Hey, Everybody! Welcome back to Tumnus’s Bookshelf where we review any and all books by, about and inspired by CS Lewis and the land of Narnia. For today’s review we will be looking at CS Lakin’s new fantasy novel The Map Across Time, the 2nd book in The Gates of Heaven Series.
Title: The Map Across Time
Author: CS Lakin
Publisher: AMG Publishers
ISBN-13: 9780899578897
ISBN-1: 0899578896
Summary:
The Kingdom of Sherbourne is under the reign of a mad king, a king who is under the influence of evil. Only Prince Adin and Princess Aletha can set it free. When the King makes a decree that his subjects must find the mystical firebird, whoever finds it in exchange receives the kingdom, Adin sets out on his quest that will send him, and later his sister through time to the distant past. Their journey is one full of twists, turns, and surprises that will challenge everything they know.
Review:
When CS Lakin’s first installment of her fantasy series The Gates of Heaven hit the shelf, many critics compared her work to CS Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia and JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Now with her second book in the series, The Map Across Time, Ms. Lakin gains another worthy comparison to another titan of the fantasy genre: Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time.
While at first it may look like the princess is the main hero, we soon find that the story is primarily concerned with Adin. It is his quest to find a rare fire bird to gain the love of his father that leads him to traveling through time to free his kingdom. Because of his good nature and perseverance in spite of his physical deformities he stands head to head with Victor Hugo’s immortal hero of Quasimodo. He reminds readers that true humanity and beauty come from within, a lesson that can’t be reiterated enough.
Aletha is a very strong willed heroine and her spirit is as fiery as her red hair. She is not a Cinderella or Snow White sitting around waiting to be rescued, and may be a worthy or sharing Queen Lucy Pevensie’s title of “The Valiant” for a variety of reasons. She is quick to always protect her brother and even goes after him when he vanishes in time. When her father’s cruelty is fully realized she is even willing to forsake the crown for the love of her brother.
There are also plenty of interesting supporting characters scattered throughout this book; including the nurse-maid Reya who looks after the prince and princess, Commander Jerred Tebron, and a magical talking pig named Winston .There are even a few strange wise men popping up, one of whom has a very surprising secret identity.
As this is a time travel story there must be some kind of MacGuffin that can take our heroes through time. Ms. Lakin chose a fitting blend of the magical/supernatural means and a physical object in her map which I wont spoil now. Also, as per tradition in a time travel story, there are many paradoxes that begin to unfold as the story progresses.
Those who have read the first book may at first be curious as to the absence of the blacksmith Joram, the protagonist from the previous book. Much like the Pevensies in Horse and His Boy or Bilbo Baggins in Lord of the Rings, Joram is relegated to a very brief supporting roll. Just as the adventure northward to Narnia or the quest to destroy the One Ring were the journeys of Shasta and Frodo, this book is about the journey of Adin and Aletha, and the hero from the first book is only used as needed to advance the current hero’s journey.
Also absent from this book are the quotes from CS Lewis and other thinkers woven into the text. This absence actually helps the book for it helps set Ms. Lakin’s series in its own world. This second book also makes the series more ‘grown-up” in the same way that Lord of the Rings and the subsequent Narnia books help make The Hobbit and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe more grown up.
Much like Wolf Of Tebron, Map Across Time is extremely well written and in a style reminiscent of the fantasy tales of old. Much like those old tales it necessitates multiple readings, however unlike the old tales this book is so rich with so many mind-bendingly wonderful paradoxes to the story to facilitate the readings. There is also a nice dash of romance for those who like their fantasy books to feature such a sub-plot. Included at the end are some discussion questions for readers to use in youth groups and book clubs.
CS Lakin’s Gates of Heaven series was given a great start with Wolf of Tebron, but no one could predict the mind-bending maze that the series would become in Map Across Time. I can’t wait for the third book!
5 out of 5 shields
Buy the book from Amazon.com