Jack Reynolds
Writing YA fiction for readers who love rich worlds, mounting danger, and stories that leave a mark.
Impossible choices. Fractured loyalties. Stories that leave a mark.
Jack Reynolds writes YA fiction for readers who love rich worlds, mounting danger, and stories that leave a mark. His work follows young characters through impossible choices, fractured loyalties, and the quiet, costly work of becoming who they were always meant to be.
His deep interest in Mesoamerican history and mythology found its home in the Shay Lark series — a YA adventure that reaches into the ancient world to tell a story that’s urgently, unmistakably modern.
Three things every story must have
Rich worlds, real stakes
Fantasy works when the world feels like it has weight — history, consequence, rules that matter. The Shay Lark series is rooted in real Mesoamerican mythology because the story earns more when the world beneath it is real.
Characters who cost something
Young characters making impossible choices — that’s the engine. Not chosen-one destiny delivered on a platter, but the slow, difficult, often painful work of figuring out who you are when everything is asking you to be someone else.
Adventure with lasting meaning
A chase across ancient ruins is only interesting if something personal is at stake. The series moves fast — continents, centuries, the supernatural — but it’s always really about loyalty, inheritance, and what we owe the people who came before us.
The Shay Lark Series
A sixteen-year-old discovers her family ring is an ancient guardian inheritance — and that someone very dangerous wants it back. The series spans Mexico, Mesoamerican mythology, dark forces, and a girl who refuses to let any of it stop her.
Explore the series →