561 reviews for:

The Storm Runner

J.C. Cervantes

3.79 AVERAGE


Review to come

„Sturmläufer – Zane gegen die Götter“ ist ein neuer Jugend-Fantasy-Roman, der im originalen vom Rick Riordan Presents Imprint veröffentlicht wurde und nun mit der Übersetzung von Ravensburger Bücher auch den deutschen Lesern zugänglich gemacht wurde.
Ich, die von Rick Riordan bisher noch kein einziges Buch gelesen hat (es aber nun definitiv nachholen wird) war von diesem Buch sehr überrascht.

Der Protagonist der Geschichte, Zane Obispo wohnt zusammen mit seiner Mutter, seinem Onkel und seiner Hündin Rosie ziemlich weit abgelegen in New Mexiko. Wie wir zu Beginn der Geschichte erfahren, wurde Zane ein Jahr lang Zuhause unterrichtet, da seine Mutter ihn aus der Schule genommen hat, nachdem er dort wegen seinem Handycap oft gemobbt wurde. Nun soll Zane jedoch auf eine neue Schule gehen und darauf freut er sich überhaupt nicht. Viel lieber lernt er Zuhause für sich allein und geht mit Rosie auf Streifzüge zum Vulkan hinter seinem Haus. Denn von diesem wird er fast magisch angezogen. Was Zane nicht weiß, ist das dieser Vulkan ein Geheimnis der Maya verbirg und das sein Schicksal unwiderruflich mit dem Vulkan in Verbindung steht. Dann taucht auch noch plötzlich dieses geheimnisvolle Mädchen Brooks, das er in der Schule gesehen, bei ihm vor der Haustür auf. Sie muss Zane dringend vor etwas warnen…

Das Buch begann für ein Jugendbuch meiner Meinung nach ziemlich langsam, konnte aber mit der Zeit an Spannung aufbauen, weshalb mir die Handlung zum Ende hin immer mehr Spaß bereitet hat.
Während bei Rick Riordan die griechische Mythologie im Fokus steht, tauchen wir bei „Sturmläufer“ ein in die Mythen der Maya. Ich habe durch mein Studium im Fach Kryptologie bereits ein wenig über die Maya gelesen und erinnere mich deshalb an einige Grunddaten, muss aber auch gestehen, dass die Sagen und Mythen der Maya mir schon immer sehr komplex erschienen und für viel Verwirrung geführt haben.

Zane war jedoch als Charakter und Held der Geschichte absolut bezaubernd. Ich habe so viel Neues über die Maya und die gesamte Mythologie gelernt und dieser Teil gefiel mir auch mit am aller besten.
Auch gefiel mir Zanes Entschlossenheit Brooks zu retten und Rosie zu finden. Er ist ein sehr treuer Freund und auf ihn ist immer Verlass. Die Reise auf die sich Brooks, Zane und sein Onkel machen war voller kleiner Mini-Abenteuer. Was mir ein bisschen gefällt hat war das Gefühl von Spannung. Irgendwie stieg und sank meine Lust auf das Buch mit jedem neuen Kapitel, weswegen ich etwas länger als gewöhnlich für das Buch gebraucht habe. Zudem fehlte mir ein bisschen der Humor in dieser Geschichte. Als Leser konnte ich mich nicht oft in die Geschichte du Zane reinversetzen um die Dinge wirklich aus seiner Perspektive zu sehen. Ich fühlte mich eher wie ein Außenseiter, der in diese Welt nur einen Einblick bekommt.

FAZIT: Toller Einblick in eine andere Kultur, neue Mythen und interessante Charaktere, aber ein bisschen langatmig erzählt.

* Ich habe das Buch als Rezensionsexemplar vom Ravensburger Verlag zu Verfügung gestellt bekommen.

Okay so far this series I know is Rick Riordan presents but it really is formulaically the same as Riordan's. While Cervantes uses Mayan Gods I'm not sure it works quite as well being that the common read probably has never heard of any of these gods. She kind of touches on who they are but not really enough that it hits as well as Riordan. I think that this might scratch that itch while waiting for a new Riordan book to come out overall I don't think that it adds that much to the genre that hasn't been done already and is pretty predictable.

3.5 stars.

What really threw me off this book at first was the beginning, starting after we meet Zane. Zane was a cool main character and for the most part I liked him and enjoyed hearing the story from his point of view. But it was the next third? fourth? of the book that tanked for me. Everything progressed incredibly slowly, from Zane getting attacked by demons to walking through the volcano to letting Ah-Puch out. This was a small part, but at the time it seemed like most of the book.
It was mostly the character of Brooks that limited the potential of the beginning, though. She just seemed off. I don't think we as readers got enough time to connect with her. Which was bad, because she was basically the second most important character. Zane makes a deal
with Ah-Puch to save her life early on, and in turn has to promise to become a slave of the underworld.
But I barely felt like I knew Brooks, so that part didn't have any emotional meaning. The only things I knew about Brooks were: Zane thinks she's cute and she's definitely super shady. Which was another problem, because when Brooks was presented as someone with a bunch of secrets, I was thinking "ok she's gonna betray them later" and this also prevented me from connecting with her.
It was only much later that I was able to start warming up to her, but I think it would have been beneficial if she was made more meaningful/someone we could sympathize with in the start. Overall the lack of this solid characterization was what prevented the book from being as good.

From the part where Zane, Brooks, and Hondo start their quest all the way to the end, I didn't have any problems with the story. It was a lot of fun, had good twists (when Zane stuck his hand in the water?!), and there were interesting loose ends for future books.
I actually do have a best scene for this book! (but it's a spoiler)
Best Scene Award:
Honestly I think it has to go to the scene in Xib'alb'a right after Zane finishes writing about everything and Ixtab is like "oh hey by the way I'm actually super cool and not evil. be safe and have fun on this island that I'm giving you!"


Also interesting to note that this book gets really similar to Percy Jackson sometimes. Not that it's a bad thing, just interesting how I saw so many details that felt familiar.

This book is a perfect combination of adventure, loyalty, and family all wrapped up in the amazing Mayan myths. Having the chance to explore the rich and wonderful world of non-Western myths is exciting and I think that Zane is the perfect character to take readers along for the ride. He is differently abled but not helpless, smart but not closed off, and he is loyal in a way that is enviable. He faces down death and defies the odds, so seeing where he goes next will be a wild ride.
adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't connect with the mc, all his decision made me mad because they seem ridiculous.
adventurous medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: N/A
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

LOVED learning all about the Mayan gods and their history. A little long, but the action and storylines were great. Looking forward to more in this series!

This makes me really sad to have to DNF this. I was so incredibly excited about this book, especially because it has disability + poc rep and mythology. Those are some of my all-time favourite things to read about, and all in a middle-grade novel? It felt like this book was made for me. It turns out, it wasn't.

I always try to reiterate when I DNF books that it doesn't mean their bad. I really think that's true of this one. It seems like for most people this really works, but just not me. I've tried reading this three different times so I really, really tried. I can't speak onto whether this changes later in the book or not, but as someone with a similar physical disability to the main character, there were different parts that made me feel really uncomfortable in that way it was discussed. Again, can't say whether that changes as the character develops and grows more confident in himself and the world around him, so I can only mention how what I read made me feel.