A Swiftly Tilting Planet [Paperback]

Madeleine L'Engle (Author, Narrator)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Listening Library; Pap/Cas edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807277576
• ISBN-13: 978-0807277577
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (143 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Madeleine L'Engle, the popular author of many books for children and adults, has interspersed her writing and teaching career with raising three children, maintaining an apartment in New York and a farmhouse of charming confusion which is called "Crosswicks."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book, September 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Paperback)

I read Wrinkle in Time when I was 11 and thought it was the best thing I'd ever read. Wind in the Door and Swiftly Tilting Planet were published when I was an adult. I liked Wind in the Door, but it didn't have the "agic"of Wrinkle. When I picked up Swiftly Tilting Planet, I thought that I would enjoy it, but it wouldn't be up to par with Wrinkle. Boy was I wrong!

Planet was the most magnificient book I've ever read. I'm 46 years old and have read thousands of books over my lifetime, including all of Madeleine L'Engle's titles. This story is so inspirational, suspenseful, frightning, heartbreaking and joyful. It's just the best.

I use The Rune when I need a little "igher power"in my life as well as traditional prayers. I recommend it to everyone. It may be complicated for some children, but Ms. L'Engle doesn't write down for anyone. It can be a joyeous experience for the imaginative child and adult as well.

I think I'll sign off and go read it again right now.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite of the Time Quartet, June 23, 2006

By 

Blake Petit "Novelist, columnist & reviewer" (Ama, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Paperback)

This is perhaps my favorite book in L'Engle's famous "Time Quartet." Set a decade after the events of the previous book, A Wind in the Door, Meg Murray and Calvin O'Keefe are now married and she pregnant when he is sent overseas one Thanksgiving. She takes her mother-in-law to her family's home for the holiday, but the mood of the celebration is shattered when the President calls Mr. Murray with dire news: the Central American dictator Mad Dog Branzillo has gotten his hands on a nuclear arsenal, and his fingers are stroking the button. A cryptic rune uttered by Mrs. O'Keefe sends the 15-year-old Charles Wallace on a quest through time itself on a desperate search for the link between Calvin's family and the Might-Have-Been that he has to change to save the world.

Although this is, like I said, my favorite of the Time Quartet, it's safe to say it wouldn't be as good a book without the previous two. L'Engle tries to make the story self-contained, but there's very little in this book in the way of character development, she relies heavily on readers' conceptions of the characters from the previous novels to drive this story forward. The book is also very episodic -- Charles Wallace goes Within various people at various times, and with each of them he experiences a lifetime. The book almost reads like a series of interconnected short stories linked through the framing sequence of Charles trying to stop Branzillo. As a result, there are multiple antagonists and protagonists alike, giving the book a very epic, far-reaching feel.

This is, like I said, my favorite of the Time Quartet -- I just wouldn't recommend reading it by itself.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is probably my favorite of all the Time Trilogy books!, May 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Swiftly Tilting Planet (The Time Quartet) (Paperback)

After reading A Wrinkle In Time and A Wind In the Door, (both of which are also fantastic) I had to read this one. I was blown away reading this! This IS a complicated book-many times while I was reading I turned back to some of the other parts to understand a bit better. But that was the delightful and interesting part about it! I loved the whole "mad dog" name thing and the way each of the people Charles visited were connected, and yet very different.

I disagree with people who talk about how it's bad that Meg is only a pregnant housewife and Calvin is a famous scientist. It says in the later books about Poly (Meg's oldest daughter) that Meg works with mathematics, numbers and all that.

I reccomend this to L'Engle or fantasy fans, especially those who've read the first Time Trilogy books. But if you can't handle complicated plots, numerous characters and different settings, wait a few more years to read this so that you can fully appreciate this book!