City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda

 

For fans of Percy Jackson...

Sikander Aziz lives in New York with his parents, who own a deli.  One night as he is cleaning up the deli, he hears people talking in the alley and discovers two demons who are there for him.  He escapes and it starts a journey to save New York and the world from Nergal, the Mesopotamian god of plagues.  

Great story and kept me engaged.  Definitely getting for the library and highly recommend for fans of mythology.

Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar

 Disclaimer:  I listened to the audio.

Sheetal is half human, half star.  Her mother returned to the heavens when she was young.  She is now 16, almost 17 and she is hearing star song and feeling called to the heavens.  She has to dye her hair to cover up the silver shining tresses.  As she accidentally burns her father and gives him a heart attack.  Her aunt and cousin help her get to the heavens to her mother to try to get a drop of star blood to heal him.  As she travels to the heavens, she meets her mother and her side of the family.  She is wrangled into a talent competition to represent her house to be in charge of the heavens.

Not my favorite.  Lots of Indian mythology and words that were not explained.  I don't think this will appeal to many kids unless they are familiar with Hindu and know the history and language.  I liked Aru Shah series better.  

Muse Squad: The Cassandra Curse by Chantel Acevedo

Callie Martinez-Silva is a normal girl living in Miami, Florida.  She has all the typical problems: friends who change, fitting in, school work, etc.  Add to that  her parents are divorced, her dad, who lives in NY now, just told her he and his new wife are having a baby, and  she starts noticing weird things are happening around her.  Callie finds out she is Muse, like one of the nine from Greek mythology.  Her Aunt Annie was also a Muse.  One day as she crawls under her bed to think she is whisked away to London to the V and A Museum where she discovers her identity and meets the three junior muses, AKA the Muse Squad.  The squad is assigned a Fated One (one who can change the world) who just happens to be a student from Callie's school.  Maya is really smart, but socially awkward.  As Callie and the Muse Squad  try to  protect Maya from the The Cassandra Curse and the Sirens they learn that things are not always what they seem and you can't always trust who you think you can.

Great character development, themes of trust, honesty, and forgiveness are woven throughout.  Highly recommend.  It reminded me of Aru Shah series.