This is book number four in this excellent time-travel historical adventure series and sees twins Scarlett and Thomas visit the Maya city of Tikal (in present-day Guatemala) in 859. They are on the hunt for cacao beans to make a restorative hot chocolate for their grandfather, who is poorly.
Thomas, the more reckless of the two, goes first and is taken prisoner by villagers for stealing from the king, who owns all the cacao. Scarlett follows to help bring him back and finds herself in the palace with the king’s daughter. How easy will it be to save Thomas though when he’s on the losing team in the ceremonial ball game and about to be sacrificed?
As ever, the story sparkles, full of detail and incident as well as believable characters, and provides readers with a great sense of Maya daily life, rich and poor. Historical notes provide extra information about the Maya and their civilisation and point out that the story is set in the same year as the first book in the series, The Viking Attack. There’s even a recipe for authentic Maya hot chocolate.
Twins Scarlett and Thomas have been learning about the Maya at school. They even had a go at making hot chocolate from cacao beans. When Grandad falls ill, the twins know what the perfect cure will be - hot chocolate! They nervously borrow Grandad's time machine and travel back to the time of the Mayas. Scarlett pretends to be a god, and gets taken in by the royal family. Thomas is not quite so lucky, and ends up playing for his life in a brutal Mayan ball game.
Watch out, Thomas, if you lose, you might be sacrificed to the gods! How far would you go to find the best hot chocolate?
Josh Lacey is the author of many books for children including The Island of Thieves, Bearkeeper, The Dragonsitter, the Hope Jones series and the Grk series. He has worked as a journalist and written one book for adults, God is Brazilian. His first book for children, A Dog Called Grk, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award and is written under the pseudonym Joshua Doder.
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