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Summary: It's a classic race between goodness and evil
Review: When I was growing up in the 80s, I was always afraid of nuclear war. Watching movies on TV didn't help the fear either ... and this book, L'Engle taps into that fear in all of us. Meg Murry O'Keefe and her family had just sat down to a Thanksgiving dinner when her father gets a phone call from the president of the United States telling him that they are on the brink of nuclear war. Being pregnant, Meg couldn't go on this journey ~~ but her baby brother Charles Wallace and the unicorn, Glaudior went on an adventure racing back in time to find out what had happened to Mad Dog's ancestors ... and perhaps stop the castrophe from happening. It's a wonderful trip down history ~~ one that is just filled with historical notes and tidbits ... and visiting the planet where Glaudior is from ~~ is just pure romantic. This is a book that one couldn't just put down and forget. I highly recommend this book to everyone again ~~ one can never be too tired to sing L'Engle's praises when reading her books. She is an author that every one should read. She writes with such a flair and a talent that it makes you wish you could write like she does ... then again, we wouldn't have L'Engle to entertain us, would we? 1-23-02
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Summary: A Suspenseful Fantasy of Time Travel
Review: A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle combines the threats of nuclear war in today's society with the more complicated science of time travel. Mad Dog Branzillo, a South American Dictator, frightens the whole world with possibilities of dropping a nuclear bomb on America. It is up to Charles Wallace, a 15-year-old genius, his sister, Meg, and a mysterious rune to save the world from destruction. Charles' mission is to travel back in time with a unicorn named Gaudior to alter the past. In order to do this incredibly difficult and dangerous task, he must venture inside of people's souls to live with them and change the course of their lives so that Mad Dog Branzillo will not be born as a nemesis. Guided by this almighty rune, calling on all heaven with its power, and kything, or sending messages through the mind, with Meg, he fights to triumph over evil and to seek peace.
This book delighted me because of the great mystery of the time travel. I would recommend this book to anyone else who enjoys time travel and good fiction. I would not suggest this book to a person who does not enjoy fantasy or other books of the sort. A Swiftly Tilting Planet is fun to read and I would suggest that everybody read it and the others in the series.
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Summary: This Planet is Making Me Dizzy!
Review: At the beginning of this book, it may be boring. And confusing if you having read atleast the first one. (A Wrinkle in Time) Overall, its a pretty good book. But the first book is the best. Theres like, too much dialogue in the beginning. But in the end, thats when you get sucked in as if you were really there. I suggest anyone who loves adventure and drama to read this book, and I also suggest you read the first one first.
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Summary: Back to the Future...
Review: L'Engle explores many time-travel ideas in this 70's novel, showing that she owns at least part of that market. Throughout "A Swiftly Tilting Planet," we see how the actions of even one person can have effect on the future. The "back to the future" idea is well paced and thought out. The implications of one's actions become painfully--and gloriously--clear. In this case, a madman has threatened to set off a nuclear weapon. The Murray family once again gets entangled in fantastic adventure as Charles Wallace and Meg unite to offset the coming evil. Charles, with the support of his older sister and the help of a unicorn, travels to different time periods to avert disaster. Along the way, he must deal with the demonic Echthroi, crazed leaders, and jealous family members. The book picks up speed towards its satisfying climax. I particularly enjoyed the unicorn nesting ground. L'Engle's imagination is in full flight here. To be honest though, I had a difficult time getting started on this story, primarily because of Meg's sudden jump in age and her less prominent role in the story. Overall, though, I was fascinated by the fight for survival and the powerful spiritual messages. Some have scorned L'Engle's broad-minded metaphysical ideas; I personally think she explores other realms in a way that always makes it clear humans are subordinate to their maker. Kudos to her creative abilities. I can't wait for the last book in The Time Quartet.
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Summary: 24 hours to change the past - and save both present & future
Review: I hadn't realized it until now, but this book seems to be a continuation of the first two books: we learn, at least partly, why it was so important that Charles Wallace be saved. Of Madeleine l'Engle's books, this one, somehow, is my personal favorite. My recommendation: Don't read this book until you've read the first two! A Swiftly Tilting Planet builds upon the legend of the Welsh Prince Madog, who, as the story goes, sailed from Wales in the 1100's and discovered America -- about 350 years before Christopher Columbus. We are taken, through Charles Wallace, on a journey through long ages in which a centuries-old struggle between good and evil expresses and re-expresses itself in each new generation. As he skips forward through time, living and experiencing the lives of individuals long dead, Charles Wallace and his sister, who is with him telepathically, must keep watching -- searching for one anonymous, apparently insignificant moment of history. Upon this moment in the past hangs the fate of the entire world, and only if that long-gone moment is changed, can the world be saved.
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Summary: "I'm going to fall"
Review: "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" has been one of my two favorite children's books, alongside "Old Yeller", ever since I read it as a kid. Rereading it the other night prior to the broadcast of the "Wrinkle in Time" TV movie, I had the same epiphany I've read about other people having when they reread "The Lord of the Rings" as adults: I didn't remember how **sad** this book is. Yes, I remembered the Chuck storyline clearly, and I knew it was sad as a kid, but I wasn't prepared for how much more powerful I would find it as an adult. I was actually crying when the grandmother asked that the children wait to use the rune until "the time is ripe". Like in "Casablanca", the problems of a family being destroyed by the bad things in life don't amount to a hill of beans compared to nuclear war... I can't imagine an intelligent child who likes time travel stories not falling in love with this book, which will always have a cherished place in my heart.
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Summary: Excellent! But not my favourite!
Review: Meg Murry-O'Keefe, now married to Calvin (no surprise) and expecting her first child, is home with the rest of the Murrys for Thanksgiving. Calvin is away in London giving a groundbreaking paper to a major conference, and so isn't present when Meg's father gets a disturbing call from the President of the United States. Mad Dog Branzillo, the military dictator of a South American republic is doing more than sabre-rattling with his nuclear weapons, and the President is not hopeful about the prospects for avoiding all-out nuclear war. The world could well end within twenty-four hours unless this very unreasonable despot is made to see reason.</P>
Calvin's mother unexpectedly provides the family with a clue, however. It seems that Branzillo may be a very distant relation of the family. Fifteen year old Charles Wallace pounces on this very small hope and, with the help of a unicorn named Gaudior, kythes (see "A Wind in the Door") backward in time and experiences the joys and sorrows of the O'Keefe's ancient ancestors through their eyes. The story of the extensive family that eventually produces the insane Branzillo is explored, and Charles Wallace tries to subtly alter the 'might have beens' in the hopes of bringing about a better present.</P>
Can Charles Wallace do it? He has the help of Gaudior, and Meg Murry provides moral support via kythe, but opposing Charles Wallace are the Echthroi (see "A Wrinkle in Time" and "A Wind in the Door"), who would be quite happy to see the Earth vanish in a mass of mushroom clouds.</P>
"A Swiftly Tilting Planet" has its foot in both the Time Quartet and the O'Keefe family series of novels ("Arm of the Starfish", "A House Like a Lotus", etc), and not just because Meg is pregnant with Polyhymnia O'Keefe. On the Time Quartet side, it features Charles Wallace kything and travelling back through time in order to save the world. On the O'Keefe family side, we are presented with a far more complex story about human interrelationships. The drama of the family that produces the insane Branzillo is told in compelling fashion. It is, indeed, the main focus of the book, relegating Charles Wallace (and Meg even moreso) to the status of watcher as events unfold.</P>
The book is the deepest and most complex of the Time Quartet novels, but I didn't enjoy it as much as "A Wrinkle in Time" and "A Wind in the Door". My reasons for this are quite fickle. Charles Wallace may be a fascinating character, and his exclusion from the O'Keefe family series of novels is unfortunate, but I wanted Meg to have a more active role in this story, pregnancy or no pregnancy. And relegating Calvin O'Keefe to a phoned-in cameo was unforgivable.</P>
"A Swiftly Tilting Planet" still has to rank near the top of the eight Time Quartet / O'Keefe family series novels. It is the most ambitious and it is the best written. I fully expect to read it again and, perhaps then, I will be less fickle.</P>
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Summary: This is probably my favorite of all the Time Trilogy books!
Review: After reading A Wrinkle In Time and A Wind In the Door, (both of which are also fantastic) I had to read this one. I was blown away reading this! This IS a complicated book-many times while I was reading I turned back to some of the other parts to understand a bit better. But that was the delightful and interesting part about it! I loved the whole "mad dog" name thing and the way each of the people Charles visited were connected, and yet very different. I disagree with people who talk about how it's bad that Meg is only a pregnant housewife and Calvin is a famous scientist. It says in the later books about Poly (Meg's oldest daughter) that Meg works with mathematics, numbers and all that. I reccomend this to L'Engle or fantasy fans, especially those who've read the first Time Trilogy books. But if you can't handle complicated plots, numerous characters and different settings, wait a few more years to read this so that you can fully appreciate this book!
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Summary: A Swifly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle
Review: On Thanksgiving night, Mr. Murry get a phone call from the President about how a man named El Rabioso or "Mad Dog Brazillio" is planning a nuclear war with every country on the planet. Then, Mrs. O'Keefe says a little poem-like-thingy, and she "gives" it to Charles Wallace. So, later that night, he goes out to the woods to his star watching rock, says the little poem-like-thingy and a unicorn appears. Gaudior, the unicorn, tells Charles Wallace that he is going to take him threw time to try and change the "might have been". The only problem is, the Echthroi are going to everything to stop them from fixing things.
Gaudior traveled back several hundred years into the past, and sent Charles Wallace within Harcels, a little boy, to get used to going inside somebody else's body. While "within" Harcels, Charles Wallace learns what things were like before people learned how to kill each other. Next, Charles Wallace and Gaudior try to travel to another point in time, when the Echthroi throw them into a "projection' (a projection is what could happen if Charles Wallace doesn't succeed in changing things), where everything is solidified lava and there are erupting volcanoes everywhere.
They were able to get away and go to another point in time. Charles Wallace was next sent within Madoc, where Charles Wallace learns that Madoc and his evil brother Gwydyr get into a fight where Gwydyr tries to steal Madoc's wife. Gwydyr loses and goes to South America. Charles Wallace was trying to see the connection between Gwydyr and Mad Dog Brazillio and Vespugia (where Gwydyr and Mad Dog Brazillio live) and Wales (where Madoc's people came from).
Soon after that, Charles Wallace is sent within Brandon, a colonist living with Indians. Brandon's older brother is married to one of the Indians, who some of the other colonists think that she is a witch and they try to hang her, but Brandon say the little poem-like-thingy and they don't hang her. Brandon's brother takes his wife, and they move back to Wales to be safe.
Once Charles Wallace is taken out of Brandon, he and Gaudior travel threw time again, and Charles Wallace is sent within Chuck, Mrs. O'Keefe's brother (only when they were kids). Chuck's grandmother tells him about the little poem-like-thingy and about Brandon's brother and the brother's wife and about Madoc and Gwydyr. They find a letter in their attic written by Matthew Maddox. Later, Chuck's step dad hits Chuck and he goes flying down some stairs, hits his head, and becomes not too bright.
He is then sent within Matthew Maddox, who is a cripple has a twin brother Bran who has a wife named Zillah. Bran and Zillah move to Vespugia and a mane named Gedder tries hitting on Zillah, but Gedder's brother Rich stops him. They get into a fight on a cliff and Gedder grabs a knife and reaches toward Rich to kill him, but Rich sees the knife, grabs it from Gedder and Gedder leaps toward Rich to get the knife back and he falls down the cliff and dies.
When Charles Wallace got home, to his own time, everything is different, El Rabioso was never born, it was El Zarco now. That, was the 'might have been".
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Summary: i loved it
Review: this book like the others in its series was great!!!!!!!! its one of the best seires ive ever read i absolutly loved it. it was a great mix of scirnce fiction and a dash of fantasy that kept me reading the whole night in this book i think the real lesson was friendship and how imporant it was to stay tru all in all it was a very reader friendly book i recomend it to all ages its a real good read.
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