The Storm Runner

Written by J. C. Cervantes, The Storm Runner is the first novel in a middle grade fantasy series that follows a boy’s journey to defeat an evil god in a world in which Mayan mythology is real. The book won the 2021 New Mexico Land of Enchantment Reader’s Choice Lizard Award. It was also a nominee for the Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Awards and the Cybils Award for Elementary, Middle Grade Speculative Fiction (2018), in addition to being featured on top book lists for Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

As a New York Times best-selling author, J. C. Cervantes has penned numerous books for young readers, many of which are influenced by Mesoamerican culture and her Mexican heritage. She has won several awards, including the New Mexico Book Award and the Zia Book Award, and her books are now available in over 12 countries.

This guide refers to the 2018 Rick Riordan Presents first edition of The Storm Runner.

Plot Summary

The Storm Runner is narrated by Zane Obispo, a preteen boy who walks with a cane because one leg is shorter than the other. At the story’s outset, Zane dreads going back to school after a year of homeschooling because he doesn’t want to be ridiculed for his disability. The night before his first day, he is exploring the volcano near his home when a demon crash-lands a plane and attacks him, dissolving before it can do any real harm. At school the next day, Zane meets a girl named Brooks who has a drawing of the demon on her folder. Soon, Brooks reveals that she is a shape-shifter and that Zane is the subject of an ancient Mayan prophecy predicting that he will free Ah-Puch, the Mayan god of death, destruction, and disaster.

Zane doesn’t want to believe he could do something so terrible and isn’t sure he should trust Brooks. Still, odd coincidences start popping up around the volcano, and Zane feels drawn to the place, as if there is something he’s supposed to do there. When another demon attacks and Zane’s loyal dog is killed defending him, he vows to do whatever it takes to get her back from Xibalba (the Mayan underworld). To this end, he and Brooks venture deep into the volcano in search of answers.

When Brooks is badly injured, Zane makes a deal with Ah-Puch’s spirit, which calls to him through a psychic link. If Zane frees Ah-Puch and agrees to become one of his soldiers of death, the god promises to heal Brooks. Desperate, Zane agrees, restoring the god to full power. He knows that he now only has three days to kill Ah-Puch; at that point, he will become one of the god’s minions.

Accompanied by Brooks and his fully human uncle, Zane travels to California to find a way to confront Ah-Puch. He soon discovers his supernatural origins as the son of a Mayan creator god of storms named Hurakan. Zane also gains a deeper understanding of his heritage when his spirit is briefly transported to a liminal space called the Empty, where he speaks with his father and learns more about his latent powers. Once he returns to the real world, he and his companions forge new alliances in the plan to defeat Ah-Puch. Along the way, Zane’s friendship with Brooks is tested, and he learns that his inner worth is not defined by his disability. These lessons help him during his final confrontation in the Mayan Old World. Once there, his full divine powers are finally unlocked, and he challenges Ah-Puch, bringing him to the Empty.

Despite his new abilities, Zane cannot directly match Ah-Puch’s strength, so he  defeats the god by tricking him into a deeper void that surrounds the Empty. However, Zane falls into the void after him and awakens in a cell in the Mayan underworld of Xibalba, where the gods demand that he write down his story on magic paper. The narrative reveals that long ago, the gods made an oath never to have more children, but Zane’s father broke this pact, and now that the gods are aware of Zane’s existence, they feel obligated to punish Hurakan for his transgression.

On a separate paper that the gods won’t read, Zane explains that the new leader of the underworld is actually hiding his continued existence from the majority of the pantheon. Zane and his family are now in hiding on an island off the coast of Mexico. Zane has also learned that the gods have imprisoned his father for breaking the oath. Now, with Brooks to help him, Zane plans a way to rescue his father.