Roger K. Driscoll

Cute enough. But basically just another MG fantasy exploring the difference between fantasy and reality. This was mostly adventure & mystery, drama, as opposed to the quieter but more passionate [b:Breadcrumbs|10637959|Breadcrumbs|Anne Ursu|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1300592738s/10637959.jpg|15546655] that I happened to read (listen to) on the same vacation trip. This also had too much reliance on Echo's psychic gift - the plot seemed contrived to make the kids have to be brave and smart despite having such a powerful tool.… (lisätietoja)

In short: a magical girl from the distant past, trapped in a tree throughout centuries, is awakened by a boy to help avenge the murder of his mother and rescue his sister.

The story starts out with Echo's story in the past. Her entire family, rebels against powerful nobility (like Robin Hood and his band of thieves), have been killed, except for one sister. Echo is half-dryad; her mother is one of the spirits of the trees. Poisoned by a pursuer and near death, she hides inside a hollow tree. The tree heals her, only to leave her sleeping for centuries.

Her distant relative, Jason Fleeting, has been orphaned and lives at a school after the murder of his mother, the disappearance of his father, and the kidnapping of his sister. He's playing in a tree when he falls out, conks himself on the head, and goes into a coma. While in the coma, he's visited by Echo's dryad mother, who will help him find his sister if he rescues her daughter, Echo, whose tree is about to be cut down and cut into firewood...which will mean Echo is chainsawed in half.

Jason saves Echo, and the two of them go on the adventure of a lifetime to save his sister.

Good characters, very readable. I had two things that bothered me to the point where I can't give it a personal woo-hoo of a rating.

One, there was a bit too much talking and explaining. It was only in a couple of spots and I read past it, but I wished things had moved faster at times.

Two, I play some role-playing games. One of the things that happens in those games is that you have to make sure that no one power is so strong that it makes the game unfair. I think that Echo has such a power: the ability to see anything that happens in the past, and to spend no time in the real world to do so. That means in a story where there's a mystery, like here (what happened to Jason's sister?), the characters can instantly know the answer. Sure, there's a lot of adventure involved in actually rescuing his sister, but I was disappointed. It felt like there was no chance that the bad guys would win, because the good guys always knew their secrets. I like the illusion that the bad guys might win, even when I'm pretty sure they probably won't.

This is not to say that it wasn't a fun read, because it was. Lots of fighting, adventure, sneaking around, getting blamed for things they didn't do, and wearing amusing disguises. A lot of kids liked the book a lot, and I can see why. I just can't say that I loved it 100%.… (lisätietoja)