Time Travel, World-Building, Fairytale Retelling, & Wingfeather

Recent Reads

Here are a group of 4 books I read in the early part of 2023!

Waterfall (River of Time #1) by Lisa Bergren

4 STARS (Synopsis on StoryGraph) Young Adult Time-Travel, Christian author

Personal Review: I had a lot of fun with this book. I thought the family was a little messed up but that kind of laid the groundwork needed for 2 extremely independent and confident girls to go on such an exciting time-travel adventure. One of the critiques I saw of the main character is that no teen girl knows how to do everything she did (sword-fighting, knowledge of herbs, treating asthma naturally, be able to speak Italian and read in Latin). But I was actually thinking as I was reading that these girls must be homeschooled because I teach my girls many of the same things! (Except for the sword-fighting.)

I enjoyed the strong female characters and their limitations. I liked the romance (a little cheesy, but within the limits of my criteria) and the chivalry of the knights in the story. I was confused by the “mean girl” in some cases, but overall she was probably a character needed for story development. I would let my teen girls read this book but tell them the content warnings first.

Content Warnings: quite a bit of sword-fighting that involve the 2 girls, mystical scenarios involving time travel, death of a parent before the book begins, a suspenseful scene involving the main character being pinned to the ground by men, intense injuries and sometimes a lot of blood, a kiss on the lips.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

4 STARS (Synopsis on StoryGraph) Young Adult Science Fiction, Christian Author

Personal Review: This was my first Sanderson book and it didn’t disappoint. But, my oh my, was it intense for a YA book. I really enjoyed the rithmatics system that Sanderson invented, even if it did get confusing after a while. But those chalklings that got loose really got my heart pumping. I know, they are made-up chalk drawings, but it was intense :).

I really loved the characters. And I loved the puzzle of figuring out the culprit - I was totally wrong in my guess. All of my criteria were met (there is a made-up cuss word that is actually kind of cute) but it was just a little bloody for personal taste. I’d read it again, though, and can’t wait until the second book is finally published!

Content Warnings: murders, graphic descriptions of chalklings devouring people, some trying-to-escape scenes that are pretty intense.

The Captive Maiden (Hagenheim #4) by Melanie Dickerson

4 STARS (Synopsis on StoryGraph) Young Adult Fairy Tale Retelling, Christian Themes

Personal Review: I am enjoying this series of fairy tale retellings set in medieval Germany and England. Valten was one of my favorite characters in previous books, so I enjoyed getting to see his story based on the Cinderella story line. I think the romances are super sweet in these books and would feel comfortable with my teen girls reading that part of the stories. The account of the knight tournament was also really interesting.

However, there are some scenes involving Gisela having to run from men and hide/protect herself from them. These scenes can be pretty intense and the evil man in this book felt particularly evil to me. Because of this I’d recommend this for older teens only.

Content Warnings: lots of knights fighting, bloodshed, kidnapping, orphan with unloving guardian.

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (The Wingfeather Saga #1) by Andrew Peterson

4 STARS (Synopsis on StoryGraph) Middle Grade Fantasy, Christian Themes

Personal Review: What a ride! I love these children. Their little world is so interesting and their family is interesting to read about. I started out reading this aloud to my children (ages 8, 6, 4) and we were having a lot of fun! Until… the Fangs came into the picture. The scare factor of the Black Carriage and the run-ins that the children have with the Fangs are what knocked this down a star for me. For a Middle Grade story, the violence was too graphic and the nightmare-factor was too high.

This will be great for my daughters when they are teens! And it was an enjoyable read as an adult, too. The ending alone was worth the read.

Content Warnings: graphic violence, death of a beloved animal, deaths of neighbors and Fangs, memories of father who has died, creepy “ghost” scene, a lot of suspenseful adventure with fantasy animals.

Have you read any of these? What did you think?