by Sinéad O'Hart;
An Adventure Book Review by Erin the Literary Cat©, International Book Reviewer.
AUTHOR: Sinéad O'Hart
Cover art by: Abigail L. Dela Cruz
Published by: Little Tiger
Publication date for paperback: 2 Feb 2023
Paperback ISBN: 978 - 1 - 78895 - 330 - 6
Cover price for Paperback £7.99
Pages: 223
Age range: 8+
Any dogs or cats? No
SPOILER ALERT
Yes, as to plot direction and characters.
Thank you to...
We are exceedingly grateful to Sinéad O'Hart, and Dannie Price of Little Tiger Publishers for arranging for us to have the advance copy of this excellent book for review.
As ever, our views are our own, and we only share reviews of books we have read and like and feel our readers deserve to know about and that we hope they will enjoy.
The Plot
Set in Ireland, our book opens with 12-year-old Mara collecting food from a City Homeless Outreach point. She pockets extra food when she can, then goes to leave. But being a solitary child, she's caught the eye of the staff. They give chase when she won't stop and discuss being out alone. Mara has a gift and can see what she calls a 'soft place' in time, bubbles if you will, that she can duck into and elude capture, which she does. A short while later, she returns home to the rickety van she has grown up in. Here her dad, Gabriel, is busy with sealed glass jars and strange, gas-like substances within.
Mara's life since her mother died has been one long journey. Travelling by backroads and often by night, she and her father crisscross the country. Eluding the people, he says, are chasing them and meaning them harm. What he does when he goes off to see people and conduct business, she doesn't know. At least that was until waking up one morning in an empty van, she goes to explore. Hearing voices, she watches Gabriel conduct a deal. He passes over one of the glass jars for money. The buyer drinks what's within, and Mara thinks her father momentarily vanishes, a fact he later denies.
Mara is of the age when she needs to know. She wonders what it's like to live an ordinary life, have friends and go to school. To be in one place. And to learn more about her mother. She also wants to know more about what Gabriel's up to.
Whilst her father is away from the van, Mara searches his things for clues and answers. The discovery of rolled-up papers in a sealed bottle, entitled The Time Tiders Handbook, heralds the beginning of the adventure. More discoveries follow, including a picture of her mother. But before she can glean much information from her father, their pursuers catch up. In the ensuing frantic escape, with Mara at the van's wheel, her father says he will give himself up. All Mara has to do is keep going and find someone called Lenny. Thrusting his precious and unique watch and notebook into her lap, he jumps out and is captured.
But who is Lenny? Mara has distant recollections and an idea of his location. And what does he have to do with her father being a Time Tider? Indeed, what is a Time Tider? If she is going to get her father back and get the information she needs, she has no choice but to find Lenny.
Who is chasing them and why will soon be revealed to her. But as she gets more involved, her search becomes far more deadly than any 12-year-old and her newfound friend, Jan, should be involved in. You see, the Time Tider, Gabriel, harvests unused time from the dead. It can also be taken from the living, which is something that he should never do but does to make money. The bad people want what only her father can give – extra life. They want the bottled life he has stashed away, all of it, and to take his skill. To get it, they'll seemingly stop at nothing. They will risk everything, including the collapse of time and the world's destruction.
So, what did we think?
The premise of the Time Tider is that time itself needs to be balanced and the extra time from those that die too early collected and stored safely and never used. The more time left uncollected and allowed to merge together, the greater the risk of cataclysmic results. This is not an idea I have read before, nor for that matter, seen in the movies. So like so many great books, it instantly appealed, and I needed to know more.
How would the writer deal with such a potentially complex Sci-Fi style subject? Would it be another out-of-this-world, and sadly, beyond-belief Marvel-Esque adventure? The only way was to ask to do a review. And I am so pleased Dannie obliged me with the copy.
Over a few nights, we became engrossed in Sinéad's storytelling and this intelligent, pacy adventure.
The story is delightfully grounded in the here and now, atmospheric, plausible, at times heartfelt, never short on pace and utterly engaging.
The cast grows with the adventure, never pushy or unlikely for the plot. Nothing is ever too much for the reader, which reflects some clearly serious story plotting. The final chapters were addictive and demanding to be read. The conclusion, well, I can't spoil that, though it wasn't what I expected, which is always lovely.
Sat here now, Mrs H says it is an adventure that lingers in the mind and poses some ethical dilemmas that are not easy to answer. This adds so well to the story's credibility.
So . . . .
Crunch time.
A perfect middle-grade read with a delightful cover that I think will appeal. Mara is a Brilliant young protagonist with hard decisions to make and a van full of trouble chasing and snapping at her heels. What's not to love!
Want to buy a copy?
To get a copy, please choose your local independent bookshop. There are plenty out there, and each shop just waits to serve up whatever kind of mystery, fun and adventure you desire. The acquisition of real-time is, however, most unlikely, though transportation to other realms is a given ;)
Sinéad O'Hart web page can be found HERE or type this: https://sjohart.wordpress.com/
Abigail L. Dela Cruz can be found on Tumblr via this LINK or type this: https://abbydraws.tumblr.com/
Little Tiger web page can be found HERE or type this: https://littletiger.co.uk/
I shall leave you with my entry for the Sunday Selfies, hosted by Janet Blue from the Cat on My Head Blog, featuring the Kitties Blue.
A very nearly spotless selfie 🙂 🙂
Till laters!
ERin
