The Glass Sentence

Gr 6 Up—In the Great Disruption of 1799, time itself broke apart and fragmented, stranding countries and continents in different time periods, some of them thousands of years apart. Thirteen-year-old Sophia lives with her Uncle Shadrack in New Occident Boston, discovering the magic and science of maps. When her uncle is kidnapped by those seeking a powerful artifact, Sophia must journey through a dangerous, shattered landscape to seek out help and answers. An ambitious fantasy debut plunges readers headlong into a complex world built around the very nature of time. A fluid mixture of magic and science combine with the dramatic setting to bring freshness to a familiar plot arc. It will appeal to those who enjoy dedicated world-building and new worlds to explore, but it does suffer from some excess padding that may discourage reluctant readers. The complexity of the setting, plus instances of torture and character trauma make this a story to recommend to mature tween and teen audiences. For a first novel, this is particularly engaging, but not without room for improvement. This title is comparable to Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy (Knopf), and those who enjoy the works of Brandon Sanderson, particularly The Rithmatist (Tor Teen, 2013) are sure to snap this one up. Map-making has never been so fascinating.—Stephanie Whelan, New York Public Library