Name: Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl
ISBN: 9781368068192

Julie Kagawa

To free himself from an ancient curse, thirteen-year-old Shinji Takahashi must team up with a secret organization of explorers, find a magical font hidden in the jungles of Mexico, and replace a stolen idol.

Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl

Author: Julie Kagawa

Book Series: Society of Explorers and Adventurers Book 1

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: Wheelchair user side character, Japanese American MC

Recommended For...: middle grade readers, fantasy, mythology

Publication Date: April 26, 2022

Genre: MG Fantasy

Age Relevance: 9+ (parental death, grief, violence, kidnapping)

Explanation of Above: There is some mention throughout the book about the main characters’ parent’s deaths. There is some grief mentioned in the book and there are a few scenes with light violence. There is also a kidnapping in the book.

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Pages: 320

Synopsis: Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl is the first book in a globe-trotting adventure that combines high-tech wizardry, old-world legends and a little bit of magic.

Shinji Takahashi is just an ordinary kid. An ordinary homeschooled smart-alecky orphan kid being raised by his aunt Yui. But when a magical guardian decides to use him as a conduit to awaken its power, Shinji’s life takes a turn for the extraordinary. Captured by the menacing Hightower Corporation, which is bent on using the guardian’s magic for its own nefarious purposes, Shinji must team up with a brilliant young tech whiz named Lucy and her robot mouse, Tinker, to escape the Corporation’s evil clutches.

Together Shinji and Lucy turn to the venerable Society of Explorers and Adventurers and its ragtag cast of spelunkers, hackers, mapmakers, pilots, and mythology experts (among other things) to return the guardian to its rightful home and release Shinji from its magic—which seems to be draining his life force. Time is ticking, the Hightower Corporation is hot on their tail, and success or failure might depend on one small thing—Shinji finally coming around to the belief that he is anything but ordinary.

Review: For the most part I thought the book was well written. It was a fun read and I loved every moment of it. The story was expansive and I loved that it was Aztec inspired mythology and that the main message of the book is righting the wrongs of the past. I thought the book was well developed story wise and the book did well pacing wise.

However, I do think that the books needed a little bit more character development and world building. I also wish that the book had fully fleshed out a lot of the ideas that it had in it.

Verdict: It was good! Great for kids!


Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl

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