A flash of lightning, quivering ground, and, instead of her grandparents' farm, Poly sees mist and jagged mountains -- and coming toward her, a group of young men carrying spears.
Why has a time gate opened and dropped Poly into a world that existed 3,000 years ago? Will she be able to get back to the present before the time gate closes -- and leaves her to face a group of people who believe in human sacrifice?
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As someone who read this series first when it was only a 'Time Trilogy' I was surprised to discover as an adult L' Engle had written two more book... (show more)
As someone who read this series first when it was only a 'Time Trilogy' I was surprised to discover as an adult L' Engle had written two more books to this story. The great thing is that any one of the stories can be picked up and read independently of the others. It is a time travel series after all. What separates the latter two books in the set for me is just how grown up the series became as it developed. This is actually a good thing for someone who read the series over years instead picking up all five books at once. There is a definite progression to the stories and I have to admit that as an adult I am very fond of the latter two books, especially this one. L' Engle was always very poetic and descriptive in her style, flowing from place to place, Historically this book is quite accurate and teaching. She has developed characters you really care about, situations that are believable (in a fantasy setting none the less), develops ties to Druidism and Christianity without compromising the christian aspects of the story, and reminds us of our own unbelief and the losses we suffer for this unbelief in God, healing, and forgiveness. It's a beautiful story that some who are overly sensitive will find too preachy and others will find not preachy enough. For the rest of us it's a terrific story about faith, healing, forgiveness and redemption. As an adult I would recommend reading this series backwards because I think those who have not read it may find the beginning books too juvenile (they were intended for younger readers anyway) to read the 4th and 5th books in the series which I consider the real gems. (show less)
By far my least favorite of the series. I was confused at how the 3 books before this one and after Many Waters clearly bridged the gap between th... (show more)
By far my least favorite of the series. I was confused at how the 3 books before this one and after Many Waters clearly bridged the gap between those books, yet those books are not included in the time series. Very odd. In any case, I felt like this one took the longest to get to any sort of plot and then was over before I got really invested. Interesting. Glad I read it though. (show less)
This is the final installment in Madeleine L’Engle’s “Time Quintet” series, and unfortunately it does not deliver a good ending or conclusion to the series.
This book takes place in the future. All the main characters from the first four books have grown up, moved out of the house, got married, and had children of their own. Because of this, the reader is “forced” to see events unfold with the daughter of Meg Curry, Polly.
In this installment, Polly must face challenges in a historical ... (show more)
This is the final installment in Madeleine L’Engle’s “Time Quintet” series, and unfortunately it does not deliver a good ending or conclusion to the series.
This book takes place in the future. All the main characters from the first four books have grown up, moved out of the house, got married, and had children of their own. Because of this, the reader is “forced” to see events unfold with the daughter of Meg Curry, Polly.
In this installment, Polly must face challenges in a historical time as she gets transported back about 3,000 years in history along with her friend and a bishop friend of the family. She meets a peaceful tribe that is undergoing attacks by a neighboring tribe due to lack of rain. Because of her red hair, Polly is seen as a Goddess and the hostile tribe is willing to sacrifice her in order to bring rain to their land.
This book has some minor religious tones and some good lessons to go by when it comes to forgiveness and the value of true sacrifice.
This book could stand on its own and because of that, it did not feel as it was part of a series. The book did deal with time travel, but other than that, it felt dry and a weak ending to the series. I never read these books when I was a child, but I don’t think children nowadays would really like these series when they have books such as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I guess these books were good for the time they were written in and perhaps my review should be based on that. Nevertheless, I felt that the series was overrated. (show less)
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*There are some spoilers in here...no big ones...but watch out*
Ok, I can see that the author loves to write about the interplay between people who come from different times or dimensions, and what happens when their worlds collide. My problem is that the explanation for how that happens isn't tightly consistent throughout all the books. In the first, they "Tesser" between planets...similar to teleportation. In the second, they enter the world of the microbiotic and pick up an abi... (show more)
*There are some spoilers in here...no big ones...but watch out*
Ok, I can see that the author loves to write about the interplay between people who come from different times or dimensions, and what happens when their worlds collide. My problem is that the explanation for how that happens isn't tightly consistent throughout all the books. In the first, they "Tesser" between planets...similar to teleportation. In the second, they enter the world of the microbiotic and pick up an ability similar to telepathy. The third is time travel with Native Americans (via unicorn), the fourth is time travel to Biblical times (via computer malfunction), and the fifth is time travel with Native Americans, druid style (via time portal). Not only is there no consistent set of rules for whatever supernatural events that occur, they all seem to happen to this one family and they're always surprised! Is it Tessering? Is it unicorns? Is it a computer program? How does this work?
The two big concepts I really liked from A Wrinkle in Time, the Tesseract and the Three Fairy Godmother characters, Mrs. Who, Which, and Whatsit, do not appear with any real significance in any of the other books. One could argue that they're actually "Tessering" in all the books, but it didn't feel consistent enough for me to think of it as the same process. As for the three "godmothers," a quick read of the end of A Wrinkle in Time has them returning to the Murray home, saying something to the effect of, "There's no time, we have to..." and then they disappear. Cliffhanger right? Wrong. They're never seen again.
Overall, the series is an ok read. Pretty simple language, pretty drawn out in spots, incredibly confusing at times with tons of characters with crazy names, and sometimes a bit campy. Some interesting threads through all the books is social commentary on how various cultures, alien or otherwise, value the family, how cultures negotiate faith and science, and how history has a tendency to repeat. (show less)
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