I was given the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review and I want to first say thank you to the author for allowing me to do so.
The
concept of the book is amazing! Time
travel to the Civil War as an operative for a secret organization? So amazing!
I am a huge history nut and I love the Civil War so I was very excited
to read this book. That being said,
while there were things that I loved about the book there were also a few
things that could have been improved on.
The
book starts out very strong, jumping right in to the story of Jonathon, the
main character, and grabbing your attention immediately. Within a short amount of time Jonathon finds himself at a new school and in the middle of intensive tryouts to be
allowed to stay in the school. Just
when the training gets going it skips ahead four year to graduation. I felt like a huge chunk of the story was
just deleted from the book. How did the
kid he hate become his friend? I think
there was one quick blurb that said why he was friends with Jonathon but I felt
it really did not explain thing satisfactorily.
Also, when Jonathon first arrives at the school there is only one
student that speaks to him. The way that
this character is introduced makes it seem that he will be an important part of
the book but then he is never mentioned again.
The story also got a bit confusing at the end with all of the changes in
time that were happening but this is pretty normal when the whole issue of time
travel and changing the past come in to play.
While there were some issues with the book let me assure you there were
also great things too.
In
addition to the wonderful concept of the book there were several other things
that make this book a great read. The gadgets
that the author comes up with for the characters to take back in time with them are great. He really put a lot of thought in to just
what things they would need to complete their mission and how the gadgets could
be kept from being discovered by anyone in the past. The 'bad guy' of the book was also
great. The author did an amazing job of
making him so annoying and mean to the point of really getting the reader to
want his down fall. The friendship of
Jonathon and the other two boys is incredible and well developed. This lends greatly to the story once the
three of them are back in the Civil War.
They really come through for each other and it is this friendship
that changes the course of the story.
Overall
the book was a great read and the ending leaves you anxiously waiting for a
sequel so that you can find out what happens to Jonathon. It has enough action throughout the book to
keep you engrossed in the story from beginning to end. I would recommend this book to anyone that
likes YA books and I think that younger preteen/teen boys would really enjoy
it.
Parent advisory: There was very mild language. There were also some battle scenes that included injuries. One particularly disturbing scene when the author describes the happenings in the Civil War medical tent and the removal of limbs with a saw. While it very accurately describes what really happened to the injured during war at that time it could be a bit intense for younger kids.
You can learn more about the book and read other reviews here.
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