Lost TimeTwelve-year-old Violynne Vivant wants answers. Orphaned and anguished, she wonders daily what happened to her parents, archaeologists who went digging for the ancient city of Ninthon and vanished into the red sands of Lindos never to return.
Author: Susan Maupin Schmid
Publisher: Philomel, 2008
Genre: YA/MG Sci-fi
Buy: Amazon ♥ B&N ♥ TBD
Things heat up when a thief breaks into the Vivant?s house, looking for Violynne. Suddenly, she is swept into a maze of powerful adult forces: from the planetary ruler called the Arbiter to the murky underworld figure, the Coil?they all have a sudden deep interest in Violynne. Why? And what does it have to do with her parent?s disappearance? It becomes apparent that only Violynne herself can uncover her parents? whereabouts?along with age-old secrets of the mysterious planet that many would rather stay buried...
This was such a wonderful and fun read.
I picked it up on a whim and opened its pages to find an exquisitely crafted
world, with many cultures and details, and a heroine who made me want to follow
her. Violynne’s world was amazing in its alieness, but also in the realistic
future technology. I think if the story as scifi given the setting, but the
situation fits in with a dystopian story—the Arbiter rules the city with a
tight fist, and the Coil rules the planet.
When
the story begins, Violynne’s parents have been missing for a year and she’s
living with her Aunt Madelyn and a butler. I was amazed at resourcefulness of these
two and the secrets they carried. It’s thanks to them and the unfortunate
events that happen that Violynne grows strong and fearless. Her parents disappearance
is just part of a deeper revolution going on in the planet, and it’s up to
Violynne to set things right.
My
only complaint would be that it’s such a short novel for such a huge world. At
169 pages, it looks more like a novelette, but it reads like a full novel. Due
to its shortness, there’s a lack of detail in many of the things presented—the characters,
the races, the situation—so that you’re left to take in things at face value
and move along with the story. Then again, that’s part of what I liked about
it. We’re thrown into this alien world and the pacing is just right for us not
to think much about the why’s, and just enjoy the fast ride.
Favorite Quotes:
~The
Coil~
The Coil was seated on a plush sofa
behind a carved tea table. A myriad of tentacles wiggled and coiled themselves
around the edges of the table. Violynne had a momentary urge to turn and run
after the waitress. She’d never seen the Coil before or anyone like her.
Although seated, the Coil seemed tall, like a broom with tentacles for straw.
The writhing tentacles made Violynne slightly queasy.
“So pleased to see you,” the Coil
lisped. Her large shovel-shaped face, with deep nostrils at the end and a
wreath of tiny tentacles on top, tilted to one side. “Sit down."
