Negative Positive
Title: great concept, disappointing delivery
Review: This book has a fascinating concept- growing up in a 'heritage' village believing that it is really 1840. But the concept is never really developed- we only see a juxtaposition of the two worlds in one brief scene, and the adjustments required of the heroine are rather perfunctory. The story quickly becomes a pretty scary chase story where there are no safe places and all the adults- even the few well meaning ones- ending up being frightening or intimidating to the children; the bad guys are very wicked indeed, with explicit Nazi 'better race' overtones. The rationale for their wickedness is lame at best. Even the end is dispatched too quickly, with no tying together of past and present or what this all means to the parents, the children, or the family as a group. Very disappointing.
Is the review positive or negative? 