Obsidian Mirror
By Carrie R. Wheadon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Complex time travel page-turner starts sci-fi trilogy.
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What's the Story?
Jake can't take a minute more of boarding school. He knows his father has been murdered and that his best friend and godfather Oberon Venn is to blame. Injuring a student gets him gratefully expelled and on a plane back to England to confront the recluse Venn, unfortunately with his teacher Mr. Wharton as chaperone. When Jake and Wharton arrive at the remote and ancient Wintercombe Abbey, Wharton is reluctant to leave Jake there. Venn is short-tempered and distant and has taken in a teen girl named Sarah, who claims to have escaped a mental institution. And hidden in a locked room: the Obsidian Mirror, Venn's obsession. Jake's father is lost in time thanks to the mirror, an artifact of ominous origins Venn is desperately trying to use to get his deceased wife back. And Sarah has agreed to risk her life to help. She's as desperate as Venn is to get close to the mirror -- for her own mysterious reasons.
Is It Any Good?
Here's a time-twisting tale without a minute wasted on long exposition. OBSIDIAN MIRROR not only keeps readers guessing about just about everything (Who's Sarah really? And Piers? Why do you need a special bracelet to enter the mirror? How is that journal answering Sarah? How did Jake get a letter from his dad?), it also weaves together such curious elements that, at first, you think there's no way they'll ever meld into one story. But they do. Eventually. And sometimes at a much deeper level: What is the nature of time, really? What if it didn't really exist, like in the land of Lady Summer?
If those questions are beyond readers, it's no matter. The story moves much faster than you can chew over it, through time, through another world, and through the characters' revealed deep, dark secrets. Readers are swept back and forth, forward and back, every few pages. Then, Obsidian Mirror lets you close the book and ponder exactly where it's taken you on your own time.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about time travel. How many "what ifs" did you have in your head while reading the book? Would you hop in the mirror with no knowledge of where you could end up?
Why does Gideon want to escape Lady Summer? What does he tell Sarah he's missing by living in a paradise? Would you choose Gideon's world or Jake's? What about Gideon's world or Sarah's?
What do you know about Victorian London? Where can you find out more? Jake is surprised by the dirt and smell. When did the modern city sewer system come about?
Book Details
- Author: Catherine Fisher
- Genre: Science Fiction
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Dial Books
- Publication date: April 23, 2013
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 12 - 17
- Number of pages: 384
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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