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Thursday, November 4, 2010

The Golden Spiral - Lisa Mangum

His eyes. His touch. His kiss. Dante was unlike anyone Abby had ever met. Now he’s gone, and Abby will do anything to get him back . . .


The hourglass door has closed behind Dante, sending him back in time to hunt down Zo, Tony, and V. Abby knows that Dante, as a Master of Time, is the only one who can stop them from destroying time itself. She also knows that he will need her help. But almost immediately, things start to change, and Abby’s worst fears are realized when Zo begins targeting her past specifically.


As Abby’s world fractures around her, she must face a terrible truth: either Dante didn’t make it through the door, or he is lost forever. So with Dante’s blueprints in hand, she begins construction on a new door, a new time machine that will either save Dante—or doom him.


With each new change that ripples into her present, Abby s life continues to spiral out of control. Her relationships with Jason, Natalie, and even her family are threatened to the breaking point—and beyond. Zo’s power is greater than Abby ever imagined, but as she struggles to free Dante, she receives help from an unexpected—and unlikely—ally.

By now you all know my struggle with the middle books in trilogies. I appreciate them for what they are and I know that most of the conflict happens in that book as set up for the final installment. There's not a lot of resolution in a second book. Just lots of character development and, well, drama. Sometimes - especially with series that I really, really enjoy - all the drama gets to me and I will feel very unhappy with that book. But, I try not to judge too harshly, since it's serving its purpose and all is usually resolved in some way or another in the final book. So, having said that, keep in mind that if I rant, it's because the next book doesn't come out until May and I really, really want to know what happens next.

This book was excellently written. I honestly had no idea where it was going - but in a good way. It kept me guessing and I really felt Abby grow into her role of being even stronger than she was in the previous book. I felt for her as her world kept changing around her and her desperation to save Dante not only because she loved him but because he could help her make things right. The emotions were very well written as her frustration became my frustration and her joy was my joy. While Dante himself wasn't a huge part of this book, his struggles were hard to wait out and I was constantly thinking "What's going to happen with Dante?" There was a lot more explaining going on about how the time travel worked and sometimes I felt a little lost - abstract thought is so not my thing - but there were quite a few things answered that made things make more sense. And Zo is one of those villains you just love to hate. He's horrible! Absolutely awful! I still don't quite understand what he wants with Abby and how he's using Valerie, but I'm sure that will be revealed in the next book. As for the ending, it was a classic "No WAY!" cliffhanger that has me very impatiently waiting for May with the final book The Forgotten Locket comes out.

4/5

The Golden Spiral
Lisa Mangum
Shadow Mountain Publishing
369 pages
$18.99 (hardcover)

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