THE END OF THE WORLD CLUB

Fourteen-year-old Massimo “Max” Francis Sylvanus Murphy saved his archeologist parents from the Maya underworld Xibalba (and Ah Pukuh and the 12 Maya Lords of Death), but he had to promise to help Ah Pukuh get the final Jaguar Stone (Middleworld, 2007). If Ah Pukuh, Maya God of Violent and Unnatural Death, doesn’t get the stone, Max’s parents will have to return to Xiabalba. If Ah Pukuh does get it, he will rule for the next bak’tun (cycle of years) and the world will end. Max and his "modern Maya" friend Lola set off to Spain to get the stone with the help of two howler monkeys inhabited by the spirits of a Maya King and his mother. Can Max keep his parents safe, rescue trapped friends from Xiabalba and not end the world? The Voelkels, a husband-and-wife writing team, continue the chatty, silly adventures of the inept and often annoying Max with this chock-full-o-Maya-minutiae middle volume in the Jaguar Stones Trilogy. Neither characters nor plot is particularly interesting or believable. Mostly foolish (with an occasional thrill); even fans will find it overlong. (Fantasy. 8-12)