Review: The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick

The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick.

Algonquin Young Readers
Publication Date: August 2013
List Price: $16.95
ISBN-13: 9781616202200

Review: The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick takes Edward, Danton, Brigit, and Feenix on a magical adventure full of thrilling suspense in the middle of a cold Brooklyn, New York winter. Their unusual adventure began simply as a science class project for Edward, but soon it turns into a disaster that may end the world if Edward does not return the "time fetch" to the Keeper. To get to the Keeper, Edward and his friends have to gather clues, get through difficult obstacles, and keep the time fetch safe from the Unraveler. If the Unraveler gets the time fetch, he will use it to end humanity!

One cold winter morning, a teenage boy named Edward realizes he needs to bring a glacial moraine rock for his science project. On the way to school, he desperately looks for a rock and finds the time fetch that looks like an ordinary rock. He does not realize the magical powers of this rock as he awakens the foragers living inside this rock with his touch. The foragers will eat up time due to the early awakening caused by Edward. If the time fetch rock is not returned to the Keeper, the foragers will eat "their way through the earth, leaving behind a growing snakelike crevasse" and the whole world will "fall away into a bottomless nothing." As Edward and his friends are pulled in a mind twisting adventure, they must keep the fetch away from the Unraveler who will use it to end the world. Unfortunately, time is getting eaten up quickly and they must work together to find clues that lead them to the Keeper. Will they return it to the keeper or will the Unraveler get hold of it? And will time and the world get destroyed? The Time Fetch is an extremely good book. The author leaves her audience hanging at every page in this mind twisting adventure with magic at every corner. I really like how all of the main characters came to know each other because they were trying to save one another. For example, Feenix was about to get eaten by ugly, evil witches, and Danton, Brigit, and Edward came in at the last second and pulled Feenix out of the witches reach. I also really like when the Unraveler was trying to hypnotize them. While Edward, Danton, and Feenix were trying to snap out of the spell, Brigit was the only one strong enough not to get effected by the spell. As a middle school reader, I would rate this book with 4 1/2 stars only because some parts of the story were somewhat confusing and random events happened. For example, while they were running for their lives they suddenly became older and taller. Danton realizes this as he says to Feenix, "I think that you are 4 inches taller than you usually are." I say that this book is meant mainly for boys because of the frightening and death related chapters. Many juicy details are provided while keeping the thrilling suspense adventurous for the reader. For instance, Òthe bakery collapsed, and all that remained was a smoky dustÓ is the author's excellent attempt to provide very descriptive details about the ruins of the buildings and the houses. This book has lots of violence with some very frightening moments and the mention of blood in a few of the chapters. Even the back cover of the book states "This is a dangerous time." Along with the violence, this book has some advanced vocabulary that is age appropriate for 10 years old and older. Children under 10 would not be able to fully understand this story. For this reason, I recommend the minimum audience age for this book be 10 years of age. Overall, The Time Fetch is a very interesting book, and I highly recommend it!

Review written by Mihir (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Algonquin Young Readers for providing a copy of The Time Fetch for this review.

Have you read The Time Fetch? How would you rate it?