A new middle-grade mind-bending adventure from award-winning author Ryan Calejo, destined to be an instant classic.
RYMWORLD ARCANA
by Ryan Calejo
Amulet/Abrams, 2023 – 2025
THE SHAPE OF TIME (Book 1 – October 2023)
Fourteen-year-old Antares De La Vega is a natural born adventurer. He dreams of journeying across burning deserts, trekking through wild and uncharted jungles, sailing the furthest reaches of the seas—and yet, he’s never even stepped foot outside of South Florida . . . But that all changes when strange creatures come leaping out of lightning bolts to kidnap him. Locked away in a secret prison in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, Antares meets fourteen-year-old Magdavellía, a mysterious and iron-willed girl who opens his eyes to a shocking truth: that this world is a far different place than he’s been led to believe. He learns of the existence of The Flat Earth Society, an ancient secret order, whose main function is to keep the world beyond the great Ice Wall a mystery—a land known as Rymworld. But Rymworld is in trouble. Led by a nameless evil, a sinister group of mystics seek to seize control over its only true resource: time itself.
Antares and Magdavellía must set out beyond the edges of any map to discover the undiscoverable: a lost and forgotten island where there is rumored to exist a legendary artifact: a mythical compass that just might hold the key to foiling the mystics’ plans. Following a series of intricately concealed clues left behind by Magdavellía’s parents (clues Antares seems to be the key to unlocking), they must wield both geometry and alchemy, outsmart molemen and mermaids, and outrun fiendish outer space aliens––all while attempting to solve a riddle as old and mystifying as the sun.
THE SECRET OF MATTER (Book 2 – January 2025)
After wielding time itself to save the Rym, Antares and Magdavellía return to Agartha as heroes. But peace is short–lived. As a mystic–led sneak attack plunges the Rym into chaos, they once again find themselves in a world on the brink of doom. Their only hope is a forgotten alchemyst map that supposedly leads to the Elementals—powerful Ancient Astronaut substances that, when combined, create the ultimate instrument of destruction. Antares and Magdavellía will have to race against old and new enemies to secure the Elementals, even as a traitor in their midst plots their long–awaited revenge against the empress. But every step they take toward the forging of the ancient weapon brings them one step closer to uncovering a horrible secret from Magdavellía’s past—a secret that could bring down her throne.
Ryan Calejo is an award–winning author born and raised in sunny South Florida. His critically acclaimed Charlie Hernández series has been featured in half a dozen state reading lists and has earned starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus, was a Texas Bluebonnet Master List Selection, and won an International Latino Book Award, a Sunshine State Young Readers Award, and a Florida Book Award (Gold Medal). He lives in Miami.