Torn (MG)

Torn. Margaret Peterson Haddix. 2011. Simon & Schuster. 352 pages.

"We didn't know what we were doing," a voice whispered near Jonah's ear. 

I really loved this fourth novel in the Missing series. I can't say that I've loved each of the novels equally. Though each has had its moments. But I can say that I've really enjoyed the series--or the idea behind the series. I love the time travel element. I love how each novel--or to be more precise, the second, third, and fourth novels--have focused on one time in particular. In the fourth novel, Jonah and his sister have been sent to 1611. They arrive on board Henry Hudson's ship just hours before a mutiny occurs. Jonah is posing as Hudson's son, and, well there is a lot depending on him. For the two have been told--and they have every reason to believe it--that time is falling apart and that they are the only two in position to repair the damage.

I would say that this is definitely a series you need to read in order. I'm not sure that Torn would be such a great read if you weren't familiar with the previous books.

If you enjoy action, adventure, history, mystery, and science fiction, then this series is definitely worth trying.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Posted in 2011 , library book , Margaret Peterson Haddix , Simon and Schuster , time travel , YA Action , YA Adventure , YA Science Fiction

Alice in Time (MG)

Alice in Time. Penelope Bush. 2011. Holiday House. 208 pages.

"I'm not wearing it."
"Yes you are."
"No, I'm not." 
Repeat those last two sentences about fifty times and you'll get some idea of what I'm up against. I'm trying to get my little brother into his page-boy outfit so that we won't be late for Dad's wedding, but I've been trying for the last hour without success.

I picked up Alice in Time because I was interested in the time travel premise. Alice, our heroine, is fourteen and miserable. She thinks her life is ruined, and it just happens that everyone else is to blame for all her woes. Her parents are divorced. Her relationship with her dad and his new wife, a bit awkward. And her brother, well, he's a bother and then some. Her mom is the worst of all. Even Imogen, her best friend, doesn't understand her. It seems the whole world is against her...

One late night in the park, a spin on the merry go round, a little accident ends up changing Alice's life forever. She wakes up from the accident as a seven year old. Her teenage memories are intact, but she's now seven again. She's forgotten how to be a kid, though, which makes this transition a bit tricky. Her mom definitely does NOT like the new Alice, who has turned mean and disrespectful and disobedient. What happened to her little angel that loves playing with Barbie and needed help brushing her hair and braiding it?

Alice soon decides that she'll try to "fix" all the problems of her life. She'll try to stop her cat from getting run over by a car. She'll try to warn her Grandma about the cancer. She'll try to warn anyone and everyone about her mom's postpartum depression. She'll try to stop her mom from throwing her dad out of the house, etc. The question becomes what should she do with her classmates? Should she make the same decisions? Should she choose Imogen over Sasha? Or Sasha over Imogen? Or should she choose a new path altogether? What if she could change her life for the better by choosing a whole new set of friends?

Of course, Alice doesn't really know what the consequences of any of her actions will be... One thing is for sure, this new-new Alice will be a different girl.

I liked Alice in Time. I didn't love it; I didn't hate it. I thought it took a little too long to get to the merry go round. Though that could be just me, since the time travel element is what I was most interested in. And Alice wasn't very likable. She was a brat. A full-time brat. But as she began to grow up a little (by growing down), I began to like her more and more.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Posted in 2011 , Holiday House , library book , time travel , YA Fiction , YA realistic fiction , YA Science Fiction

Backtracked (YA)

Backtracked. Pedro de Alcantara. 2009. Random House. 272 pages.

By the day I was born, April 3, 1990, I had already lived several lives. But I didn't learn about them until Tuesday, February 28, 2006. This is how it happened.

Backtracked is not a perfect novel. But. I enjoyed it for what it was. Tommy Latrella, our hero, isn't perfect and he knows it. He is TIRED of every one in his life comparing him to his older brother, Jimmy. His brother died a hero in 9/11.

Tommy has never felt like a hero. Not once. But. The subway system might just change all that by giving him three chances to be just that: a hero.

His first stop will see Tommy living in the tenements in 1918; the second stop will see Tommy living in Hooverville--before becoming employed by the Mafia--in 1932; the third stop will see Tommy training to fight in a war he's only read about in textbooks: World War II. Tommy does not control the time travel. The portal seems to change each time. In moments of crisis--great crisis--he goes backwards and forwards in time.

Backtracked is set in New York with a focus on Italian immigrants--Italian communities--in four turbulent decades. The novel is a bit uneven, perhaps, but I liked it all the same. Tommy's decisions aren't always the best decisions--and he can be difficult to relate to at times--but I always wanted to know what happened next. I was interested in these stories, these time periods.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Posted in 2009 , Random House , review copy , time travel , YA Fiction , YA Historical Fiction , YA Science Fiction

Blackout

Blackout. Connie Willis. 2010. Random House. 512 pages.

Oxford--April 2060
Colin tried the door, but it was locked.

How does Blackout compare to Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog? Well. I'm not sure they can. While both books are about time traveling historians, there's an intensity to this one that can't quite be put into words. Not in a way that would do it justice.

In, Doomsday Book, it gets intense. Bad things are happening. And there's a mystery to be solved. There are unknowns, yes, but you see people hard at work solving the problem. Trying to at least. There's this urgency. Dunworthy is ever-anxious to save Kivrin--with a little help from Colin, of course.

Blackout is more of a mystery. The silence of those stories that are not being told weighs on the reader. At least this reader.

Let's start with what we do know. Blackout tells the story of three historians working on World War II. There's Merope Ward who is "Eileen" on this assignment. She's observing children evacuees. There's Polly Churchhill who is "Polly Sebastian" on this assignment. She's covering the first weeks of the London blitz, working as a shop girl on Oxford Street by day. There's Michael Davies (Mike) who is covering Dover, he's posing as an American reporter covering the Dunkirk evacuation. These three historians--working undercover, of course--are not supposed to have met. For their assignments were not supposed to overlap.

But. One after another these historians learn that their drops are not working. Each expecting a retrieval team at any moment to "rescue" them, to send them home back to where they belong. But no retrieval teams arrive. And each becomes increasingly alarmed. Why aren't the drops working? Is the Net down? But even if the Net was down, this is time travel, it wouldn't effect when they were rescued, right? Is the Net not working because they've changed history? That's supposed to be impossible. Historians (time-travelers) cannot change history. But what if it is possible? What if they have changed history? Why isn't Mr. Dunworthy sending anyone to help them? Where is Colin in all this? Do they even know that these historians are trapped?

Can three historians survive World War II?

Blackout captures the uncertainty, the anxiety, the frustrations of a war-time England. It's compelling, impossible to put down. But. it isn't quite as satisfying as Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog because it's incomplete. This is only half the story. All Clear--published this October--completes the story.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Posted in 2010 , adult fiction , Adult Science Fiction , Historical Fiction , library book , Random House , science fiction , time travel

Doomsday Book

Doomsday Book. Connie Willis. 1992. Random House. 592 pages.

Mr. Dunworthy opened the door to the laboratory and his spectacles promptly steamed up.
"Am I too late?" he said, yanking them off and squinting at Mary.

I loved Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog. I just LOVED it. But I think I loved Doomsday Book a little bit more. It was incredibly compelling. It was intense, emotional, and impossible to put down.

The writing was as great as I expected. Willis does a wonderful job with her characters. They feel very real--very human. The setting--the world building--is also amazing. She does a great job building the past--the fourteenth century--and the "present" which is a time-traveling future. (The story alternates between past and present.) She blends mystery, science fiction, and historical fiction--and blends them well!

Doomsday Book is dramatic. Kivrin--our heroine--is a historian traveling to the Middle Ages--to 1320 to be exact. The fourteenth century has just been opened up to historians. And this is a dream come true for Kivrin. While, certain years will most likely remain "too dangerous" to visit--like the year 1348--the year the Black Death was first recorded in England--there is much to learn, to explore. And Kivrin is excited--thrilled--to be the one to go. She'll be spending two weeks in the past--in a small village--during Advent. Mr. Dunworthy, however, has his doubts. And he's not afraid to voice them. Kivrin thinks he's being too cautious. That he's just being silly, ridiculous. Of course, she'll take all the necessary precautions--like her vaccinations and such--but she's an educated woman capable of taking care of herself--no matter the century.

But. From the start, there is something wrong with the drop. It starts with the technician, Badri, becoming ill. Soon the whole area is quarantined. Cases start coming in--and soon medical staff are overwhelmed. What is this disease--this illness? How is it spread? Where did it come from? Is it fatal? Is there a cure? Is Badri the first case? Did he have a chance to pass this on to Kivrin before she went through the Net? What was Badri trying to communicate to Dunworthy at the last minute?

Readers meet dozens of characters in both centuries as this mystery unfolds. And while it is serious--dramatic--and emotional--people will die--it's not without its lighter moments of wit. I loved the narrative. I loved the way this story was told. This one I'll definitely be recommending!

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Posted in 1992 , adult fiction , Adult Science Fiction , Historical Fiction , library book , science fiction , time travel