Time ItseLf is SpLIntERINg.

Abducted to 1763, Peter Schock and Kate Dyer begin to understand that history has reached a tipping point. The antigravity machine is in the hands of the cruel and ambitious Lord Luxon — who has set his sights on the most valuable prize of all: America. He is determined to manipulate time to his advantage, no matter what the cost.

And the cost is great indeed. As Lord Luxon changes more and more of the past for his own gain, terrible time quakes begin to sweep through all of history. Kate Dyer, adrift in time and suffering from an overexposure to time travel, knows that if Lord Luxon is not stopped, the time quakes will tear the universe apart.

Meanwhile Gideon and Peter hunt for their enemy, the Tar Man, in the dark streets of eighteenth-century London, and Peter begins to realize that he may hold the fate of the world in his hands.

The stunning conclusion to the critically acclaimed Gideon trilogy finally reveals the fates of Peter, Kate, Gideon, and the universe itself. This long-awaited book lives up to the promise of The Time Travelers and The Time Thief, delivering a rousing historical adventure that will have readers of all ages on the edge of their seats.

In a thrilling and consistent wrap to the time travel Gideon Trilogy, filled with ethical and scientific questions to ponder, among hilarious jokes and with a cast of archly drawn characters, twenty-first-century kids Peter and Kate make their way back from the eighteenth century with cutpurse Gideon and his more villainous brother the Tar Man as chaperones. Time traveling very nearly pulls Kate to pieces as dark matter interferes with her biomass to the degree that she comes dangerously close to losing her very substance. The Tar Man reveals his backstory, which is far sadder and more common than what readers already know about his hangman failing to kill him and thus having to release him with a broken-but-healable neck injury. An eighteenth-century encyclopedist—plunged into the twenty-first century—tries to come to grips with the Internet, the contents of which he misunderstands as being in the power of servants. And the truly evil Lord Luxon messes so badly with history that he changes the course of the American Revolution and creates a future in which New York City is a back water in contrast to the Southwest Canadian town of San Francisco. New readers should start at the beginning of the series with Gideon the Cutpurse (Atheneum/S & S, 2006/VOYA June 2006), but anyone who starts there will want to see this adventure through to its spot-on conclusion. Reviewer: Francisca Goldsmith

Categories:

• Children's Books
  
  
  • Science Fiction & Fantasy
    • Fantasy & Magic