Troubling a Star

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful setting
Review: What I liked most about this intriging novel was the antarctic setting. Vicky is now 16 and travels to Antarctica to visit Adam, who has taken a research job there. Slowly, evidence suggests that someone doesn't want her on the continent. The danger mounts slowly and I thought the suspense was effective, but action was slow-moving. I always find the character of Vicky interesting, L'Engle has created a totally original teen-ager and to her credit doesn't try to make her a typical teen who readers might relate to better. Unlike her Wrinkle in Time trilogy, which crosses all age bounderies, I think here she was trying to write more specifially for teens.

Rating:
Summary: Troubling a Star - Review
Review: Vicky Austin, an ambitious adolescent, who has suspicions on everything and everyone, when she takes a trip to Antarctica to visit her boyfriend, whom is stationed their for scientific research. Games are played with people's heads in this book; unfortunately, the one who seemed most respectful and selfless through out the book meets his consequences and his death. There were many important characters in the book. Aunt Serena lost her own son, Adam Eddington II, on his second expedition to Antarctica. Adam Eddington the third is Vicky's boyfriend and is following in his father's footsteps. Adam Cook, other wise know as "Cook" or "Cookie" is Aunt Serena's cook and had gone with Adam the II on his expeditions to the Antarctic. Cook used to be a monk, who lived in the Falklands and knows his way around as well as many trustworthy people. Sadly, the world out side of the U.S. does not always follow the same principals that we do. When Cook and Adam the second went on their second expedition to Antarctica secrets were uncovered and those who knew of anything were a potential danger to countries that wanted Antarctica to be ruled, and not to be an international park. Aunt Serena seizes the opportunity to give Vicky some freedom when she finds out that Adam III is going to Antarctica, although no fore saw the tragic events that lay ahead in the frigid seas of the Antarctic.
Antarctica was well described by Madeline L'Engle. The setting helps make the story exciting because it's unfamiliar to me. One thing that made me want to keep reading was the prologue in the beginning of each chapter. In the prologue of each chapter it would keep the suspense going by making you ask questions such as: why is Vicky stranded on and iceberg? And how did she get there? In Troubling a Star, Madeline L'Engle makes Antarctica a bittersweet place. She twists it just so that it almost sounds heavenly, with the sun beaming off the brilliant blue of the icebergs. This heavenly place on Earth is/was recommended for use as a nuclear waste dump, by some South American countries, in this suspenseful book.
The characters in Troubling a Star are challenged by having to chose between following their heart or following orders, but the most challenging part for this group of tourists, traveling on the Argosy, was battling with knowing, too much or in some cases not enough. For example, when ever the boat stopped at a port or station Vicky would receive post cards from Adam with Shakespeare quotes on them, which seemed to be warning her of something. Each time her post cards would seem to be more threatening and she would try to put the pieces together, yet none of them fit, or even made sense. In the end mostly everything has a happy ending but, a deadly event puts a gloom over the following days. This book surprised me because the end was mostly unpredictable. Troubling a Star was a wonderful bittersweet adventure that took me on a wild ride into the heart of the Antarctic.

By,
Leah Arseneault