Five siblings fall through time and space into a strange, unkind world — their arrival mysteriously foretold — and land in the center of an epic civil struggle in a country where many citizens have given themselves over to their primal fears and animal passions at the urging of a power-hungry demagogue.

When siblings Susan, Max, Nell, Kate, and Jean tumble one by one through a glowing cobalt window, they find themselves outside their cozy home — and in a completely unfamiliar world where everything looks wrong and nothing makes sense. Soon, an ancient prophecy leads them into battle with mysterious forces that threaten to break the siblings apart even as they try desperately to remain united and find their way home. Thirteen-year-old twins Max and Susan and their younger siblings take turns narrating the events of their story in unique perspectives as each of the children tries to comprehend their stunning predicament — and their extraordinary new powers — in his or her own way. From acclaimed author Adina Rishe Gewirtz comes a riveting novel in the vein of C. S. Lewis and E. Nesbit, full of nuanced questions about morality, family, and the meaning of home.

Out March 6th, 2018

MY THOUGHTS:

NO! NO! NO!!!!!!!

This book should not have been released as it is.  I LOVED THE PREMISE! And you killed it… <sigh>

There are far too many plot issues.  There is a confusing feel left about the world-building and with over five hundred pages, this should not be.  Pacing….zzzzzzzzzz… come on! Did I mention over five hundred pages…. What was the purpose of so many? Surely, this is not going to be a series as it stands?  It’s not meant for middle-grade; it’s more geared to YA. Yup, there’s a Narnia vibe only darker and more… ugh!

Rules of fantasy writing: build, build, build…

Build the world, if there’s magic, there has to be a magic system in place right from the beginning.  I need to know where these characters are, why they’re there, how they got there and where are they going.   What’s the conflict? Where’s the tension?

Can we talk POV????? I think there’s at least five??? Are you freakin nuts? Switching five ways is like a game of out-of-control ping pong…  When I said build, I didn’t mean the amount of POVs.  Choose a MC for crying out loud, maybe two if you want… three is a stretch… but five????!!! I got lost, more lost and then gave up as to who was whom.

Pacing…. zzzzzzzzzzz, just zzzzzzzzz Build the tension, build the action… wait, there’s no tension… there’s no action, at least not until the last few chapters… but my daughter’s pet turtle sees more action than what I read in this book… With over five hundred pages (yup I said it again), pacing needed to be flying at the speed of light, or at least a fraction over the speed limit. Not move at the razzle dazzling speed of glacial.  Half-way through and I still didn’t know if they knew what the heck was going on… I think I nodded off a few times too… Wow! I love fantasy, I write fantasy… please, please take this back to the drawing board and start over! The premise was outstanding!   Where is all that was promised in the premise????

Okay, now the worse part… Ya, that wasn’t it…

Character Arc Development… oh boy… Who are these people, and why so many all at once? Why not pick two and focus on them and use the others as secondary characters to push the others toward their goals?  I really have no clue who is whom and anything about them that makes each so special to give them a POV of their own. They are flat, pancake style, no substance…

No super duper plot twists or turns… no real goals clearly defined, no character development or any indication that each was fleshed out prior to writing, no set adventure paced out with jet packs attached to it… No excitement… <sigh>.  Okay, okay, there were some details, but that could have been used to describe an inconsequential gnat, really.  These are your characters, they should be honored with at least a personality that works, or even one that exists. They need to be flawed, conflicted, emotional, three dimensional, not flat cut-outs… Ugh! I was SOOOOOO disappointed.  I thought this was going to be such a great read.

I want more… I want this story to work…. someone give me oxygen, I’m hyperventilating…

I couldn’t rate this book… I couldn’t accept the work… <starts to sob> I wanted moreeeeeeee…