A Wind in the Door - Time Quintet Readalong
A Wind in the Door (Time, Book 2)by Madeleine L’Engle
Just before Meg Murry's little brother, Charles Wallace, falls deathly ill, he sees dragons in the vegetable garden. The dragons turn out to be Proginoskes, a cherubim composed of wings and eyes, wind and flam. It is up to Meg and Proginoskes, along with Meg's friend Calvin, to save Charles Wallace's life. To do so, they must deep within Charles Wallace to attempt to defeat the Echthroi-those who hate-and restore brilliant harmony and joy to the rhythm of creation, the song of the universe. (goodreads.com)
(Semi-spoilery, though I think many people have read this already since it's been around since 1970.)OK, what now? Maybe it's a good thing I never knew that A Wrinkle in Time was part of a series, because I just did not like this second book. The writing seemed much more juvenile than the first book and it seemed much more disjointed a story - and that's with leaping through time and the universe in the first book! I find myself disliking Meg more and more as the series progresses, I still have another 3 books to read for this challenge! The story verged on the absolute ridiculous and I think I had a problem with that. Also, I must admit I always thought the Murry's lived in the UK. Not once in the first book did I ever think USA. And I was wrong. The first third of this book proudly exclaims "United States of America!!" every chance it gets. That was one of the first things that bothered me about the book.The rest? Granted, I am not a science person at all, but I thought the search for mitochondria and farandolae was a little much and then to suddenly be inside Charles Wallace's mitochondria? Hmm.And Mr. Jenkins, this supposed mean and strict principal seemed to handle having three of himself around for a while. I didn't think that was handled all that well.I don't think there was a character that I liked in A Wind in the Door. No, wait, that's not true. I liked Louise the snake and that is saying something since I can't stand snakes!The dialogue also bothered me immensely. Though I am not sure if this is supposed to be a middle grade book or a young adult one. It was all very simple, though the concepts were much more complicated for kids to get. I don't think I would have liked this book at all had I read it when I was 12. A lot of it swooshed over my head now, at 34, so I don't think it would have been any better at 12!I am very disappointed to discover that I did not care for this book when I had just a nostalgic love for the first. I am curious to see how I fare with books 3-5 in the coming months.Time Quintet
- A Wrinkle in Time
- A Wind in the Door
- A Swiftly Tilting Planet
- Many Waters
- An Acceptable Time