Many Waters

And just like that, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, I have completed the last of the items I listed among my June "goals." I have also completed Madeline L'Engle's Time Quartet. Never mind that she recently made it into a Time Quintet with a fifth book; I do not own that fifth book and probably never will. Every book in this strange children's science fiction series has started out better than it has ended. I suppose as the peculiarities and oddities pile on throughout each book, I'm only more and more disconnected from the characters enduring the bizarre occurrences. That said, this may have been my favorite book in the series. (It may have also been my least favorite; I haven't really thought about it too much, but seriously, who cares?) What I liked most was the change of protagonist. The first three books focused on a brilliant, innocent, noble little angel of a girl and her equally pure and nerdy little brother. I just wasn't buying them as realistic people. This book, however, focuses on their twin brothers, two totally "normal" kids who like playing sports and not studying for school. The plot was more or less a spin on the story of Noah and his ark, but infused with aliens and other extra-dimensional beings. The twin brothers somehow teleport themselves into the biblical story of Noah (seriously), and spend almost every one of the book's 300 pages in the middle of a searing desert. Noah is building his ark and the boys help him out despite being sunburnt beyond belief (with some pretty graphic descriptions, actually, that I did not need to read about on the brink of spending a week under the Hawaiian sun myself). An interesting twist came when Noah turned out to be kind of a dick. Even though the twins appeared out of nowhere and helped him build his ark, he still wasn't going to let the boys (or their new love interest - yes, singular) join him and his family on the ark when the "many waters" (titular!) commenced falling down from the heavens. But then, somehow, the twins ended up safe back at home and fine. I dunno, I wasn't really paying complete attention by the time the ending rolled around. But whatever. The book still made for a quick and enjoyable skim that helped pass the time on a three-part 13-hour pane ride (not including layovers). And furthermore, I'm now just one kids' book closer to being done with my backlog. Win-win!