Amos Daragon: the key to Braha by Bryan Perro
181 pgs.
Target audience:  Ages 8-12
Rating: Griffin

 In his second mission as Mask Wearer, Amos receives a gift from a mysterious young girl ending his life and  allowing him to travel into Braha, the City of the Dead, where souls await to be judged for heaven or hell. The Gods have shut the doors leading in either direction and Braha is overcrowded with souls needing to move on. His mission is to find the key to Braha and unlock the doors. The key’s whereabouts are unknown and Amos must rely on his wits and cleverness to follow the clues since his mask powers are useless there. The key can only be retrieved by someone who has died and come back to life. Amos is lured into this quest by factions in Braha wanting the key for themselves. He is aided and tricked by a kaleidoscope of stock and mythological characters. The main storyline gets bogged down in the petty rivalry between the gods and ruling powers in Braha making it a little confusing. Aside from Amos and his best friend, Beorf,  who are wonderfully fun heroes and easy to identify with, the secondary characters are one dimensional and don’t add much to the story. Although this story is fairly predictable and simplistic, young readers will delight in Amos’s adventure and the many fun mythological characters that appear. The author includes a mythological lexicon.  This would be a good series for kids who are testing the waters of the fantasy genre for the first time. (This book provided for review by Children's Lit www.childrenslit.com)