THE GATE OF DAYS

In The Book of Days (2007), readers met Sam Faulkner, a troubled teen who followed in his father’s footsteps as a time traveler. This second installment in the series tracks Sam and his cousin Lily as they anxiously jump from time to time, country to country, searching for a way to rescue his father from the dungeons of Vlad Tepes (aka Dracula). Episodic and choppy in its momentum, the narrative provides glimmers of character development, but nothing truly substantial. The views into what could be fascinating periods of history are all too brief, with little construction of plot other than to move the characters from time to time and place to place. The concept for this series is solid, but the execution is sparse, rough, erratic and uneasily similar to the sensation of skating on thin ice…it could be exciting, but is it well-advised? A third installment is on the way, and one can only hope the writing begins to live up to the premise. (Science fiction. 10-14)