By: Michael C Madden
ISBN: 978-1-922896-66-7
Stacey Casey, her father, and her friend Amelia, need to rescue Stacey’s best friend, Oliver. Oliver is lost in the past and probably at the mercy of an enemy who’s been trying to steal their time machine.
Rescuing Oliver won’t be simple, though, and it may send them spinning through time to solve other problems as well.
This is a relatively straight forward plot, with the complications and paradoxes of time travel well articulated for a young audience. It’s fast moving, and there’s something happening almost all the time.
Madden does slow down for some character development, but there’s not a lot of it. It felt very much secondary to the action.
I asked my Miss Ten to read this, and here’s what she had to say about it.
“I really enjoyed reading this. It’s a good book. The idea of a time machine isn’t very original, but the author put lots of original ideas with it – like the artefacts they find. I also really liked the mix of fictional characters and real historical people.
“The book doesn’t really stand on its’ own. There are too many references to things that happened in earlier books that aren’t explained here. I would have enjoyed it lots more if I’d read the first books.
“There were only two things I didn’t like about the book. One was that the illustrations were done in a variety of styles and that was a bit strange. The other was that I would have liked it to be a lot longer!”
As an adult reader, my main criticism was that there were a few occasions of incorrect word use (“site” was repeatedly used for “sight” for example). Young readers may learn incorrect words or spelling from these kinds of mistakes.
This novel effectively opens in the middle of the story. While Miss Ten is right that it will be more enjoyable if you’ve read the earlier books, I don’t think many readers will have trouble following the story. It’s reasonably straight forward and events are clearly explained as they happen.
Putting an age range on a book is always a bit fraught, but the themes, plot and language make this suitable for kids from about seven years – probably topping out with some reluctant readers around 12 years. The relative simplicity and short length may mean that it’s most enjoyed by those aged 7-10 years.
This is a pretty appealing novel. The content is suitable for a wide audience, unlikely to cause concern for even the most protective guardian. It provides a solid dose of entertainment, and is likely to be particularly welcomed by readers of the earlier novels.
An edited version of this review first appeared on www.beautyandlace.net as part of their bookclub.
Other Dreams, Other Lives 