Title: The Golden Spiral
Author: Lisa Mangum
Genre: YA Romance/Sci-fi
Verdict: A worthy sequel, builds competently on its predecessor
Can you believe I've been at this for almost a year now? April 7th was the First Chop last year. The older I get, the faster it goes.
Anyway, enough of that. Another thing that happened last year was the Chop for Lisa Mangum's The Hourglass Door. I got to read it in March of '09, thanks to the sweet perk hookups of working at Deseret (the book came out in May). I just can't rub that in your face enough. At the end of the day, it's not a big deal--after all, there are bigger books out there--but some of you reading this blog, you're jealous, and that's good enough for me. Oh, and neener, neener, neener.
I'm here to tell you that the second installment in this trilogy, The Golden Spiral, is just as fun as the original. A lot of the "mystery" angle is gone because now Abby knows who/what Dante is. That's fine. She's actually a lot more involved in what Dante does, which isn't usually the case for female protagonists in YA lit. Most of the time they stand by while the "Darcy" figure (for lack of a better term) does all the heavy lifting, and occasionally they describe how his physique makes their pulse go erratic.
Well, in this book, Dante spends the first half pretty much trapped on the bank of the river of time, and Abby has to figure out how to save him using the schematics to the da Vinci's Hourglass Door that he gave her. In the meantime, her old enemy Zo, who has gone through the door twice and can now control time, is wreaking havoc on Abby's past--changing her environment, her friendships, even her family.
The characters grew a lot, the challenges were new and significant, and the whole story moved in an interesting direction. It was consistent while building on its predecessor, and still had the same action/romance feel as the first book. It's very much a romance, but I could read it as a dude and not feel like I was checking my manliness at the door beforehand. That's an accomplishment.
Anxiously awaiting book three.
Yay, year 1 of the Chops is almost complete! ^_^
ReplyDeleteI am one of those jealous people. >,< Good for you, getting to read the Golden Spiral before everyone else. It sounds like it was really good! I remember really enjoying the Hourglass Door last year.
I've read Jane Eyre, so luckily I know the Darcy type.
That sounds so fascinating, Abby's whole past changing. I wonder what THAT'S like.
I hope there are more Chops on the way. I probably should write some reviews of my own...