The Forgotten Locket by Lisa MangumThe Scoop:
As we start with the final book of the Hourglass Door Trilogy Abby has follwed through with her decision to go through the version of the hourglass door she created (built with Dante's blueprints from the time of da Vinci after the original one was destroyed) in order to close the loop to save Dante from blindness and possible death. But, it's not as simple as it sounds. Abby has to battle Zo (Dante's evil equal as a Master of Time), assimilate into a new time period so she herself doesn't get thrown in the dungeon and become useless, make sure the people that are from that time period (Dante and his brother, Orlando) don't run into their present (or past?) selves, and try and keep the river from rendering the (correct)present time non-existent. Will Abby be able to harness the power of time and the river and find out her own magical connection to the river, the bank and time before Zo takes away her one chance to save Dante and her family from a future that is anything but shiny?
My Thoughts:
I have to say, I was extremely impressed with my powers of recall upon the reading of the last book in this series. Usually I have a hard time remembering how the last book ended or where the series was intending to go. But, with this one, I actually remembered quite a bit from the previous two books. And, honestly, there wasn't a lot of recap for me to go on. With that self-congratulation out of the way I also have to admit that I still didn't get a lot of this book. I think even though the idea of time travel is fascinating somehow the logistics of it, especially as described in this series (what with the Master of Time, the door, the river, the bank, the this and the that and everything else) I felt like I should be in AP physics or something. I must have grasped enough of the nuances of it because I soldiered on to I finished the series and actually, really enjoyed the majority of it.
My enjoyment, I believe, had a lot of to do with the character development and relationships. Dante and Abby were such a strong and emotionally connected couple and add in their relationships with Dante's brother Orlando (aka Leo) and Abby's friend Valerie (who went through A LOT in the name of time travel) there were some very well-written characters. Outside of Sam and Grace from Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls series I don't think I've witnessed such a strong connection between two young people in their understanding, belief and love of each other (although, if you think of one let me know in the comments--it's always nice to read a book where the main characters have an emotional bond strong enough that it sometimes makes you want to cry when you read about the ends they will go to for each other). Abby had to overcome the mind control that Zo used through his music and she did that, ultimately, from the strong emotional connection that she had with Dante (and his magical poetry). And, Dante, who was blinded by an attack from Zo right at the end of the second book was only able to "see" Abby and a small radius around her so close was their bond.
Well, besides the well-rounded characters I do get some enjoyment out of the whole time travel aspect. I mean, I enjoy historical and I enjoy contemporary so when you can put the two together that should make it even better, right? And, one of my very favorite television shows of all time is Quantum Leap. What ultimately puts me out of whack with the whole time travel aspect (not only with this series) is my need to overthink and over-analyze the timelines and try to figure out the different lines of continuity especially when people jump back and forth within their own lifetime. I think it came down to my own lack of ability to "just go with it" that prevented a higher appreciation of this book and the series as a whole--but don't let my lack of comprehension stop you from reading and enjoying the series (it didn't stop me). In regards to the theme of time travel I think it is one of the more complicated and less explained so while that made it harder for me to wrap my mind around the concept it gave me a better end result of something actually happening in each book of the series than the WAY over-explained and under-actioned (I know that's probably not a word but it fits what I'm trying to get across) Ruby Red.
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