Page Count: 395
Genre: YA fantasy, HistorialPublisher: Clink Street
Goodreads Summary:
It was a glorious time for the two teens, Glenda and
Traveler! At home in their magical sanctuary, hidden
in downtown Chicago, they immersed themselves in
the city's festive winter holiday season. Sadly, their
holiday celebrations are cut short. Theo, the sanctuary's
protective god, tells them of an approaching great
threat. The demigod jinn host is preparing to enter
our world. They seek to defeat Theo.
The malevolent fire creatures will arrive in the
isolated Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania.
They chose the fifth century, a chaotic, brutal
time. Rampaging Hun armies battle Germanic
tribes for control of the vast region. The host
uses this turbulence to mask its presence as it
plots the ambush of Theo. The teens arrive feeling
like unarmed gladiators entering the high-walled
arena of the Transylvanian Mountains.
Death surrounds them. Armed only with their invisibility
skill and their trust in each other, they proceed into
the Carpathian abyss, echo across Europe.
Magic, wits, and youthful courage must combine to face the fire creature. Survival, much less winning,is up for grabs.
So firstly I have to admit that I didn’t remember many details about the first two books. As I read then im 2019 and have read countless of books since then the most I could remember was that it focused on two teenagers who were given missions by a cat god and went back in time. I didn’t have time to reread the first two books so I was a little anxious that I’d be completely confused, but luckily some of the previous adventures were cleverly included in the narrative to jog my memory and I was soon caught up again!
Something that I loved about this book was how it expanded on Theo. As Theo is a god who helped create the universe I’ve been naturally curious about him throughout this series, so I loved how we saw some of his past and how the threat of the jinn all started. I loved the idea of the randomness generator and how everything in the universe was created by chance. I did hope that the book would focus on this a little more, but unfortunately, my hopes for having Theo and M included more in this book went unfulfilled, as after the first 100 pages we only see them again briefly at the end of the book. I was a little disappointed in this as being ancient, both Theo and M have huge potential, but I honestly don’t think they’ll be explored in this series which is a shame.
The book started off a little slow and lagged in places throughout the book, but once the action picked up it was impossible to put down! I particularly loved the battle scene towards the end of the book between the Huns and the Gepids . As this battle was based on real history I loved the idea of it being put into this world full of magic and demons. I did however think there was a bit of a plot hole with Traveller having no idea of the outcome of the battle. Traveller seems to have a vast knowledge of historical events and battles, so it seemed a little strange to me that he didn’t know about this one. As he seemed to have knowledge of different time periods, I would have thought he would have come across this battle at some point. Apart from this I really enjoyed the battle and this time period, as it’s not really one I’ve learned about before. It took me a while to get through this book just because I keep researching everything.
I felt that this book had a little more going on than the first two which I loved. Traveller and Glenda had to deal with everything from Wolves to Huns, along with having to find food and shelter. I loved their journey in this familiar but different world and how they cleverly got themselves out of danger. The friendship between the two teens is one of my favourite things about this series as I love how they’re constantly making fun of each other. Although I do feel like a romance will form between them I think I would be content with them remaining best friends.
Although we don’t see many characters returning from the previous book, I was happy that the giant Olaf was still around! I was a little disappointed that he came into it so close to the end of the book, as I think he would have been a good ally for Traveller and Glenda earlier on. I’m hoping that if Traveller and Glenda go back to the same time period in the next book, he will be around more, as I do find it a little boring at times with the story following only Traveller and Glenda. To me the book suffers from a lack of characters at times, as a lot of it is the two of them travelling together. Having characters such as Olaf, Theo and M in the story would probably make it a little more interesting!
I felt like this book was an improvement on the first two, and although I did have a few issues with it I enjoyed it. As the threat of the jinn is still far from over, I’m looking forward to the next book and seeing if the threat to Theo’s existence can be stopped once and for all.
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