Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (Tristan Strong, #1)

by Kwame Mbalia

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods.

Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm in Alabama, where he's being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie's notebook. Tristan chases after it--is that a doll?--and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature's hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?

Reviewed by layawaydragon on

3 of 5 stars

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Solid, good and interesting. But not knowing the myths and legends doesn't help. There's so much WTF to grapple with at once and I'm not interested, TBH.

I love Tristan and his family and am curious about finding things out but I don't think this journey is for me. At least not right now. I've been hitting a rough patch reading lately. This one is at least good(others not so much).

I'm here for this, I'm just tired and don't know what to read and can't get into anything and nothing is fitting right.

Shall try again later.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 1 March, 2020: Finished reading
  • 1 March, 2020: Reviewed