Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times - Softcover

Trevayne, Emma

Softcover

ISBN 10: 144249879X ISBN 13: 9781442498792

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015

Synopsis

A boy discovers a mysterious mechanical world he may never escape in this steampunk fantasy that's "a thrill a minute" (Kirkus Reviews), set in nineteenth-century England.

Ten-year-old Jack Foster has stepped through a doorway and into quite a different London.

Londinium is a smoky, dark, and dangerous place, home to mischievous metal fairies and fearsome clockwork dragons that breathe scalding steam. The people wear goggles to protect their eyes, brass grill insets in their nostrils to filter air, or mechanical limbs to replace missing ones.

Over it all rules the Lady, and the Lady has demanded a new son--a perfect flesh-and-blood child. She has chosen Jack. His only hope of escape lies with a legendary clockwork bird.

The Gearwing grants wishes--or it did, before it was broken--before it was killed. But some things don't stay dead forever.

Fans of books like Splendors and Glooms and Doll Bones will find Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times irresistible!

About this title

Review:

"So full of verve and imagination that the sinister steampunk world practically pops off the page. The prose sparkles, the inventions astonish, and the characters are ones you'll root for from the moment you meet them. Loved it, beginning to end."--Stefan Bachman, author of The Peculiar

"In this steampunk fantasy...no one character is all good or all bad, and Trevayne explores their motivations and machinations thoroughly. The richly drawn world and inventive steampunk elements help this novel stand out from the pack of middle-grade fantasy."--School Library Journal

"[F]ast-paced, escalating suspense...the novel's strength lies in worldbuilding and vivid descriptions, and Anglophiles will likely enjoy the historical-cultural references."--Kirkus Reviews

"Once action passes through to Londinium the pace picks up and the steampunk narrative starts to hum. Jack's mechanical ability is put to good use, but it is the power of loyalty and friendship that gives the story its strength and drives it to a rousing conclusion."--The Horn Book Magazine

About the Author:

Emma Trevayne is a full-time writer. She is an avid music collector, a lover of computer code languages, and a photographer. She is the author of Coda, Chorus, Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times, and Spindrift and the Orchid. She has lived in Canada, England, and America.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 144249879X
• ISBN 13: 9781442498792
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336
• Illustrator: Thomas Glenn