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This book was a true struggle to get through and I literally had to force myself to turn on the CD on my way to work. Why am I still in this thing? For the 6th book, by Jennifer A. Nielsen. THIS, however, left a bad taste in my mouth.

Let's start with the positive.

Though not quite as masterfully as the previous book, Curse did explore Riq's character farther than The Stuck-Up Sidekick the first two gave him. It also was not bland—although that may have been best as the alternative was to give an almost cheap-horror-film quality to certain parts.

Moving right along...

Dak, had I been in charge of the next, fifth book, I would have immediately addressed his very serious time-traveling illness, the only thing to account for his purely idiotic lines and behavior, which completely go against his natural character. Consider the following: "Itchy [a nickname for the Mayan leader]! How is that bad boy? He never calls, he never writes�" "Here's some love advice for you: pick a girl who isn't moody but more like a boy, like Sera here! [paraphrasing]" and even in the face of horrific tragedy, continuing to use the quickly-worn-out name, "lover boy." Dak is now completely cringe-worthy.

Also, when using the complicated element of time travel in a book, it is best to stick to one of two methods: (1) "rewrite" time so that the future is new, save those who did the traveling, or (2) results of time travel incorporate themselves into the old future in subtle ways. 1 is the more possible version, and also the method used in previous books. This code is violated when Curse explained how a historical event they knew came about as a result of their actions with the Maya. Not a big thing to be noticed by younger readers, but still it bothered me, especially as the whole point of their travels is to CHANGE history, not fulfill it.

Last, but the least (favorite), is Peña's obvious disregard for Christians, in giving the monks a cruelness and disrespect for Mayan culture that would shame any man. Any time the monks were mentioned were with a who-do-they-think-they-are-invading-Mayan-land-and-impressing-a-religion-on-them attitude, instead of the I-have-this-incredible-news-that's-too-good-not-to-share aura that surround many missionaries. I do not know what really happened out there way back then, but the lack of an attempt to portray the "Christians'" side was almost insulting, although unfortunately becoming very popular in modern literature.

The verdict? Lame and underdeveloped for adults/teens, and weird, lame, uneducational, maaaaaybe bearable, and possibly nightmarishly freaky for kids. I can't yet say I would recommend this series to anyone.