“Manhattan Mystery Girl!” the newspaper headlines screamed. “Goddess found in New York!” Of course, New York is full of thirteen-year old girls who think they’re goddesses
But Kumari is the real deal. And she doesn’t have a clue how she got there…
Written by Amanda Lees, KUMARI – GODDESS OF GOTHAM is a page-turner from start to finish.
Kumari is a goddess-in-training – and a very naughty one at that. She lives (well, lived) in a secret valley kingdom hidden amidst a distant mountain range, where the people lead long, carefree lives. In fact, they barely age at all.
Kumari, being a girl-goddess, will also live forever, given a little luck. And forever can feel a very long time when your only real friend is a baby vulture and your outfits verge on the ridiculous.
The only person she has to talk to is her Ayah, the kindly nanny who now cossets her, warning Kumari against the World Beyond where people wrinkle up, grow old and die. Which all sounds pretty fascinating to Kumari, locked up as she is in the palace, with nothing to think about… except the mystery of her mother’s death.
It’s hard to kill a goddess, but someone did: someone with great occult powers.
And so, on the night of the Murmuring Moon, Kumari steals away from the Palace, up the Holy Mountain, intent on summoning Mamma back from the dead (the most dangerous ritual possible) and getting the answers she needs.
And that’s when things go just about as wrong as they can.
Because the next thing Kumari knows, she’s in Manhattan. Surrounded by strange places, even stranger people, and running for her life through Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade…
KUMARI: GODDESS OF GOTHAM introduces an irrepressible new character that every young reader will instantly recognize and identify with. Barely five feet tall and slender, Kumari’s appearance belies a backbone of tungsten steel. Fiercely intelligent, she rails against the frustrations of her closeted life, longing to break out of her gilded cage and be ‘normal’ for once.
Her singular beauty will always set her apart but Kumari has yet to learn of its devastating effect. At the point in her life when we first meet her, she is more concerned with tracking down the person behind her mother’s death… although occasionally her thoughts do wander to a certain boy called Tenzin. The same untamed mind means that her magical incantations often go awry, although her iron will ensures that she never gives up.
Schooled in all the ancient arts, Kumari is highly accomplished. This, coupled with the gifts bestowed on a goddess, means that her potential is enormous. It remains potential, however, until she earns her Eight Great Powers – the divine attributes that will enable her to do such things as fly. At present she has to rely on more prosaic methods to get her out of trouble, such as her mastery of the art of Karali, a fearsome martial discipline. And given her quick tongue, she’s certainly going to need it…
