Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 05/01/2014 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 - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 05/15/2014 In the late eighteenth century, a great temporal disruption plunged the world into chaos—some continents remained in the present, while others were thrust into the distant past, a far future, or an ever-shifting mélange of ages. A century after the disruption, Sophie, who lives with her famed mapmaker uncle Shadrack, arrives home one day to find their house ransacked, her uncle kidnapped, and their secret map room—housing mystical maps containing memories—emptied of all of its treasures. Was Shadrack secretly hiding the key to a map capable of healing the rift in time? Together with her new friend Theo, Sophie embarks on an adventure to distant lands to find her uncle. Encountering pirates, hidden cities, undiscovered ages, and legendary creatures along the way, brave Sophie uses her ample smarts and powers of observation to unlock deep secrets. Though the plot occasionally seems overstuffed, debut author Grove wraps the complex central premise of this series opener in lavish detail and brisk plot turns to sweep readers along through her fascinating, fully realized fantasy world. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2014 In this stellar first volume of an anticipated trilogy, Sophia just wants her uncle back after he is kidnapped, but the thirteen-year-old quickly realizes that she might have a significant role to play in this world gone off-kilter. No one quite knows what caused what’s known as the Great Disruption, but after a century, folks are at least used to the fact that the continents are all in different eras now, and they have mostly relearned how to navigate through the world. Something is shifting, however, and only a few special people know that things may be changing anew. One of those individuals is Blanca, an enormously complex villain who inspires sympathy even as she horrifies with her actions; she is the reason Sophia and her uncle are separated, and if Blanca is right in what she predicts, much direr consequences await this nineteenth-century world. Impeccable character development and sophisticated, intricate setting details make this a lengthy novel, but there are plenty of action scenes and revelations along the way; with an effective balance of drama and information, the resulting novel is richly layered and emotionally engaging from the first page through to the intriguing cliffhanger end. Readers who find cartography to be cool will be enthralled, and those who had no idea how nifty and intricate maps could be will likely become fans. AS - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.