“Nobody likes getting punched in the face.”

From Kwame Mbalia’s Tristan Strong Destroys the World.

In the month since young boxer Tristan Strong punched his way into a magical realm of Black and African folklore called Alke, he’s been struggling.  After stopping the trickster Anansi from misusing his power to gain control, the god has been forced to live in Tristan’s story box phone as punishment.  However, when Tristan learns that spirits from Alke are fleeing to his world and that a mysterious villain has attacked John Henry, Tristan begins looking for a way back to Alke.  When a mysterious villain known only as the Shamble Man comes to Tristan’s grandparents’ farm and kidnaps Nana back to Alke, Tristan frantically searches for a way to rescue her.  Tristan and the phone-trapped Anansi get back to Alke, where they are greeted by Keelboat Annie and Tristan’s friend from his first adventure, Ayanna.  While the gods of Alke—Miss Rose, Miss Sarah, High John, and Nyame—struggle to rebuild the war-torn world and keep watch for attacks by the Shamble Man, Tristan finds himself stuck with both the annoying Gum Baby and Ayanna’s friend, Junior.  Tristan soon finds himself setting off with his friends to search for several other missing gods while the Shamble Man and his evil monsters try to stop him at every turn.

This second installment of this African-American mythology series is much shorter than the first book and quickly captivates the reader because of it.  Mbalia manages to connect the characters and reader easily, even with lesser-known legends as characters. Tristan Strong Destroys the World is not to be missed, and will leave fans desperately waiting for the next installment.