The Storm Runner

Analyze the ethical dilemma that Zane faces when he makes the fateful decision to free Ah-Puch. In what ways does Zane betray his inner values even as he acts in accordance with his conscience?

The characters of The Storm Runner keep many secrets. Choose three of these secrets and analyze how the story would have been different if each character shared their secret at their first opportunity.

Analyze Cervantes’s reinterpretation of the hero twins, and explain how their pattern of behavior makes them a representation of the consequences of yielding to temptation.

By analyzing Zane and at least one other character, explain how Cervantes’s novel strives to redefine the concept of disability in a more positive way.

Using the complex relationships between the various protagonists, identify and analyze at least two different definitions of family that emerge during the course of the novel. Examine Zane’s relationships with those around him, as well as Brooks’s hidden motivations.

What is the novel’s ultimate message about the complex interplay between choices and destiny? To what extent does Zane control his own future? Use specific examples from the text to support your interpretation.

Throughout the novel, the characters discuss the ways in which myths and legends change over time in accordance with shifting cultural beliefs. How do the changes in the Mayan world of the novel affect Zane’s quest, and how might his quest have been different without those changes? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

The postscripts reveal that much of what Zane believed throughout the main part of the novel was false. What does this suggest about the mercurial nature of storytelling? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Zane’s uncle, a mere human, participates in the quest to destroy Ah-Puch. Why does Cervantes choose to include a fully human character amongst supernatural beings? How would the tone of the story have been different without the inclusion of Zane’s uncle?