LitPick Review
This book begins with a character named Tucker Feye, searching for a girl named Lah Lia, arriving at the North Pole through a mysterious dimensional and temporal device. He is picked up by a 20th century submarine, whose inhabitants believe that he could be a Russian spy, based on his strange clothes and blue plastic-like coverings on his hands, which heal his frostbite wounds right before their eyes. Not taking risks, the captain quarantines the boy, and a doctor is assigned to stay with him and further interrogate him. When asked, Tucker tells the doctor a long, unbelievable story about future occurrences and peoples, such as Lah Lia and the Lah Sept (a new religious group whose bible is called ‘The Book of September’), mad priests, a new group of people called the Boggsians, futuristic doctors called Medicants, ethereal beings called the Klaatu, and many new technologies such as the diskos, time crossing tunnels, such as the one that brought Tucker to the North Pole, and the healing coverings that so astounded those on the submarine.
Once the story is told (along with interrupting sections of Lah Lia telling her own story), Tucker tells the doctor that it was all a lie, but then finds a way out onto the surface and leaps through another disko right in front of the doctor. But will Tucker be able to find Lah Lia?
Opinion:
I found this book to be very enjoyable and a pleasant challenge for readers, as there are many characters and concepts that must be followed in order to understand any of the story. It also helps if one has read the first book of this series, “The Obsidian Blade,” which further explains some of what is mentioned in this book. The author put a lot of work into creating distinct worlds in the different timelines that each chapter follows, to the point where it can be difficult to understand the order of events or who each character really is. The tone and narrative voice change perceptively with each character speaking, from Lah Lia to Tucker and to one other character at the end.
I feel that the author was very strong within the areas of grabbing the reader’s attention and making them continue to want to read the book. Even though there were some pieces that I didn’t understand, they were further explained later and I was still inspired to continue with the book. This book was exceptionally interesting, with the characters guessing about what was going to happen next, just like the reader. Each side character, especially Yar Song, entertained me a lot with their wisdom, cruelty, or even just their accent. It has definitely convinced me to continue with the series. It may be difficult for younger readers to really understand the events of this book, so I recommend this book to those 14 and up.
