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A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet #1) by Madeleine L'Engle

"The tried and true story of "good versus evil", L'Engle's approach was a unique, peppering inter-dimensional travel into the mix. But in the end, the characters Meg and Charles Wallace were a bit much and the lack of explanation, especially about Mr. Murry and how he just happened to land on Camazotz and become a prisoner of IT, left me wanting more information and not getting it."

2 Stars

Pros: The idea of a Tesseract is an interesting one, though very complex based on the fact this is a young readers book. 

Cons: Meg was very shrill and also very opposite. When speaking with IT, she argued saying that the least he could do was give them some food and then when he gives them food she refuses to eat it, she was really kind of obnoxious/Also, the end, what saves everyone made sense but, it was a bit of a letdown. 

Full Review

It's a dark and stormy night and Meg can't sleep, so she goes downstairs to the kitchen to find her youngest brother, Charles Wallace, sitting at the table, eating toast. Meg joins him and her mother and they start to talk about the happenings of the town, especially the news of a tramp wandering about, having stolen a neighbors set of good sheets. And all of a sudden, the door blows open and a stranger appears. 

Meg, at first, thinks it's the tramp and is terrified but after awhile, once the stranger gets settled and warm, everyone seems to relax. When its time for the stranger, who calls herself, Mrs. Whatsit, to leave, she looks at Mrs. Murry and says simply that there is, in fact, such a thing, as a tesseract. Mrs. Murry all but faints at the news and Meg and Charles Wallace are intrigued and frightened. 

Could this mysterious tesseract have something to do with the whereabouts of their long lost father? He's a physicist who one day just, disappeared. Of course, the rumors about town are that he's run off with another woman but Meg refuses to believe that. She'll soon get the chance to realize how right she's been all along. 

Charles Wallace, Meg and a boy from school, Calvin O'Keefe, run into each other the next day while going towards the dilapidated old house in the woods that Charles Wallace knows Mrs. Whatsit is living in. He also knows she has two friends with her and he thinks it's high time they paid them a visit. 

Their talk with Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which is quite informative and life altering. The three children learn that the power of evil, a dark shadow that blots out and consumes everything in its path is slowly creeping across the universe and its started to settle over Earth. So, Meg, Calvin and Charles Wallace agree to be whisked away to a distant world called Camazotz, in hopes of battling the evil and also, finding out the fate of their Father. 

Having read this book as an adult, I never realized how "Christian" L'Engle's plot is and though it's not a con, per se, it's just something that caught me off-guard. Also, Charles Wallace's "strangeness", his uncanny ability to seem to know when Meg is upset and needs comfort, and also Meg's "shrillness" seem to be the powers that save the day. There was no real explanation as to why Mr. Murry was even studying a tesseract or how he, himself, was able to perform such a feat. I think, in the end, it was a good story about love conquering all but as an adult, I craved more information. I'll read the rest of the series, just to see what happens and if they give anymore information but, I'm not going to expect much. 

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