A DARK TRAVELING

by Roger Zelazny ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1987

Jim Wiley, his adopted sister Becky, and their friend Barry live in a ""lightband"" world, one of a loose federation of alternate time tracks with a policy of mutual noninterference. Jim's father, however, has abruptly disappeared to a ""darkband"" world, where the inhabitants prey on other time tracks. Jim discovers that his father has gone to join his mother, who Jim believed dead, in her fight against the darkband world. Although Jim's technology is incapable of reaching the darkband worlds, Becky sends Jim to the darkband time track using her powers as a sorceress, but not before she inadvertently lands him in a world where his latent powers as a werewolf are triggered. A new time line is created: using Jim's werewolf powers, Becky's magic, and Barry's martial arts, in one world they help defeat the baddies and rescue Jim's parents and, paradoxically, in the other they die. All clear? Half of the fun in a Zelazny book is watching all the threads being woven. This one shares many of the elements of his adult work--first-person narrative; mingling of science and magic; cool, wry characters--a first-rate telling of a tale in a familiar pattern. The publisher claims this, the second in their Millenium Series, is about time travel. It isn't; it's about alternate time tracks, a quibble of importance only to the intended audience.

Pub Date: April 1, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 102

Publisher: Walker

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1987

Categories: CHILDREN'S