Parents' Guide to

Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Fab art and cool new world as time periods collide.

Book Armand Baltazar Adventure 2017
Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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age 9+

Based on 1 parent review

Marie K.
Marie K. Adult
May 8, 2018
age 9+

Fast paced

This book has amazing illustrations and a quick paced. I definitely liked the character traits that were shown of loyalty, perseverance, and creativity. Though the teenage antics, 4 teens from different cultures, times and upbringings come together to make a strong team to rescue kidnapped engineers. Be aware that this story is a battle of good vs evil, there is war, so there are battles waging. Because of the nature of the book I can’t say too much violence. But, there is some!

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In TIMELESS: DIEGO AND THE RANGERS OF THE VASTLANTIC, Diego has a disturbing dream right before waking up on his 13th birthday. He gets an amazing floating gravity board from his father, Santiago, the great inventor and engineer of New Chicago, but then he watches time stop, people panic, and his whole world end. Time is already fractured in Diego's world after a Time Collision that melds different times together: dinosaurs roam the earth and people from the Victorian, Mid-Time (now), and the 23rd century intermingle in the cities, but not always peaceably. Things start out better than Diego's dream when he does get a gravity board from his father. But the good day doesn't last. When Diego meets Santiago at the harbor after school to impress a new engineer, George Emerson, with his robot-handling skills, a fighting force kidnaps Santiago and the engineer. And worse, Diego finds out the government won't go after the captives themselves. They're sending pirates instead and paying them with a giant robot Diego made. A little on purpose and a lot by accident, Diego, his friend Petey, George Emerson's daughter, Lucy, and Lucy's friend Paige end up stowing away in a compartment of the robot. When the pirate captain finds them aboard his ship, he's furious. Either they learn some seafaring skills in a week or he's throwing them overboard.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

Major kudos to a new writer who knows how to play to his strengths, with 150 pages of full-color art that more than make up for some hiccups in the adventure storytelling. Armand Baltazar, a seasoned Disney and Pixar illustrator, populates his post-Time Collision world with giant robots and dinosaurs wading through a harbor full of tall sailing ships. His main character, Diego, takes a mini-submarine to school and swoops over a jungle island on a gravity board. Baltazar's art pulls this curious sci-fi world together beautifully, but not seamlessly. He often relies too heavily on the art to move the action scenes and makes the beginner mistake of not carefully orienting the reader in a scene, especially when the action gets high. This makes the big battle finale more confusing than exciting. Also, in the middle of the story, as the main characters prepare for their jobs at sea, the primary objective feels lost. Urgency to rescue the prisoners should have been foremost on their minds, rather than whether Diego can fix a robot or stop making a fool of himself in front of Lucy.

It takes time, patience, and attention to detail to build a world both visually and through the written word. Once this talented artist balances the two skills, this series will soar like one of Diego's cool gravity boards.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the illustrations in Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic. How do they add to the world building in the story? How do they convey the action? Would you know what was going on without the illustrations?

  • What would you do without electricity? What would you miss most? How does this world after the Time Collision work without electricity? What inventions is Diego's father responsible for?

  • Are you looking forward to another adventure? What do you think will happen to all the Rangers next?

Book Details

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