book 3 of The Time Quartet

by Madeline L'Engle

isbn: 0374373620
subject: SF, Fiction and Literature
finished: 12/5/1999

In the face of immanent nuclear war, Charles Wallace Murray, guided by a unicorn and an old rune, must alter the past in a way that prevents war from occurring. L'Engle's characters and environments are wonderful; she has a gift for describing fantastic situations in a way that makes you feel like that's the way things should be. Also, she avoids a trap that many other time-travel authors fall into: spending too much time analyzing its internal logic. Rather, her focus (as in the earlier books of the Time Quartet) is the distinction between good and evil, the value of family and friends, and the importance of self-sacrifice for the greater good. A Swiftly Tilting Planet has a more challenging structure than its predecessors, and deals with more sophisticated themes. Highly recommended.