Timepiece: An Hourglass Novel by Myra McEntire

Summary

Kaleb Ballard was never supposed to be able to see ripples—cracks in time. Are Kaleb’s powers expanding, or is something very wrong? Before Kaleb can find out, Jonathan Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, reappears. Why is he back, and what, or whom, does he want?

In the wake of Lander’s return, the Hourglass organization is offered an ultimatum by a mysterious man. Either they find Landers and the research he has stolen on people who might carry the time gene, or time will be altered—with devastating results for the people Kaleb loves most.

Now Kaleb, Emersion, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their extraordinary powers to find Landers. But where do they even start? And when? Even if they succeed, just finding him may not be enough . . .

• Number of pages: 336

Review

Interesting story line. Interesting characters. It was all very interesting, which makes it good. It was a good plot and I had a good time reading it. But that doesn’t make it great.

Really there is nothing bad I can say about this book. I didn’t encounter any definite flaw, nor did I have a bad time reading, it just ended up being average. The story itself is not average in the way that we see lots of these time travelling and science fiction stories, but it wasn’t like I was left with my mouth open and the adrenaline rush I get from a really great book. Sure it wasn’t the best, but I’m glad I read it.

The first book in the Hourglass series is narrated by Em, and Kaleb narrated this one. I can’t say which character I like better as the lead, but it was very different between the two people. I found myself missing having Em as the leader of the thought process. Anyway, their personalities, their struggles, their connection to the happens of the book, but I found this one a little bit more cliché than the last one. Honestly, I would be lying if I told you that there was something wrong with this book, it’s just something that I can’t put my finger on, and I don’t want anyone reading this thinking that they shouldn’t read the book because of it. This is just the feeling that I had, and I am sharing. Yours may be completely different than my own, and I completely accept that. With that said, I am also going to write why I thought this book was good. Kaleb has a strong personality and it was interesting seeing how that played off in his inner thoughts. He is an empathy, which means he can feel the emotions of people he is connected to or around him. Read this I would continuously be thrown the different emotions of people around Kaleb, and that was interesting seeing how he reacted to the different emotions. It was also great to see how he changed for the better, though like I said before it was a tad bit cliché. Then again, who doesn’t like a little cliché in their lives? Your opinion is just as good as mine. I will say that I am looking forward to the next book for two reasons: the story continues into a new adventure, which will obviously not settle me until I find out how it is resolved and I am looking forward to seeing who is the narrator of the next book. Em the first, Kaleb the second, who is next? Michael? Lily? Someone new? I wonder . . . I wonder . . . From 1-10? 5.5

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Summary

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awake on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into a brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone—one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship—tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Number of pages: 398

Review

**WARNING REVIEW MAY CONTAIN A SPOILER OR TWO** (sorry I usually try to leave out any spoilers but this time I cant help it, no worries though I don’t give out anything major)

Wow.

This book was... incredible. So intense. This was just the kind of book I have been craving for lately. The whole book was so powerful; I had no control to put it down. I heard a lot about Across the Universe and the great reviews it got and I completely understand why.

The entire story is divided between Elder’s point of view and Amy’s point of view. I love when books are like that. I don’t know why, I guess it’s because it feels more personal when you get both sides of the story. Anyway, Amy is frozen and put as cargo in the super spaceship, Godspeed. They hope that 300 years into the future Godspeed will reach this new habitable planet. Well would that be perfect except for the fact that she is woken up waaaaaay to early in the most horrific of ways. Elder is there to help her along the way as they try to discover who is waking up the frozens and stopping the spaceship leader from stealing free will from the people aboard. If this alone doesn’t show you how intense this book is then I seriously think you should find this book somewhere and read for yourself how strong this book is. From the first page to the last page I was kept in full suspense. Some points in the mystery seemed obvious but not in an obvious way… did that make sense? It was like you knew the puzzle pieces, and you had no way of know how those pieces fit together. It drove me crazy at night trying to see how this piece and that piece had anything to do with this one. I loved it.

I do have to warn all of you out there who are suckers for happy endings and don’t like anything less than a happily ever after, this book will not satisfy your thirst for a happy ending. It’s not going to happen. Personally, to me, the ending was the most logical one to end this story, but I can’t help wishing that after everything those two went through they had to end like that. It was sad. But all around I enjoyed racing through the ship with Amy and Elder so from 1-10? It has to be an 8.

On cover news I have to say that it looks amazing! The picture on the cover came out so incredible, but what put it over the top was the blueprint of the spaceship on the inside part of the hard cover’s slap. It made everything seem more realistic. I loved it! I’m kind of upset right now because I took off the cover so I wouldn’t damage it at the beach a couple of days ago, and now I can’t find it!!! Grrrrreat -.- . . . oh! never mind I found it! :D

I went on the author's website and read that Across the Universe is part of a trilogy! Looks like this is far from the end . . .