Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow audiobook

On a break from Middleton Prep, Jacob Ransom and his older sister, Katherine (Kady) are accidentally transported to a mysterious place inhabited and governed by a mixture of cultural groups from different times and places: Mayan, Roman, Egyptian, Sumerian, Medieval, Norse, and even Neanderthal. The existence of this peaceful and cooperative civilization is threatened - as are Jake and Kady - by the dark evil of Kalverum Rex, the Skull King. This fast-paced adventure combines elements of Harry Potter and Indiana Jones, and should appeal to history and mythology enthusiasts, those who like puzzles and codes, and those who enjoy character development and stories of friendship, bravery and coming of age. It's the first in what may be a popular older children's/YA series.

My thoughts on the book is that it has a good plot and the characters develop throughout the time. An example of the characters developing through the story of the book is Jake who is a kid who does adventurous things such as discovering things about the Mayans. And discovering things about the world its self. Another example is Mari and Jake's friend that at first is afraid of many things and tries to be strong because he wants to be part of the best team in the lost village. But because of his father, he is not able to join the higher ranks. But it's not as worse as not being able to ride one of the animals that have been chosen for war. But then this all changes at the end when they are forced to face the skull king and the person who has been behind all of the mischiefs in the town, and he is forced to ride a saddle to save Jake.Another thing that I liked about this book is the action in it such as jake having to do martial arts to defend himself a kid when he first discovers that he is going to go to England to be able to see the eclipse and the museum that was dedicated to his parents who died mysteriously after trying to locate the location of a great Mayan artifact. I also like the idea of a single organization being a part of a larger scheme to steal the artifacts that the parents of Jake and Kady had found. I also like the lost civilization and how it features many important parts of their history such as the mayan traditions of calculating when the next eclipse would be and when the next major events would be. I also like the feature of the UR The long lost civilization or to be exact the first ever major civilization being able to actually build their own tools to be able to build more tools. I also like the action in this book such as the portal being opened for them to find out where they ended up in. Now the end is really excellent because it tells me that there is more action to come such as the letters actually turning out to spell atlantis at the end which tells me that atlantis might have a part to play in the book such as the alchemy that has been built off of the Atlantian people.Lastly, the book its self is good but there are some parts in which I am confused such as the portal and how it opened. How the people them selves came to come here. Along with them coming here. I am also a bit mad at the end and how they dont learn what happened to their parents. Lastly I am mad at the fact that we didnt learn about what the serpant with tho heads that is planted through out the book and what the letters mean on the side of the entrance to the castle.

First of all, the plot! I was thinking about it and wondering, WHY THE HELL I DIDN'T THINK OF IT EARLIER?! I very much liked the setting and the story he cooked. A really nice plot.The characters were good. Good enough for a YA book.The pacing? I think it was perfect.The writing style? Typical Rollins-ish. Nothing much special.The only thing that let me down is how it ended. I wanted a good confrontation between the protagonist and the antagonist. But the book lacks it. If it wasn’t for this, I may have given it a solid 5 star, from a YA perspective.Anyway, my bad for expecting things where I'm not supposed to. But overall, It was a great read.Highly recommend for YAs!

a bit too nerdy, perhaps

Fun book to listen to in the car on road-trips with kids.

Maya's, Romeinen en T-rexen.Wat was hier aan de hand? Een van de oudere boeken in mijn kast - deze is ondertussen ook weeral ruim een decennium geleden uitgegeven. Het is een van die zeldzame pareltjes in de fantasy waarin een hele hoop oude volkeren en mythologieën bijeengeraapt, samengeduwd en dooreen gehusseld worden om een unieke mix te creëren. Rollins doet dat met verve, en persoonlijk heb ik dan nog het geluk dat dit eerste boek gaat over de Maya's, een van mijn favoriete oude culturen.Op zich dient het grootste deel van dit boek om alles in gereedheid te brengen voor alles losbarst. Opvallend genoeg valt het verhaal desondanks toch nooit stil en gebeurt er altijd wel iets om je aandacht erbij te houden. Al neemt dat niet weg dat pakweg de laatste honderd bladzijdes verreweg het spannendst zijn: het boek bereikt zijn climax, en er volgen op korte tijd een stuk of drie à vier grote onthullingen, die je warm maken voor de rest van de reeks.Jake en Kady zijn echt toppersonages. Vooral Kady is wat dat betreft interessant, omdat Jake duidelijk zijn eigen ideeën over haar heeft en de lezer hem volgt. Naargelang het verhaal vordert, krijgt Kady dan ook steeds meer diepgang en vallen haar acties erg (positief) op. Dat gezegd zijnde, Jake als hét hoofdpersonage mag er ook best wezen. Hij heeft een opvallende achtergrond meegekregen: interesse in geschiedenis, archeologie, fossielen... Niet al te standaard in jeugdboeken, voor zover ik weet. In Calypsos is het vooral Marika die de show steelt. Zij is zo... levendig, op alle mogelijke manieren.Daar komt nog bij dat Rollins een heel interessante wereld heeft opgebouwd, natuurlijk (met een paar knappe ideeën en twists), en wat leuke taalspelletjes erin steekt. Je komt het allemaal niet vaak tegen.De vertaling - van Hanneke Majoor, geloof ik, ik ken haar verder niet - mag er ook best wezen. Hier en daar zitten er een paar kleine schoonheidsfoutjes in (een typfout, een woord te veel), en klinkt er een paar keer een zin wat geforceerd, maar verder geen opmerkingen. Geen perfecte vertaling, maar zeker wel een degelijke, zoals het moet zijn.8,2/10

This was a fun, adventurous story. Great for adults, teenagers, and children alike.Jake and Kady Ransom's parents were are on an archeology dig. A few years later, the kids are invited to a museum exhibition dedicated to their parents work. Which happens to take place during an Eclipse.While looking through the exhibition, they are sucked into another time period. A period where Roman's, Mayan's, Vikings,etc live together and speak the language All World. They make new friends and try to figure out how they got there and how to get home.While in this ancient time, which they learn is Pangea, Jake learns that the Skull King want Jake and Kady....either alive or dead. While they are trying to help the villagers fight off the Skull King, they find something they haven't seen since their parents went missing......their dad's pocket watch. But how, in this ancient time period, could they find something that belonged to their parents? And how will they get home.

Synopsis:Jake Ransom isn't a typical middle school-aged boy. During his spring break, he won't be playing video games or hanging with friends. He plans on attending a book signing of the new release written by his favorite physicist, sitting in on a lecture about the cannibal tribes of Borneo, and excavating shellfish fossils he discovered in a rock quarry near his house. No, Jake Ransom is no normal middle-schooler, but most kids his age didn't have archaeologist parents who went missing three years before, sending their notebooks and a Mayan coin broken in half before they vanished. Jake wears his half of the coin always, and so does his older sister, Kady, a senior cheer-leader who has nothing in common with her younger brother except the loss of their parents. His vacation may not have been a normal one for a middle-schooler, but what happens when he and his sister are invited to attend a special event in London makes the week he planned look perfectly reasonable for a boy his age. During the exhibition opening displaying the antiquities his parents discovered before their disappearance, something happens to Jake and Kady. One moment they are standing in front of the replica of the Mayan pyramid his parents discovered. The next, they are in the middle of a prehistoric jungle. There they encounter a Mayan girl and a Roman boy on the run from . . . is that a T-Rex? But dinosaurs will soon seem commonplace compared to the strange and fascinating world they discover in the city of Calypsos, at the center of which stands the full-size version of the Mayan pyramid his parents discovered. Jake is certain that the key to their return home lies inside the sacred pyramid. To gain entry they must first win the trust of a collection of people from ancient tribes stolen from around the world. And then there is the shadow of the evil Skull King that even now is stretching over the lands of Calypsos, trying to steal the power of the pyramid for himself. ReviewThe Story:Young archaeologist. Ancient civilizations. An unknown evil. I was drawn to the story from the very beginning. Jake is a version of a studious Indiana Jones. He's had the training, but he's lacked the adventures, until now. And he's prepared for them, though not always in the manner he suspected. Surprisingly, his sister, who seems at the outset to be just another beauty queen in the making with her sights set no higher than the Captain of the Football Team and the next Big Cheer, turns out to be up to the challenge as well. They manage to hold their own throughout the adventures of the book, making allies and finding a niche for themselves among the people of Calypsos. Jake, the scholar, makes friends with the local masters of alchemy, men who study the magics of the land. Kady finds herself welcomed in the halls of the Vikings and discovers a unique comparison between baton twirling and sword throwing. Jake also makes two close friends during his time in Calypsos: Marika, the Mayan daughter of one of the master, and Pindor, the Roman son of one of the Elders of Calypsos. The threesome manage to end up in the center of all the goings-on of Calypsos, which will, in the end, put them at the center of the Skull King's attempt to takeover the city and control its magic. The ways in which the trio, along with help fromKady, Pindor's older brother and Kady's squad of youthful Viking warrioresses, combat the evil of the Skull King is exciting and unique. The Writing: At first, I was leery of what I would find on the page of this young adult novel. But from the first few pages, I was hooked. The writing is descriptive but easy to read, with simply constructed sentences that don't try to do more than convey the essence of the story. It isn't Hemingway, for nothing is hidden under the language, but it is to the point and reveals just what the reader needs to know to paint a vivid and compelling picture of the scene and the characters interactions. Better yet, just when I thought I knew what would happen next, something quite different occurred. The plot did not try to point me in the wrong direction, throwing up red herrings to lead me astray, but led me along naturally with the opinions and concerns of the characters, until they, and I, found out that we were mistaken. Sometimes to a dangerous degree. And the Skull King, when he finally made his appearance, was not of the usual 'Mwahaha' variety of villain. He was terrifying in the manner of Voldemort or a Ring Wraith (and indeed shares qualities with both of these villains). What drives him hasn't been completely revealed, as this is only the first book of a series. But it is obvious that he will not stop to get what he's after and the depths of his cunning and plotting have only to be touched upon.Recommendation:I enjoyed this book immensely and have the second one on order now. The fact that I found the book sitting in a bargain bin made it all the more enjoyable, like finding a ruby sitting among costume jewelry. I recommend it for any enthusiasts of adventure fiction, and it is appropraite for readers age 12 and up. I'd set the age lower except it can be a bit frightening at times, and the loss of parents can be the hardest material for younger readers to handle. That said, mature 10-year-olds could easily handle the writing and language. My 8-year-old is probably up to it, except for the material (she doesn't do parent loss well in any medium). So I will hang onto my copy until she, or her younger brother, are older enough to enjoy the adventures of Jake and his sister. And by then, I should hopefully have the full set!

A JR. Mystery Adventure Thriller/ALost WorldJR. has. penned another SYFY. novel about parents that went missing. Following the directions from a map. Prior to leaving the couple left directions to their children. After some time has flown by the youngsters are no longer young children but have become young adults trained in martial arts, weapons and computer systems. This is an excellent read for the genre from a very skilled author of archeology discoveries and turning them from the hunt to the hunted. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS

Penelope and Richard Ransom are archeologists digging at the Mountain of Bones - which was no mountain. Their colleague, Dr. Henry Bethel, manages to fulfill his promise to send a package home to their children before he dies and the parents disappear. Three years later, Jake and Mady are invited to the London Museum opening of an exhibit featuring many of their parents' findings. From the exhibit, the pair are transported back in time to a settlement containing travelers from many times and many nations. A fascinating and thrilling tale and I am anxious to read the second in the series.

While looking over an exhibition of all the artifacts his missing parents found on their travels, Jake and his sister Kady find themselves transported to Calypsos, a city made of various tribes. As they try to find a way back home, they soon learn that the great evil haunting the city could be looking for them, as well! Rollins begins an enjoyable and creative story that will have adventure and fantasy fans begging for more! Be sure to tag along on this epic journey as Jake, Kady and their new friends fight a great darkness and struggle to learn the truth behind their fate in Calypsos!

Jake Ransom and his sister Kady are the children of famous archaeologists. Their parent's camp was attacked while on a dig in Mexico and they are missing, presumed dead. The British Museum is hosting an exhibit of their latest finds and have invited Jake and Kady to attend. They fly to London and their world is changed forever.This is a rollicking good read - think Indiana Jones meets Jurassic Park. First in a series for middle grade readers.

Whenever an author writes, "nothing could go wrong" I expect the trite follow-up that everything does go wrong. That is true in this book.Still, a mostly fun read with lots of adventure, engaging characters, and a very strange alternate dimension which has peoples (and animals such as dinosaurs) from diverse times and cultures.

Always a pleasureThis story is about a boy named Jake and how he held us all here for ransom! Even though there is no such animal as a brontosaurus, their were avian reptiles that, indeed, had teeth! The book was creative home travel with a mix of different cultures that reminded me of the river world series

This book made me ponder light, truth, and time. While on the surface it is following the adventure of Jake Ransom, I wonder if the real message lays in the secrets he discovers. So much of what Jake finds has a basics in our own reality. Inspiring me to go and discover more of these truths for myself.I might sound like a crazy lady, but this book is something special, I would not pass it up.