Review - Infinity Ring

The Eulogy (From the Publishers):
When best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste stumble upon the secret of time travel -- a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring -- they're swept up in a centuries-long secret war for the fate of mankind. Recruited by the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone disastrously off course.Now it's up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the Great Breaks . . . and to save Dak's missing parents while they're at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!



The Epitaph (In a Nutshell): The first in a new time-travel series in the same vein as 39 Clues; perfect for 9-12 year old history fans.

Dearly Departed,

We are gathered here today to discuss Infinity Ring: A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner. This isn't even remotely horror, but I've picked it up so many times in the store that I thought I needed to get around to reading it sooner or later. Despite always admiring the 39 Clues series, I never read one, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon early with this new series from Scholastic.

As a bookseller, I can see exactly what sort of appeal this series is going to have - I'm asked pretty frequently for both historical and light sci-fi books for middle fiction, so a book that contains both elements is going to be a hit. Pair that with the brilliant packaging design and cards included, and you've got a book that's going to get kids nagging, which is never a bad thing. 

It's all an intriguing set-up to what I hope will be a great series. I wasn't a huge fan of the choice of eras explored in book one, and at times the references to historical facts feel a little manufactured, but I can definitely see the potential in later books for this to develop into a really solid series, especially since book two is being penned by Forest of Hands and Teeth author Carrie Ryan. 

Recommended For Fans Of: time travel; 39 Clues series; Battle Boy.