The 13th Cycle

By Sabrina Ricci

Amara Randall is a college student with a passion for exposing the truth. When she sees the havoc the Maya calendar predictions wreak, she decides to debunk the myths and try to restore the peace.

Mahaway is a charismatic young scribe in ancient Maya. But her world is torn apart when a greedy new king declares war on her city.

Now at the end of 2012, Amara’s obsession leads her to uncovering a deadly conspiracy, one with roots dating back more than a thousand years. Using clues Mahaway has left behind as a guide, Amara must stop the conspirators’ terrifying plan before December 21. If she doesn’t, the world really will end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sabrina Ricci
• Release date: Dec 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781622000043

Reviews for The 13th Cycle

[britt84 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A nice story connected to the Mayan end of the world that was predicted for 2012. Short and not too complex, makes for a nice quick read. I did not find all aspects of the novel and the characters entirely plausible. The characters are not worked out very well and sometimes slightly cliché. Not very well-written, but a nice read if you're looking for something simple.

[annefitza · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"The 13th Cycle" is a novella about the end or not of the world according to the Mayan calendar. Taking place in both today and the Mayan world, "The 13th Cycle" is a little confusing as it swaps between its two stories. I don't really feel like I got to know anyone in the story well, and I don't know how realistic the ancient part is (even if it is well researched). Even with the negatives I've given, I did enjoy the book and am glad that I did take the time to read it. (N.B. I received my copy in a member giveaway on LibraryThing)

[teritree001971 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

SPOILER ALERT:The 13th Cycle is a story based on a Mayan calendar ending in December 2012. It is clear the author did the research to make the book a success from the numerous citations at the end of it. The portion of the story using this research is well written and easily understood by the reader, however, to me, the story itself was lacking. Although the research was done for the story, I felt that I was reading the outline of a research paper with sentences connecting the major headings. I felt that the characters were not well defined and as such wanted to know more about them, ie the "beloved" Mayan queen. Who was she? What did she do? Why was she beloved? I also wanted to see more about the calender itself. How was it made? Who made it and what were they feeling as they carved it? As it was, I felt no connection to the main characters and when Yoki was beheaded it was merely a fact of the story. I would have liked to know more about these people-who they were, how they thought, what they felt. The author goes between two different time periods throughout the story and it works. I enjoyed the modern portion and felt the author did better with this than the ancient. Even with the modern timeline, I felt the story was not really developed to its full potential. It does flow well and makes sense, but I just felt as if something was missing.