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Summary
Summary
"A strong . . . new trilogy, invoking just a little Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events along the way."-- Realms of Fantasy
Siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage.
Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about.
Until now.
Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey through time to dangerous and secret corners of the world . . . a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. And--if an ancient prophesy is true--what they do can change history, and it's up to them to set things right.
"A new Narnia for the tween set."-- The New York Times
"[A] fast-paced, fully imagined fantasy."-- Publishers Weekly
"Echoes of other popular fantasy series, from "Harry Potter" to the "Narnia" books, are easily found, but debut author Stephens has created a new and appealing read . . ."-- School Library Journal , Starred Review
Reviews (7)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This promising first volume in debut author Stephens's Books of Beginning trilogy concerns siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma, who, when very young, were taken from their parents to protect them from unspecified forces of darkness. They have since spent 10 years in a series of unpleasant orphanages; the last of these-which, oddly enough, houses no children but themselves-is run by the eccentric Dr. Pym. While exploring their palatial yet decrepit new home tucked away in the Adirondacks, the children discover a magical green book, which transports them into the recent past. There they do battle with a beautiful witch who has terrorized and enslaved the local people in her unsuccessful search for the very book the children possess. Adventures follow, featuring murderous zombielike Screechers, time travel paradoxes, and multiple revelations about Dr. Pym. If Stephens's characterizations sometimes dip into cliche (grumpy, Scottish-ish dwarves; noble/heroic natives; an effete evil assistant), few will mind. This fast-paced, fully imagined fantasy is by turns frightening and funny, and the siblings are well-crafted and empathetic heroes. Highly enjoyable, it should find many readers. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Ten years after being separated from their parents, three orphans, Kate, Michael, and Emma, are sent to live at a peculiar institution in the town of Cambridge Falls. This first book in a series introduces the siblings' involvement in an epic battle between good and evil magic as they discover a powerful book called the Atlas that sends them fifteen years back in time. The three children embark on a lengthy adventure to find the emerald book again in the past, all while trying to defeat an evil Countess, save the lives of the Cambridge Falls children, and get back to the future. Narrator Dale's performance of the myriad voices of the large cast of characters is thoroughly engaging. The distinctive tones he masters for each speaker and the fluid pacing bring this book, full of rollicking action and humor, to life. The only drawback is Dale's British accent, which seems out of place in this very American story, but his skilled narration makes the time (eleven and a half hours) fly by. cynthia k. ritter (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Following their parents' disappearance, 14-year old Kate and her younger siblings, Emma and Michael, have grown up in a series of orphanages. After moving to the dismal town of Cambridge Falls, the trio discovers a mysterious book. When studious Michael tucks a historic photo into the book, the children are transported back to an earlier time in which the town is held captive by an evil witch. Prophecies, wizards, hidden treasures, an ancient evil, and tantrum-throwing dwarves all make an appearance as Stephens works in a multitude of fantasy tropes. The quest to save the town and its children is fast-paced and engaging, with plenty of action, humor, and secrets propelling the plot. The dialogue occasionally has a choppy flow, but the humor and sibling bickering are right on target. Themes of family and responsibility, while emphasized somewhat purposefully, will easily resonate with young readers. The start of a new series, this satisfying tale wraps up in an intriguing conclusion that dangles unresolved threads for future adventures. Prepare for heavy demand.--Rutan, Lynn Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
THE rest of book publishing may be tottering on the brink, but the market for young adult fantasy seems as difficult to destroy as, well, a vampire. Series about children learning to harness otherworldly powers to vanquish cosmic evil - Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight," Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" and, of course, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter - have a powerful archetypal appeal, with each iteration attracting young readers afresh. What from an adult perspective may seem a crushing sameness - how many orphans must battle how many dragons before the world is saved already? - only speaks to the universality of fantasy. Poised between the powerless dependence of childhood and the frighteningly unmoored freedom of adult life, preteen and teenage readers understandably want books that address their most urgent and open-ended questions: What is my destiny? How can I know the extent, and limit, of my powers? Do the moral choices I make really matter? Fantasy literature provides these anxieties a cosmological stage on which to play out. "The Emerald Atlas," the first in a planned trilogy called the Books of Beginning, was the talk of the Bologna Children's Book Fair last year. Written by John Stephens, a television writer and producer who's worked on "Gossip Girl," "Gilmore Girls" and "The O.C.," "The Emerald Atlas" has a targeted readership between the ages of 8 and 12, but like C. S. Lewis's Narnia epic (which it closely resembles in story, if not style), it can be read aloud by a parent at bedtime or enjoyed independently by an older reader. Also like "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," "The Emerald Atlas" features displaced siblings who discover a fantastical alternate world hidden inside their prosaic one. Fourteen-year-old Kate, 12-year-old Michael and 11-year-old Emma have been bounced from one miserable orphanage to the next since their parents' mysterious disappearance 10 years before. When they reach their latest unpromising abode - a dusty, near-empty manor in the upstate New York town of Cambridge Falls - the children stumble upon a strange blank book, which functions as a kind of portal to an alternate reality. The book whisks them back 15 years earlier to a time when Cambridge Falls was the site of a high-stakes battle between a beautiful but malevolent witch named the Countess and a kindly, pipe-smoking wizard, Stanislaus Pym. Gradually the children - sensible Kate, methodical Michael and fiery Emma - realize they have the power to change the course of history and discover their parents' fate. Along the way, there are descents into glittering underground caverns, breathless escapes from black-clad, shrieking beasts known as the morum cadi (shades of Harry Potter's Death Eaters), and a memorably repulsive banquet with a corrupt and gluttonous dwarf king. Stephens spins a tightly paced, engaging yarn, even if his prose can be lurchingly expository (too often, for example, the narrator reminds us of the siblings' fierce devotion to one another, rather than let their actions speak for themselves). "The Emerald Atlas" feels adaptation-ready to a degree that may strike some as cynical. The crosscutting action sequences read like padded script, and the detailed but flat descriptions of characters and scenery could double as memos to the casting and production departments. The end of this installment leaves the ultimate fate of the magic book in suspense, but the destiny of "The Emerald Atlas" is never in doubt: It's in development. Dana Stevens is the film critic for Slate.
School Library Journal Review
The first installment in the "Books of Beginning" trilogy introduces three children mysteriously plucked from their parents' home 10 years ago. Kate, Michael, and Emma have been shuffled from one miserable living situation to another and now find themselves in a curious orphanage with no other children. They discover a magical book that leads them on an astonishing time-traveling adventure. The incomparable Jim Dale reads this fantasy with great aplomb, creating wonderfully distinct voices for dwarves, witches, children, professors, and more. Heart-stopping exploits get the full treatment of Dale's vigorous narration and will have kids and adults alike clamoring for the next book, The Fire Chronicle. Luckily, it's available from Listening Library. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Guardian Review
There comes a moment, late in The Emerald Atlas, when its 14-year-old heroine Kate - having gone back in time, where she caught an emotional glimpse of her long-lost mother and left behind a magical book for safe-keeping before returning to swim through an underground cavern with a group of dwarves - is confronted by the terrifying Secretary, henchman to the Countess, an evil witch. The Secretary suggests that the kindly wizard who's been helping her and her siblings, Michael and Emma, has information that he's withholding; that her rescue from the orphanage and transportation to the magical town of Cambridge Falls had a larger purpose. This is alarming and, as John Stephens tells us, "Kate was doing her best to try and put it all together." Indeed. A young reader will be forgiven for feeling sympathy with Kate at this point. There's a lot that's likeable about The Emerald Atlas - it's bright and energetic and has some exciting set pieces - but it has an everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach to children's fantasy that it can't quite marshal into overall coherence. Kate and her bookish brother and feisty sister are taken from their parents at a young age and put into a series of orphanages until they're finally sent to live in Cambridge Falls with the mysterious Dr Pym. Though this is, ostensibly, modern-day Baltimore, the orphanages seem to be essentially Victorian. Exploring Dr Pym's vast house, they happen upon a magic book that, when they put an old photograph into it, transports them back to the time of that photograph. They find themselves in an earlier, much more dangerous Cambridge Falls, where the Countess is quite cheerful in her willingness to kill the townsfolk unless they find her one of the all-powerful Books of Beginning, which is thought to be lost. This is, in fact, the same book that the children used to go back in time, but - and here's where things start to get muddled - that version of the book belongs to the future, so it quickly disappears. Unless the children find this timeline's version before the Countess does, they'll be trapped here for ever and her powers will grow beyond anything they can fight. The race is on. Adults reading The Emerald Atlas with their children will spot so many bits from other children's fantasies that it could almost be a game. The Countess is more or less Narnia's White Witch, and the way the book spirits the children to another time is a lot like a certain wardrobe. Dr Pym is an enigmatic, Dumbledoreish wizard, and the Countess's main soldiers ("Screechers") are basically Dementors. Her Secretary speaks like Gollum ("little dwarvsies"), and the dwarves themselves are straight out of Terry Pratchett. So much so that when we're informed that the most important thing to a dwarf is "family" (the book is filled with such sentimentality), I couldn't help but think, "No, it isn't. It's gold. And quaffing." I genuinely wouldn't mind any of this if the story were told with a stronger narrative hand and, crucially, more clarity of plot and tone. As it is, The Emerald Atlas is strangely lacking in both wonder ("So fine, magic was real," is Kate's reaction when first greeted with it) and proper danger. As I say, the book moves well and there are some fun action sequences. It's just a shame that it always seems to threaten magic without ever quite delivering. Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls is published by Walker Books. To order The Emerald Atlas for pounds 10.39 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0330 33306846 or go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop - Patrick Ness Indeed. A young reader will be forgiven for feeling sympathy with [Kate] at this point. There's a lot that's likeable about The Emerald Atlas - it's bright and energetic and has some exciting set pieces - but it has an everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach to children's fantasy that it can't quite marshal into overall coherence. Adults reading The Emerald Atlas with their children will spot so many bits from other children's fantasies that it could almost be a game. The Countess is more or less Narnia's White Witch, and the way the book spirits the children to another time is a lot like a certain wardrobe. Dr Pym is an enigmatic, Dumbledoreish wizard, and the Countess's main soldiers ("Screechers") are basically Dementors. Her Secretary speaks like Gollum ("little dwarvsies"), and the dwarves themselves are straight out of Terry Pratchett. So much so that when we're informed that the most important thing to a dwarf is "family" (the book is filled with such sentimentality), I couldn't help but think, "No, it isn't. It's gold. And quaffing." - Patrick Ness.
Kirkus Review
Since being inexplicably plucked from their parents' home, three childrenKate, Michael and Emma, who all ferociously resist the label "orphan"have trickled through a long line of decent to atrocious orphanages. Their adventures truly begin when they're shipped to a crumbling mansion in a childless town somewhere near Lake Champlain. A mysterious book hidden in the home's dilapidated bowels whisks them to the same spot 15 years earlier, where a glamorous witch rules. The reason for the absence of children gruesomely reveals itself, and the trio determines to help with no initial clue to their own prophetic importance.That they have a larger role to play becomes clearer as they realize they have a special relationship with the magic book, the significance of which is revealed bit by bit. In this mystical world of Children with Destiny, readers might cringe at potential similarity to a certain young wizard, but this is entirely different.Each character has such a likable voice that the elaborate story doesn't feel overcomplicated, and though the third-person-omniscient narration focuses on Kate's thoughts, brief forays into the perspectives of her siblings hint that the next two books might focus on them. Supporting characters from a heroic Native American to some very funny dwarves further enliven things. The only gripe readers might initially have is with its length, but by the end, they'll immediately wish it was longer. (Fantasy. 10-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.