supposed to look like.
Amid all of these difficulties I got stuck with some inconsistencies in the plot and action. I'm still unsure if they sprung from my own lack of understanding and concentration or if it were really just not so good writing.
The idea of the story is interesting but everything seemed like a blur meshed together too fast...
I could not help but feel too old and too European privilege to understand some details of this book and not be shocked by some things.
Religion was only one of the obstacles, bits of creole language made me think Disney pirates and the casual working in of the dog fights into the mix had me on edge most of the time while I was reading.
Most of the geographical references were lost on me and I had to make huge leaps to imagine how it all supposed to look like.
Amid all of these difficulties I got stuck with some inconsistencies in the plot and action. I'm still unsure if they sprung from my own lack of understanding and concentration or if it were really just not so good writing.
The idea of the story is interesting but everything seemed like a blur meshed together too fast...
February 16, 2021
The book begins with a map. Yes! As all GREAT books do, the book possesses a MAP! It shows a place I’m sure many of you have never seen unless you’ve been trying to find the more popular Caribbean island, Trinidad, and barely glanced it kotched up there in South America. However it’s a place I’ve known since I was a wee tot. The “land of many waters”, Guyana. Baksh came at me with nostalgia I was not expecting, from locations to language it felt like an adventure that could have been mine. Why? Because the kids he wrote were me, circa early 2000s
Mabaruma, Guyana is Baksh’s setting for the start of this story. Close to the border or Venezuela it is a place with a tiny population but markedly so home to protagonists Joseph and Mayali. Mayali, however, comes from somewhere else altogether called Zoplash. Through a portal, she transitioned into our world and specifically into Guyana. Let’s just say this is incredible, because how many of these stories land kids in Europe? Big up the creativity. The children move from Mabaruma to the Demerara River, landing waterside at Stabroek Market. Once back on land they make their way across Georgetown, escaping mythical baddies while trying to convince locals of an impending threat. It was fast paced and a wild ride that I completely enjoyed, particularly because these landmarks were places I called home a few years ago.
I loved that Baksh didn’t pretty up Guyana for aesthetics. Guyana is not your regular touristy Caribbean locale, heck, it probs won’t come up on TripAdvisor for places to visit in the Caribbean. But the feel of the streets, people and experiences were so authentic to me, I hope more people realize it is the Guyana we have minus the red robed beings.
I also need to mention water. It is everywhere is this story and that too is a testament to us being “Land of many waters”. From gullies to the Demerara River to Kaiteur falls to canals, water is everywhere! The theme throughout is a reminder of place and such an important one to me, a local reader.
Baksh made some choices I found admirable for his characters. Firstly, Joseph is Deaf and is a super teen with skills, smarts and heart beyond his years. The way he communicates with hot headed Mayali makes him that ride or die we all want in our zombie apocalypse squad. Even Rafeek, the street boy who stumbles into their two team band is one full of heart. I haven’t seen such societal underdogs who make me crave even a fraction of their heart and skill set. Mayali is hot headed and learning. Despite her outbursts she is one to love.
To avoid spoilers but to encourage my Caribbean readers, Anansi makes their debut in this tale in an iteration you probably haven’t heard of yet. I love this for Caribbean readers, who I am sure, like me have grown up with different versions of this trickster based on our location in the Caribbean. Additionally, content is a bit evolved for younger readers so I’d advise looking into some of the triggers before placing this one in extremely young hands. But for my old arse, this was absolutely the urban fantasy I wanted written about my people roaming our streets. Another strong book by Baksh and possibly equally or more loved (by me) than The Dark of the Sea.. but I don’t know!! I love them both! Thanks again Mr Baksh!
Mabaruma, Guyana is Baksh’s setting for the start of this story. Close to the border or Venezuela it is a place with a tiny population but markedly so home to protagonists Joseph and Mayali. Mayali, however, comes from somewhere else altogether called Zoplash. Through a portal, she transitioned into our world and specifically into Guyana. Let’s just say this is incredible, because how many of these stories land kids in Europe? Big up the creativity. The children move from Mabaruma to the Demerara River, landing waterside at Stabroek Market. Once back on land they make their way across Georgetown, escaping mythical baddies while trying to convince locals of an impending threat. It was fast paced and a wild ride that I completely enjoyed, particularly because these landmarks were places I called home a few years ago.
I loved that Baksh didn’t pretty up Guyana for aesthetics. Guyana is not your regular touristy Caribbean locale, heck, it probs won’t come up on TripAdvisor for places to visit in the Caribbean. But the feel of the streets, people and experiences were so authentic to me, I hope more people realize it is the Guyana we have minus the red robed beings.
I also need to mention water. It is everywhere is this story and that too is a testament to us being “Land of many waters”. From gullies to the Demerara River to Kaiteur falls to canals, water is everywhere! The theme throughout is a reminder of place and such an important one to me, a local reader.
Baksh made some choices I found admirable for his characters. Firstly, Joseph is Deaf and is a super teen with skills, smarts and heart beyond his years. The way he communicates with hot headed Mayali makes him that ride or die we all want in our zombie apocalypse squad. Even Rafeek, the street boy who stumbles into their two team band is one full of heart. I haven’t seen such societal underdogs who make me crave even a fraction of their heart and skill set. Mayali is hot headed and learning. Despite her outbursts she is one to love.
To avoid spoilers but to encourage my Caribbean readers, Anansi makes their debut in this tale in an iteration you probably haven’t heard of yet. I love this for Caribbean readers, who I am sure, like me have grown up with different versions of this trickster based on our location in the Caribbean. Additionally, content is a bit evolved for younger readers so I’d advise looking into some of the triggers before placing this one in extremely young hands. But for my old arse, this was absolutely the urban fantasy I wanted written about my people roaming our streets. Another strong book by Baksh and possibly equally or more loved (by me) than The Dark of the Sea.. but I don’t know!! I love them both! Thanks again Mr Baksh!
August 13, 2018
Thoughts to come.
September 14, 2016
A fantasy book with spiders, an adventure, and a diverse main character - this sounds like a fun ride, honestly.
Of course I was very excited to start this book. However, as I read the first page and onward, my sole emotion was this confusion. Ebook's messed up format aside, the 'fast-paced' element is actually too fast without giving readers proper information on specific details such as Mayali's old world, Spider's touch, etc. The writing sadly relies on TELLING, not enough for me to invest any emotions. It thus makes characters fall flat. Even Mayali can't stand out.
Move on to the world-building. I admit that this idea of spiders the ruler, brother and sister, vast waste land - all of these - is really interesting. But because the story takes place in our world, it loses such a potential. This seems like another urban fantasy book which pretty much blends in and gets lost among a myriad of other books whose plots revolve around action scene, running away scene, breaking in scene, those kind of thing.
All in all, a massive thank you to Netgalley, Blue Moon Publishing and Imam Baksh for providing me a copy of this book for an exchange of honest review!
Of course I was very excited to start this book. However, as I read the first page and onward, my sole emotion was this confusion. Ebook's messed up format aside, the 'fast-paced' element is actually too fast without giving readers proper information on specific details such as Mayali's old world, Spider's touch, etc. The writing sadly relies on TELLING, not enough for me to invest any emotions. It thus makes characters fall flat. Even Mayali can't stand out.
Move on to the world-building. I admit that this idea of spiders the ruler, brother and sister, vast waste land - all of these - is really interesting. But because the story takes place in our world, it loses such a potential. This seems like another urban fantasy book which pretty much blends in and gets lost among a myriad of other books whose plots revolve around action scene, running away scene, breaking in scene, those kind of thing.
All in all, a massive thank you to Netgalley, Blue Moon Publishing and Imam Baksh for providing me a copy of this book for an exchange of honest review!
September 30, 2017
To be perfectly honest, this being a Caribbean fantasy book bumped my rating to 3 stars. I don't hate it, just feeling somewhat underwhelmed. I'm not entirely sure what to pinpoint but I would've preferred if there was a lot more world-building in the novel itself. There are so many things I would've wanted to be explained better. I did appreciate the fast pace of the story, even though it hurt its plot a few times when things were just glossed over. I think it is incredible to fit such a rich fantasy into 197 pages but I don't think those pages did it justice. With all the different creatures and concepts, there was so much to explore but they suffered by being squeezed into this book.
The story itself centers around a world that we don't really visit outside of the beginning of the story. For me, the world itself is the source of the fantasy and by not really visiting it and rather only having it explained through quick, convenient dialogue, you miss the possibility for a fuller experience. That's what is, everything felt convenient because there was no foundation to root the revelations/plot points in.
All in all, it has opened my eyes to Caribbean fantasy and now I just want more of it.
The story itself centers around a world that we don't really visit outside of the beginning of the story. For me, the world itself is the source of the fantasy and by not really visiting it and rather only having it explained through quick, convenient dialogue, you miss the possibility for a fuller experience. That's what is, everything felt convenient because there was no foundation to root the revelations/plot points in.
All in all, it has opened my eyes to Caribbean fantasy and now I just want more of it.
October 13, 2017
Hmm...what to say about this book? The concept I really loved. A story about a Carribean/African folk tail?! I'm in. The storytelling was, however, a bit lacking. It felt like parts of the story were missing and the pacing rushed at places and slower at others. At times I wished the book was longer to support the story it was building. I also wished the world Mayali was from got explored in 'real life' instead of dialogue and one-off descriptions. What's worse is that there are few, but noticeable, problems with sentence structure throughout the writing. Outside of dialogue, there were just blatant instances of a lack of final editing and rereading on the part of the writer and those named as mentors or persons that helped.
Overall, the story was exciting thrilling and mostly well told. I just wish there was more story. The worlds were much bigger than a book with less than 200 pages and could have done more from a fuller development.
Overall, the story was exciting thrilling and mostly well told. I just wish there was more story. The worlds were much bigger than a book with less than 200 pages and could have done more from a fuller development.
January 8, 2023
I love that this played out like a very vivid movie set in Guyana for me. The places and characters are original but relatable and lovable, I especially loved Mayali's bravery and determination (just wish I knew a little more about her and what happened to her dad by the end). Joseph's role in this story is hands down the best, I love the representation of a character who is smart, brave, caring, and deaf. The only part of the book I didn't love was the dogfighting, but like another reviewer wrote, I appreciate how real and authentic the story felt for it being set in Guyana ❤.
December 1, 2019
3.5 , review coming soon, but this definitely needs a sequel, I enjoyed some parts quite a lot and some bits not so much.
September 28, 2016
Children of the Spider is a very different YA fantasy from every other YA fantasy I've read before. Which doesn't say much for the diversity of YA published in the UK, so I'm encouraged that via a Jamaican publisher and a recommendation (from someone on twitter) it made it's way onto my radar. Set in Guyana, the tale of Mayali, a girl from another world and Joseph, a deaf-mute, on the run from a shadowy organisation known as the Brothers, this is a super fast-paced, exciting urban fantasy which makes good use of its Georgetown setting and incorporates the mythology of Anansi the Spider. The brief glimpse we have of Mayali's world is so intriguing I wanted more–since the ending is left somewhat unresolved, I'd love to see it explored in a sequel. 12+
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews