Chuyển đến nội dung chính

The Obsidian Compass (Time Castaways #2), by Liesl Shurtliff, for Time Slip Tuesday

The Obsidian Compass, by Liesl Shurtliff (middle grade, Katherine Tegan Books, Oct 2019) continues the time travelling adventures of three siblings adventuring through time that began with The Mona Lisa Key (link goes to my review).  That first book ended with Mateo, Ruby, and Corey getting home again safely, after many dangerous and difficulties aboard a time travelling ship captained by a ruthless man who was trying to use Matteo, in particular, for his own selfish purposes. But getting home safe wasn't to be the end of their time travelling.  Mateo needs to find his friend, Jia, one of Captain Vincent's crew, who was in danger of being dumped somewhere in time by the captain after she crossed him to help Mateo and his siblings.  Captain Vincent still has the obsidian compass that allows him to time travel, so Mateo decides to try to make his own, and against all odds, he succeeds.  But when he starts using it, he gets his family snarled anew in danger.

As they journey through time and space (in an old VW minibus), Mat realizes that saving Jia isn't enough; Captain Vincent needs to be stripped of his power in order for Matt's family to be safe.  Family secrets are revealed that make Matt question his relationship with his mother in particular--she once controlled the obsidian compass, with Vincent as her partner, and before she even adopted him, she knew a Mateo would play a role in the quest for something even more valuable than time travel--the promise of eternal life....

Parents are often missing in middle grade fantasy, so it's a change that both of Matt's parents are along for the adventure, and care deeply about keeping him and his siblings safe.  The twist about his mother's past, though, keeps her from smothering her son's adventures...instead, the reader, and Matt himself, aren't always sure about her motivations.....

There's not as much wild time travel bouncing from place to place here as there was in the first book--the plot hones in much more sharply on Matt's journey of discovery, and the choices he has to make.  There's still plenty of excitement, though, and an entertaining cast of supporting characters helps make the pages turn quickly.  The final third of the book, especially, is fast reading!

Unanswered questions remain, leaving readers anxious for book three!

short answer--not entirely my cup of tea, but I enjoyed this one more than the first book--I liked that there was more focus on character, and less galivanting....

I'm counting this one as a diverse fantasy--Mateo is adopted from Columbia.


Nhận xét

Đăng nhận xét

Popular Posts

The Princess Who Flew with Dragons, by Stephanie Burgis

I still am busily reading elementary/middle grade speculative fiction a in my roles as a judge for the Cybils Awards (mainly going back to re-read things I read early last year), but I am in good enough shape that I treated myself one dreary day last week to a shiny and new and much anticipated book-- The Princess Who Flew with Dragons , by Stephanie Burgis (Bloomsbury, November 2019). This is the third in the series that began with The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (link to my review), and it's possibly the one I enjoyed most.  I certainly think it was the fastest read; it was a (more or less) single-sitting of about an hour read for me (when I like a book and need to know what's going to happen next, I read faster, and it was relatively short-- 216 pages). Princess Sophia, who we met in Book 2, The Girl with a Dragon Heart , is the main character here, and when her story begins, she's being sent by her older sister, the ruling princess, to a distant city to attend a Worl...
Đăng nhận xét
Đọc thêm

The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away, by Ronald L. Smith (review and interview)

I first had the pleasure of meeting Ronald L. Smith at Kidlitcon back in 2015 (PSA--come to Kidlitcon 2020 in Ann Arbor next March!).  His first middle grade book, Hoodoo, a tale of supernatural horror in the south, had just been published, and I enjoyed it very much ( my review ).  I likewise enjoyed The Mesmerist (2017), about kids fighting evil in 19th century London ( my review ).  I never reviewed Black Panther: the Young Prince (2018)….someday I will.  So in any event, I was very excited about his most recent book, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away (Clarion Books, February 2019). This is the story of an air force kid, Simon, son of a black mom and a white dad, who's obsessed with aliens.  He's convinced owl-like aliens have arrived, watching and experimenting on humans.  His family has no time or patience for aliens, so Simon is alone with his fears of the Grays, as he calls them.  When something very strange happens on a camping trip with hi...
Đăng nhận xét
Đọc thêm

The Clockwork Ghost (York, book 2), by Laura Ruby

The Clockwork Ghost , by Laura Ruby (middle grade/YA, Walden Pond Press, May 15 2019), continues the adventure begun in The Shadow Ciphe r without missing a beat.  Twins Tess and Theo, and their friend Jaime, are still following a twisting trail of impossible clues through an alternate New York of mechanical marvels.  They still have more questions than they have answers.  And they still have enemies, most notably a nasty piece of work  and his henchwomen who want to eliminate the threat they might pose to greedy plans to revamp the city. There's no point in recapping the story.  It is a dream of puzzles and ciphers and mechanical machinations as clues are found and followed.  And it is a very bright and vivid sort of dream, that doesn't make sense exactly but never leaves the reader twitchy and wondering if there will be an ending or not. And the clues and such are cool, and are anchored into the history of the city. But what I loved most were the three ki...
Đăng nhận xét
Đọc thêm