A Little Bit About the Characters

William/Balam-Main character who is told to come to the Mayans as Balam. Got to ancient Mayan times while trying to save Betty.

Betty/Bati-Woman who almost drowned in the Cenote Azul, which then led her and William into the Serpent Passage.

Prince Stone Frog/Yax-Boy who William saved and now controls the city of Dzibanché.

Princess Teshna-Sister of Yax. Feels affection for William, and they eventualy begin dating.

Priest Quisac/The Serpent Priest-A priest belonging to the solar cult, helps William throughout his journeys in these times.

Honac-Fey -Supposed to be the gaurdian of the bloodstone, until Yax granted the title to Balam. Wants revenge against Balam and stops at nothing to retrieve it, until death.

The Epilogue

<p>William began to leave the cavern of the Serpent Passage, when he heard noises. Unexpectingly, Gukumatz, a feathered serpent, comes out of the water. He is angry at William and tries to kill him. Can William ever do anything without almost being killed? He manages to kill Gukumatz, and as he is traveling out, two more feathered serpents chase after him. Luckily, Priest Quisac comes to his rescue and helps William escape. This epilogue left you wanting more. </p>

Goodbye Betty

The aliens were ready to leave and bring the many people aboard to a new world, and the Winter Solstice was very soon. William persuaded the aliens to give him and Betty breathing equipment, so Betty could get back to their time. They gave them the equipment, and left this planet. Next it was Betty's turn to leave. I thought this was pretty sad. William had written a note to his mother that he would not be returning, and Betty would take it to her for him. After much sadness and goodbyes, William helped Betty into the Serpent Passage, and she was on her way home. I can't wait for the next book.

Reversing the Curse

Meeting with the aliens answered questions, but again brought more questions. Before decisions of whether Balam and others want to stay on this planet or go to the other world, they must first reverse a curse. If I haven't mentioned, there was a curse set upon these lands, a soil plague. The only way to reverse it was to kill the man who started it, King Aztuk, and drain his blood into the bloodstone. The aliens already have him on their ship, and bring him down at the time for the reversal ritual. Not believing Priest Quisac(The Serpent Priest), the aliens only give a small amount of blood for the ritual when it calls for death of the man and all of his blood. Feeling this disturbance and wanting this ritual to be completed, Yum Cimil, a demon, comes from underground and kills the King, completing the ritual. I really wasn't expecting that to happen. After this, decisions were made on who was leaving, and who was staying. In a sad separation, Yax left to rule his people and Teshna stayed with Balam, Priest Quisac and Betty. I could not fathom the thought of being separated from my sister and never being able to see her again.

Meeting the Aliens

In the cloud, William saw some sort of figure. To warn the others of the happening, William, the Serpent Priest and the others of the group began traveling back to the town. After a rendezvous with Honac-Fey, who died in this moment, they get back to Dzibanche to find everybody gone, except for Yax. They ask him what happened, and the cloud they saw, was actually a spaceship with their "brothers of the stars," or their "ancestors." They were picking up all of the people to save them from this dying land, and bring them to a different, safe world. I was thinking, "whaaaat?" I had a suspicion, which later I found out that William did too, that these aliens weren't their ancestors, and even though they aren't, they wouldn't hurt the people they were taking to a new world.

The Missing Battle

Having escaped Kohunlich, they returned to their town to prepare for the battle against the town of Calakmul. After much training, strategy planning and other preparations, the time for battle has come. It's finally here, the battle I've been waiting to read. Much time passes though, and nobody appears. Becoming curious, Balam and others go to investigate where the opposing army is. Finding the camp, nobody is there, and everything just seems to be deserted. What? Looking around and finding nobody, the group is about to go back when something appears, a cloud. Not just any cloud, some crazy cloud that strikes down, flashes, and makes people disappear. When this happened to some of the men in the group, Balam thought they had died from the blast. The Serpent Priest though, didn't feel their death, and rather said they had been taken somewhere else. Things now have become more strange..

Meeting the Sun God

After return on his trip with the Serpent Priest, Balam is brought into another trip to bring something to King Snarl Tooth, king of Kohunlich. After arriving and giving explanations, the king drugged Balam in an attempt to kill him. The drug allowed him to drift into a state of unconsciousness, where he would meet the Sun God. William sure is having an insane amount of things happening in this time period. The Sun God was testing William, but he didn't fall for it with the help of elder Subiac, who drank some of the drug to go and save him. The only way for William to live after having this drug though, was to kill elder Subiac. Poor man.. Although he was foretold in a dream that he would pass soon. After all of this, the group that traveled to this town would plan and execute an escape for William, since the king wanted him dead.
Poor William, having to endure all of this..

Answers Lead To More Questions

If I haven't mentioned before, this town is preparing for a war. The Serpent Priest and Balam (William) need to travel to Bacalar to retrieve the sacred items which would assist them with this battle. After traveling and receiving, William is impressed by two of the three items. The one he wasn't impressed by was the flashlight, which I wouldn't have either. Although it is said to never run out of power. Anyways, traveling back to Dzibanché, the Serpent Priest promises to show Balam the jade cavern, which is said to hold the Serpent Passage.  By legend, this passage allows time travel on the days of the solstices. That's crazy, and what's even more crazy, is that the jade cavern is actually a crashed spaceship with tunnels connecting to each broken part. The cavern is said to hold jade, because the green "jems" in the wall look like jade, and it is the only way people in this time could interpret this thing. No one would believe something from outer space had crashed there and been buried, except for the Serpent Priest. Also before I forget, the Serpent Priest asked Balam if this was the same cavern he went through to come to this time period, and after some exploring of the cavern, he confirmed it was.
This is great, I love this book.

I'd Like To Be a Tree

Skipping ahead some, William is put in a ball game when someone is injured and can't play. Playing a sport for a long time, you get thirsty, right? Well this man(Honac-Fey), mad at William for taking his place next to the king, poisoned the water, killing all of the players, except for William. Betty saved his life, knowing what the man was planning and stopping William from drinking. I guess you have to do what you need to do to get things done, even though it failed in this case.

Although he didn't kill William, he did get a hold of, and wreck havoc upon a gem William had been carrying for the king. To restore the power of this gem, William had to go through some sort of bonding ritual with the sacred tree of the land. For a short while, he was one with the tree. As strange as it seems, that would be an interesting thing to experience.

Also I just found this book trailer. <(Click book trailer.)

[Picture is a Ceiba Tree]

Becoming Known

Having traveled back in time, William and Betty didn't want to interfere with what was going on, which I would have thought to do the same thing. In what I think was a bold move, William saved a kid from death, accidentally killing the man about to kill the kid, showing the Mayans that they we're there. It turns out that the kid is now the king and William, known as Balam to the Mayans, is a man from legends said to come. Who would have known?! This book does not leave you bored.

The Travel

What just happened? How is this possible? It's a story, anything can happen! This book started out really good and is getting better by every page. The Serpent Passage is not just any time travel book. You know, a lot of books have some sort of portal or magic that explains the time travel. I really like how this book approaches the transition. Even if it was a near death experience, I would love to witness this event of time travel.

I drew this as what I thought the Serpent Passage opening looks like.