Backward Glass by David Lomax Published by Flux on 8 October 2013
Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Young Adult
Pages: 315
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Crack your head, knock you dead, then Prince Harming's hunger's fed.
It's 1977, and Kenny Maxwell is dreading the move away from his friends. But then, behind the walls of his family's new falling-apart Victorian home, he finds something incredible--a mummified baby and a note: "Help me make it not happen, Kenny. Help me stop him."
Shortly afterwards, a beautiful girl named Luka shows up. She introduces Kenny to the backward glass, a mirror that allows them to travel through time. Meeting other "mirror kids" in the past and future is exciting, but there's also danger. The urban legend of Prince Harming, who kidnaps and kills children, is true--and he's hunting them. When Kenny gets stranded in the past, he must find the courage to answer a call for help, change the fate of a baby--and confront his own destiny.
*I received a free ARC of Backward Glass from Flux via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
Backward Glass is a brilliant YA time travel novel, and it really made my day! The main character, Kenny, is pretty careful, but his travels to the past (and sometimes to the future) take him on such a wild adventure I was almost out of breath at times. I love reading about time travel, and I thought it was very well done in Backward Glass. Like, you can’t change what has happened, but you can still be the captain of your own life – that is very important to me on both counts.
The characters in Backward Glass are all very well done! I loved Kenny from the very beginning, and the way the readers are introduced to him is very clever. The mystery is there from the very beginning, as Kenny and his dad find a mummified baby inside one of the walls of the carriage house in their new garden. Kenny gets a strange feeling before he finds the newspaper with the dead baby inside, like there’s static electricity there, and he can’t touch the bundle at all.
The side characters are fleshed out and real as well, and that is always a good thing in my opinion. Racing backwards in time to save someone without actually knowing the whole story and not knowing who the bad guy is becomes second nature to Kenny pretty fast. He really has no choice if he wanted to go back to his own time – 1977. However, between the kids that might have their own agenda, and not really meeting many adults at all, Kenny needs to act fast and be smart about his choices.
Backward Glass’ story unfolds in an amazing way, little by little, the readers discover things about the Backward Glass right along with Kenny, and we don’t have much time to digest one information before the next mystery or clue appeared and had to be dealt with. As Kenny travels through time, first just back and forth between his own time and ten years forward and ten years back, he meets other kids who can travel through the mirror as well, and the one he grows close to is Lucy, or Luka as she likes to call herself thanks to Luke Skywalker, from 1987.
Filled with humor and mystery, Backward Glass is an excellent time travel story for readers of all ages! I recommend it to everyone who enjoys reading mystery stories, and who can suspend disbelief enough to have fun with time travel as well. The rules of time travel are explained to Kenny, and the readers pick up the same clues as he does. The interactions between the characters seem so real, and I wish there would be another story about Kenny in the future, because there was something that happened that I would love to know more about.
And for once, I actually don’t have any quotes to share. Amazing, right? I was so busy reading and trying to find clues that I forgot all about highlighting and actually writing a review after I read it!
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Twitter: bmreviewsohmy
I am glad to see that you liked it! I think I am mostly impressed that the author was capable of spiraling that all out and not getting confused..lol. 🙂 Great review!
LOL Stormi, yes, I think it did take some skill to not get confused here! I was really impressed with the whole story, though, and I particularly liked the fact that one of the travelers had the presence of mind to decide to invest in the stock market! That would be a dream come true for sure 😀
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Gah! You’re right – you’re making me add to my TBR! Backward Glass sounds fantastic! I love time travel as well and this sounds well-done. And the characters sound amazing. I’m so glad you picked this one up from NG, and LOVED it! *sigh* How many years until we can retire to the island and read all day long?!? 😉
Have a fab day, dear! *hugs*
I don’t know how long it will take for me to win the lottery, Brandee, hopefully it will happen very, very soon! Then we’ll get that island and just read 🙂
You’ll love Backward Glass! I really loved the way it was done, and guess what I dreamt of the night after I read it 😀 yup, I was time-traveling, and got my parents to buy stocks in Microsoft and Apple when those companies first started 😀
Thanks for stopping by! *hugs*
“something incredible–a mummified baby” That word…I don’t think it means what you think it means, Blurb Writer.
Whitley, mummify means to preserve a dead body – and although that baby had not been treated with oils to be preserved, it had the aspect of a mummy… and it was indeed incredible, for several different reasons…
Erm, I was thinking more that if I find a mummy in my wall I’m going to go “alksdjfal;ksjfl;sdf” not “wow, incredible!”
Also, mummified remains aren’t all that uncommon. You don’t need oils to do it, and dried out dead bodies are found all the time. All you need is the right combination of heat and very low humidity.
It was just a funny way to word it, because the baby may have been incredible for story reasons, but being dried out isn’t one of them.
True, but here it was totally because it had been dead for quite a long time, and because of other things that I don’t want to spoil 😉
Twitter: talksupeblog
Lucy sounds like a character I will love reading. I’m not a big reader of time traveling books so maybe this one isn’t for me. THe sci-fi explanation to it all always get scrambled in my head. Maybe I need extra IQ points for that LOL. Lovely review as always though, you really sold the characters and we all know, they make the book not really the story.
She’s a great character, Braine, and so is Kenny. If you’re not a big fan of time travel, you’re right, this one might not be for you. Most of the plot has to do with the travel, so if it’s not your thing, you’d probably not have a lot of fun while reading.
Thanks for stopping by, Braine! 🙂
I love Time Travel Stories! This one sounds great with all of the mystery, suspense, humor, and the unfolding of clues little by little! Excellent Review Lex 🙂 Thanks for sharing 🙂
If you like Time Travel stories, you’ll love The Backward Glass, Lindy, it is really well done! I could totally believe in the possibilities, and I actually would love to read more about the characters in another book!
Thanks for stopping by, Lindy 🙂
oooh time travel stories! It’s been a long time since I read a book like that. Even years! I should try one ! And I think I never tried a YA one. Great review!
the Backward Glass is awesome, Melliane, you should really check it out!
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I was declined for this book on Net Galley, and I was really disappointed that I was. I think the story sounds so unique, and interesting, and something I could really end up loving!
I’m glad that it lives up to the storyline, and I cannot wait to read it 😀
The story is unique, and it is very well done! I hope Mr. Lomax will continue writing, because it was great to lose myself in time travel for a while 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Chiara.
This sounds like a wonderful story. I love it when the secondary characters feel like full fledged characters. Secondary characters usually stay pretty one-dimensional in most books, so this is refreshing to hear.
Yeah, I love stories that are character driven, and where even the secondary characters seem like real people!
Thanks for stopping by Pamela 🙂
Yay! I also love time travel stories that has a semblance of realism in them. And that mummified baby, waaaa! Scary and at the same time, interesting. The synopsis alone is a WIN!
I think I will enjoy this book particularly that it’s time travel interspersed with mystery elements. And the reference to Luke Skywalker is funny. How I love that Jedi.
And look, it has a very high rating in GR, 4.44. Hmmn. Might as well add this book to my list.
Once again, thanks for great review! Lalalala.
Oh my goodness, Charlotte! You’ll totally love this story! It is so well done! And the characters are extremely awesome 🙂 And yes, a mummified baby hidden behind a drywall is both scary and amazing at the same time. The story of that same baby is even better than I could have imagined, too!
You should definitely add this book to your TBR, and I’ll look forward to your review 😀
Oh, this one sounds so PROMISING! I love time travel! It is time for some great character development as well!
Lyn, you should definitely try it, then. I thought it was really well done, and I can be a little difficult when it comes to time travel 🙂