4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The year was 2079, 14 years after the Great Surge changed the planet as we know it. Out of Time is a story written by Sarah Mackie about 12-year old Sam Bentley who was transported back to year 2015.
Sam has always been fascinated by stories about the past, when people wore beautiful clothes, changed hair colors and wrote on paper. This fascination always led him to the former town square to look around for evidence of a way of life that has now become a legend. In one of his trips, his little sister Daisy, afflicted with diabetes, tagged along. It was then that a storm hit and they barely made it to the cave where their family, and so did others’, lived.
Though Sam was able to save Daisy from the storm, she was in a really bad shape. Guilty about what happened to his sister, Sam took refuge in his father’s shop. His father was a kind of inventor, so his shop was filled with assortment of things. There, Sam found a shiny metal box which turned out to be a DNA-activated time machine. .
Sam was transported back to year 2015 and was rescued and kept by Ella and her husband Edgar Davenport, who, Sam eventually learned to be his great-grandparents. Completely out of place and literally out of time, Sam was anxious about his sister’s condition but hopeful because, insulin, a medicine for Daisy was available at the time he was presently in.
I believe this story would be a big hit to the intended audience. Though time travel has been a common subject for science fiction, what made this story special and interesting was the factor pertaining to Daisy’s condition and her immediate need for medicine making it imperative for Sam to go back to his own time.
It presented very important issues for a growing child. First of which is family, manifested by Sam’s love for Daisy and his willingness to do everything so she would get well. Second is friendship. No matter how brave and smart a child is, he needed friends to play with and to work with, and in this story, Sam’s friends played important roles in order for him to go home. Moreover, the author masterfully injected a very important and timely issue, awareness of the consequences of what we do now to the future generation. Not only that, the book also encouraged kids to go way beyond, explore, discover, and ultimately, create.
There were both lovable and hateful characters. Sam was the typical protagonist, loving brother and loyal friend. Then, there was Max Lazenby, traitorous colleague and real-deal evil person who would do everything for money.
With great plot and memorable characters, this is generally a pleasurable read. However, in addition to people living in caves and eating rabbit stew and sea kelp, I would have (personally) liked a more detailed description of the people and how they actually lived. The absence of which, though, did not warrant a loss of star.
So, I give this book the rate of 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend it to those who like stories about time travel. Better yet, I recommend it to everybody, children and adult alike who are concerned about the future and who are willing to do something to save the environment for future generation.
******
Out of Time
View: on Bookshelves
Like kimmyschemy06's review? Post a comment saying so!
I am not a big fan of time travel books, but this one seems like it has a wider appeal.
