1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Marco's Millions, March 9, 2002
Do you think of giant insects communicating via telepathy when you think of alternate universes? Ordinarily this reviewer wouldn't either, but after having read another of Sleator's books, The Boxes(1998), it wasn't too difficult to grasp the idea of huge bugs communicating with people in our world.
Sleator is at his best when dealing with the concepts of singularities. Closely related to black holes, singularities are astronomical phenomena that theoretically do not have the awesome destructive power of black holes, but rather, may allow some sort of travel into an infinite number of simultaneously existing universes. As one approaches a singularity, theoretically, time slows and gravity increases. It is this hypothesis which forms the basis for Sleator's prequel to The Boxes, called Marco's Millions. In the former book, the reader is introduced to Annie's rather eccentric Uncle Marco, who is away often, yet doesn't seem to age much. Marco's Millions provides more than satisfactory answers to many questions that The Boxes generates.
Wormholes, invisible tunnels to another universe, telepathic insects with their strange religious customs, and a telepathic young girl and her protective brother all work together to create an incredible--yet very believable--tale of salvation. Whether it is the salvation of our own universe and others, or simply the universe in which the insects live is not clear. But what is clear, is that Lillie, the telepathic sister who becomes the medium between the singularity (which the insects call "Our Lord") and her brother, is the savior of something. This reviewer thoroughly enjoyed the all-too-quick visit into other worlds, and marveled at the bravery of the two children who struggled to succeed with their vague mission to help save the insects' world.
Interest level: grades 5-9
Another Sleator book on a related topic: Singularity (1995)
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good book to read, March 4, 2002
The book Marco's Million, by William Sleator, is an excellent book. It has a very interesting plot and have likable characters such as Marco and his sister, Lilly. I also learned some new vocabulary and basic information of astronomy from this book... Anyways, I recommand people to read it. It is a good book.
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