A Crack in the Line (Withern Rise)

Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: Man. this book had a great premise. I read the cover and thought "O man, i've got to read this." Gosh was i mistaken. This book was mistitled. It should have been called-"Waiting for something to happen". It's a book that doesn't make sense but tries to make you believe that it doesn't. It was interesting at first. But then i realized, "no shut up, T, it's not. It's stupid." I thought it would be better when i read the table of contents. It has the days listed backwards...but that didn't mean crap. Throughout reading the book i was waiting for something exciting to happen. Yeah it didn't deliver.
For parents, if you choose to ignore me and decide to buy it for your kid anyway. It does have talk of pornography, not graphic but it comes up twice in the book. Mild violence (Which to me made no sense. Some old lady gets killed or something. I don't really know why or who she is. But anyway...) There is swearing. But mild. The cover makes it look scary...it isn't...at all!
It has a great idea for a premise, it IS well written but it's boring and stupid. It's filled with ridiculous sci-fi. I think it's in a trilogy...if it is theres no way i'm gonna read the others.
Anyway. this is T speaking directly to you! Do not read this book!

Rating:
Summary: Mystery and Science Fiction Combined
Review: A Crack in the Line, by Michael Lawrence, is a
story about two sixteen-year-olds, Alaric and
Naia, who discover that they are living in
parallel universes. In these parallel universes,
they are both living almost the exact same life.
They share the same thoughts, moments, and they
even look alike. Only one major difference exists
between their lives, other than the fact that
Alaric is a boy and Naia is a girl. Alaric's
mother died in a train crash two years earlier,
while Naia's mother survived the disaster. After
Alaric accidentally finds a way to travel to the
universe in which Naia is living, the two of them
work together to figure out why their lives are
so similar and why this major difference exists.
Events lead them to a major discovery, and their
actions result in mistakes, which could
ultimately change their lives forever.
This is a very intriguing story that combines
mystery and science fiction. Even though this
book is science fiction, it is amazingly
realistic, and it seems as though the concept of
this story could actually happen in real life. I
really enjoyed this book and Michael Lawrences
descriptive writing. A Crack in the Line is like
no other book I have ever read. Its originality
is quite amazing and works to make the story more
fascinating. I would recommend this book to
anyone who is interested in reading something
different with a captivating plot.
Reviewed by AG at Flamingnet Book Reviews.
For more preteen, teen and young adult book recommendations
and reviews, please visit www.flamingnet.com.

Rating:
Summary: A suspenseful and engaging tale about alternate realities
Review: Alaric is a sixteen-year-old boy who lives with his father in a crumbling old Victorian mansion that has been in his family for years. His mother died two years earlier in a horrific train crash, and his life has been going downhill since then. One snowy day, while alone, Alaric becomes reacquainted with the mansion he knows as his home. Once in a room that he has not sat in forever, he reaches for a familiar object. In a spilt second he is met with searing pain and the walls around him seem to come down. He opens his eyes to find himself lying in what appears to be the room he was just in, only it is cleaner and there is an unfamiliar girl standing before him.

Sixteen-year-old Naia and her parents live in a mansion that was named Withern Rise by one of her ancestors. Naia's mother faced a near-death experience two years ago, but Naia has tried her best to forget about it. It is certainly the farthest thought from her mind one snowy day when she finds a strange boy sitting on her living room floor. She can't figure out why he is there, why he is claiming it is really his house, or why he looks almost identical to her.

Can it be that two different realities exist at the same time --- one where Alaric lives with his father in Withern Rise and another where Naia is the only child to Alaric's father and the mother he lost two years ago? Alaric and Naia's discovery of each other brings about many startling events and realizations. Will Alaric and Naia be able to use each other to find out the truth about their own lives?

Michael Lawrence has written a suspenseful and engaging tale of two teenagers living the same life. There is even an alternate ending that gives another outlook to the story's conclusion, along with a surprising twist. This gripping novel --- which is the first volume of a trilogy --- cannot be put down until the very end.

--- Reviewed by Sara Cole

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFULL!
Review: Good ol' Mike L. did a GREAT job on this book. It's written wonderfully. I only have two complaints:
1. I had planned on having a book to read for a while. This one got me so involved I finished it in three days! *laughs*
2. At the end there is an 'alternative ending'. Does this mean he isn't sure which one he is going to use? Or did he put the other one in just to show us what the other one is? *confused???*

Wonderful job! I loved it!It was a fun read!
-KK

Rating:
Summary: I wanted it to be better
Review: I wanted to really like this book--it had a great sounding premise, that's why I bought it without checking with other book readers first. I had to force myself to read until the end. I found the way the characters went from one reality to the next to be unbelievable. Also, I didn't get to know and care about the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping Teen Suspense
Review: Sixteen-year-old Alaric lives in a huge Victorian house on the outskirts of London with his Father. His Mother isn't around anymore. She's dead. Killed in a train crash two years ago. It's snowing. Alaric watches as the so-called Family Tree begins collecting white bits of snow on it's gnarled branches and roots. Suddenly he reaches towards an object that he's always known, but the walls melt away, and while Alaric believes that he's still standing in his own living room, he's wrong. For a girl named Naia is there when he opens his eyes. Naia is his age, and looks exactly like him. She asks him, "Who are you?" Suddenly Alaric realizes something. He's stumbled into another version of his life. One that's almost the same, but not quite. Naia is also sixteen. She lives in a big Victorian house on the outskirts of London with her Father (Alaric's Father), and her Mother (Alaric's Mother), only Alaric's Mother is dead, Naia's Mother is alive. However she did have a close call in a train crash a mere two years ago (the same train crash Alaric's Mother died in). Now Alaric's trying to figure out the answer to the age-old question, "Who am I, and what's going on here?"

I feel so fortunate to have been able to read Michael Lawrence's A CRACK IN THE LINE. This is one of the most gripping, interesting, engrossing, thought-provoking books that I have ever read in my life. His choice of words for the characters dialogue is superb, keeping your eyes glued to the pages, while at the same time on the edge of your seat to find out what is actually going on. Lawrence's effort will have even the most uninterested reader unable to escape the mysteries of A CRACK IN THE LINE, and will leave you thinking, talking, wondering, and more about time, identity, space, etc. long after the book is over. A must have for all looking for a wonderfully, engrossing novel.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper