Review of The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle

The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle is the story of a young man named Adam Eddington who has landed a summer job abroad with a renowned marine biologist, Dr. Calvin O'Keefe. Due to unforeseen circumstances he winds up caught in the middle of an international conspiracy between Dr. O'Keefe and those that would steal his work. Adam must figure out who he can trust and decide whose side he wants to be on, but this decision is not as simple as he would like.

This book was an ok read. It was mostly a mystery thriller type novel with some light science fiction mixed in. The scientific concepts presented in the book were very interesting and there was a good bit of action as well. I'm not sure I entirely liked where the book ended though and felt it could have done with one more chapter to provide some additional closure, but I suppose the author wanted to leave that up to the reader's imagination. This book crosses over with L'Engle's Time Quintet series and features characters from that series, but all grown up with children of their own. This book takes place between books four and five of the Time Quintet and while it's not necessary to read the first four books before reading this book, I would recommend reading this book before reading the fifth book of the Time Quintet.

Review of A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeleine L'Engle

A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeleine L'Engle is a comic book adaptation of the original book. In this story two children, Meg and Charles Wallace, along with their friend Calvin, meet three extraordinary extra-terrestrials who take them on a journey to save their father who is being held prisoner on another planet. The children must learn to use both their strengths and their faults and think outside the box in order to succeed in their mission. I would consider this story to be a combination of science fiction and fantasy. Although the methods of space travel are based in scientific theory, there really isn't any explanation for how it is supposed to work or any technological devices used, so the effect is pretty much the equivalent of magical teleportation. The graphic novel version of this book was fun quick read. The drawings were nice, but they were rather monochrome and I would have preferred more color. I found that the illustrated version helped me visualize some things better than I could with the original book. I also liked that there was less emphasis on religious themes than there was in the original book. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of the original, but I'm not sure there's enough explanation of certain aspects of the story to really understand everything if you haven't read the original beforehand. A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeleine L'Engle is a comic book adaptation of the original book. In this story two children, Meg and Charles Wallace, along with their friend Calvin, meet three extraordinary extra-terrestrials who take them on a journey to save their father who is being held prisoner on another planet. The children must learn to use both their strengths and their faults and think outside the box in order to succeed in their mission.

I would consider this story to be a combination of science fiction and fantasy. Although the methods of space travel are based in scientific theory, there really isn't any explanation for how it is supposed to work or any technological devices used, so the effect is pretty much the equivalent of magical teleportation. The graphic novel version of this book was fun quick read. The drawings were nice, but they were rather monochrome and I would have preferred more color. I found that the illustrated version helped me visualize some things better than I could with the original book. I also liked that there was less emphasis on religious themes than there was in the original book. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of the original, but I'm not sure there's enough explanation of certain aspects of the story to really understand everything if you haven't read the original beforehand.

Review of A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle is about the quest to stop a South American dictator from initiating nuclear war. Charles Wallace, with the help of his older sister Meg, must travel through time and manipulate events by "going within" other people in order to prevent this disaster from happening. I found the whole "going within" thing interesting and a bit like Quantum Leap. I was also intrigued by how things from different time periods seemed to affect each other. I really love the protection spell that was used throughout the book and I've used it in my own prayers ever since the first time I read this book. The story was ok on the whole, but the main plot really didn't do much for me, though I recall enjoying the book a lot more when I was younger. I'd recommend this book if you enjoyed the first two books in the series, especially The Wind in the Door, as you get to see more of the deep spiritual connection between the characters that you saw in that book. This book takes place after Many Waters even though it was written first, but it's not necessary read the books in chronological order.

Review of Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle

Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle is about twin brothers who accidentally tamper with their father's experiment and get sent back in time to biblical prehistory where people live for hundreds of years and mythological creatures are commonplace. They are unprepared for the extreme desert climate and suffer from extreme sunburn and heat stroke. Some natives, who turn out to be the family of the biblical Noah, help nurse them back to health. After the twins realize where and when they are, they must race against time to figure out a way to get home before the flood waters come.

I really enjoyed this book and especially liked how the author drew from non-traditional religious sources such as The Book of Enoch. I also really liked some of the spiritual themes in this book which seemed universal even if it is based on a Judeo-Christian story.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys biblical fantasy or enjoyed the author's other books. Although this book was written after A Swiftly Tilting Planet, it actually takes place before that book. I personally prefer to read these books in chronological order, but I would only recommend that others do so if they don't mind taking a break from the main characters that feature in the first three books of this series.

Review of A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle is the sequel to A Wrinkle in Time. In this story there is an evil that is wreaking havoc on both a cosmic and a microscopic level. On the cosmic level stars seem to be disappearing and on the microscopic level people are getting sick with a strange disease affecting the mitochondria in their cells which causes fatigue and respiratory distress. Charles Wallace has come down come down with this condition. His sister Meg and her friend Calvin are called upon by some strange extra-terrestrials to help both save his life and to help fight the evil running rampant throughout the universe.

Like A Wrinkle in Time, this story has both elements of science fiction and fantasy. It also has some strong spiritual themes, but I feel that they are less religion specific than they were in the last book, so it bugs me less. This book is one of my childhood favorites, and as anyone who has read the book can see, it is very special to me considering that I took my screen name from one of the concepts described in the book. It was very strange reading the book again after all these years because my screen name feels very much a part of me and it was so odd seeing it constantly in a book despite the fact that this book is where it came from. Other than that, I really did enjoy reading it again very much and I would highly recommend it to others of all ages.

Review of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle is one of my favorite books from childhood. In this story two children, Meg and Charles Wallace, along with their friend Calvin, meet three extraordinary extra-terrestrials who take them on a journey to save their father who is being held prisoner on another planet. The children must learn to use both their strengths and their faults and think outside the box in order to succeed in their mission.

I would consider this story to be a combination of science fiction and fantasy. Although the methods of space travel are based in scientific theory, there really isn't any explanation for how it is supposed to work or any technological devices used, so the effect is pretty much the equivalent of magical teleportation. I enjoyed reading this book nearly as much as an adult as I did when I was a child. In some ways I got even more out of it as an adult since I understand many of the scientific concepts talked about in the book much better now.

The only thing that bugs me about this book at this point in my life is the overt Judeo-Christian themes present in some places in the story. It would have been nice if the author could have stuck with the basic good vs. evil theme without bringing religion into it. I don't necessarily mind spiritual themes in the books I read, but it just felt like a bit much when it was implied that the characters were chosen for a mission by God, especially in what is supposed to be a science fiction story. Though if I recall correctly, the author also uses religious themes in other books in the series as well. In any case I felt that as much as it bugged me, that I could overlook these details in a book that is a childhood favorite, and it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book too much. I would strongly recommend this book to both children and adults as it contains some very powerful messages in addition to being a great science fiction adventure story.