Plot Summary:
Max Sumner is the son of a renowned British archaeologist named Horace Sumner. Horace was a frequent explorer and was went missing in an expedition to Spain. Max, is a young boy living in the suburbs of Minnesota, and he and his three friends, Natalia, Ernst, Harley form a gang called The Grey Griffins, and decide to take up his father’s will. They collects the remains of his father’s collection artifacts and discover that his father’s life-long quest was to seek out the evil sorcerer, Iver Allenson, and banish him from the mortal world.
In their father’s collection, the Grey Griffin’s discover a deck of cards has the ability to summon real monsters to battle. They discover that, contained within cards, lies the ability to destroy legendary Iver. The friends travel to distant lands, such as Boston, Chicago, and Seattle, to seek out the legendary Iver, but Iver becomes aware of their plans, and seeks to stop them before they succeed. Iver sends out ancient legendary creatures, such the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Majin-Boo, the Slayer Goblins, Liu Kang, and worst of all, the Shadow King. The Shadow has the ability to shadow kick, it is called a shadow kick because it kicks so fast it does not leave a shadow. The Shadow King can also teleport anywhere, transform into any monster he wants, and read other people’s minds. This becomes a big problem for The Grey Griffin’s soon as they discover that the Shadow King is actually Iver Allenson’s long lost son Ryu Hayabusa, who has power greater that any evil lord in mortal history. Ryu seeks revenge for being imprisoned for 1,000 years at the cave of Azeroth by his father, Iver. Realizing that his son, Ryu’s, powers will grow far too great for him, Iver makes a deal with the Grey Griffin’s to unite in a force of one and overthrow new dark Lord Ryu. The story ends in the city of Miami, where the Shadow King transforms into a combat master by the name of Tony Cha, and betrays his father by kicking him into a football stadium. Ryu begins to summon an evil army for to destroy the world, and it is up to the four brave kids to stop him.
Setting:
The story takes place in Back Street, Minnesota, located in the United States, it takes place in the 21st Century. Max is an eleven year old who lives in his mother, Azalea, in a big mansion they inherited from their father Horace. The neighbourhood is made up of cranky old neighbours who can’t speak English properly, and always come to their doors and harass them with a very bad cockney accent. As a result of this Azalea never opens the door.
Max’s gang, the Grey Griffin’s travel to legendary cities such as Boston, Chicago, and Seattle, to seek the evil Lord Iver. While in each city’s urban night life scene, they come across different monsters to battle because monsters are hard to see in the dark. Using her mother’s credit card, Natalia manages to book a number of hotels in which they stay in, they use the credit card for money and other needs. The story ends in the city of Miami, there are a few events in the story where the characters go investigate strange occurrences of evil spirits on the shores of Miami Beach.

Characters:
Max Sumner:
Max Sumner is boy genius, who is suffers from terminal testicular cancer. He does not know about his cancer, but he very ambitious and wishes to understand his father more. He is secretly in love with Natalia, who he soon find out, is actually his brother in disguise, but he ignores this because he believes that true love knows no boundaries.

Natalia:
Natalia is a girl who is actually a boy in disguise. Her/his parents are very sensitive to her actions, and always make her stay home. She is very pretty, but not very girlish. She often escapes out the window with her mother’s credit card. She is responsible for paying off for the Grey Griffin’s expenses while they fight the evil lord Iver.

Ernest:
Ernest is also a boy genius much smarter than Max. Because of this Max is very frustrated with him and would often make him take off his shirt so he can make fun of the freckles on his armpits. He has a lot of hair on his chest and back, not common for an eleven year old. Sometimes he would cut the hair off his chest to glue it onto his chin to make it look like a beard.
Harley:
Harley is a eleven year old body builder who looks like he is thirteen years old because he has a lot of muscles. He is the tough-guy in the gang but is not afraid to use his head, to bash other people.








Problems and features:
The main problems that the main characters in the story face is the always battle between good and bad and their for revenge heir father’s death. In one time, Max loses all his money because the evil lord Iver has sent a thief to steal his wallet. After this, Max asks about God, is he an really all good and cares about the good of people, or does he not care at all. If not does God care about people, then does he exist?
Other problems presented also include Natalia’s want to become a boy. She feels that she is a girl trapped inside a boy’s body, but she seems like a girl. She wants people to really believe that she is a girl. Even though people think that she is a girl, she does feel comfortable about this, because she believes she is not really one. Even though she feels one way, she was made another way. She does not understand whether or not human beings are truly free, if so, why is there something to stop her from becoming what she wants?