Customer Reviews

The Time Twister (Charlie Bone, Book 2)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hello everyone, i am a book fanatic. I read the first book in the red king series, Midnight for Charlie Bone, in June 2003. And even though 3 months isn't as long a time as i will be waiting for the next abarat book and the next unicorn chronicles, it was hard to wait. As soon i heard it was out i went to the store and bought it. It took me a few more days to read this one than the first, but i blame that on lack of time. It is great, thanks Jenny.i finished this on sept. 2nd, but i have been so busy with school i just wrote the review now.
There is a lot more dealing with Gabriel, Tancred, and Lysander (who you have to love). As well as Benjamin, Paton,Charlie, Olivia, Emma, and Fidelio. They are great characters.
THis book is number 1. you have to read it. I can't wait for Charlie bone adn the invisible boy to come out.
Thanks, Jenny! Can't wait for charlie's new adventure!
It's GREEEEAAAAT!!!!!

If you are into adventures and time travel you will like this book a lot because of time travel and adventure. In January 1916, it's the coldest day of the year when Henry Yewbeam puts on his blue school cape and takes his bag of marbles down to the freezing hall. Halfway through the game, Henry sees a marble rolling toward him. He picks it up. It is full of beautiful colors. Suddenly the walls start fading, the light is going. He feels himself disappearing. Henry writes on the floor, "GIVE THE MARBLES TO JAMES". Then Henry vanishes from the year 1916.

In January 2002, it's freezing cold, the coldest day of the year. Charlie Bone is crossing the hall on his way to a lesson at Bloor's Academy. Something begins to happen a few feet in front of him. A boy in a blue cape materializes out of thin air. He rubs his eyes and says, "Oh my word! What happened?". Now Charlie Bone and his friends are looking for a place to keep Henry until they can find the Time Twister and get Henry back to the year 1916. Will Henry ever be reunited with his brother James? Will he get back to 1916? Read the book and find out! I also recommend The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches by Robert Stanek. He loves to end chapters with cliffhangers too!

The other reviews are pretty spot on when it comes to story and characterization. I love the Charlie Bone books. They have a very interesting, colorful plot, filled with interesting characters. I understand that they are written for the younger crowd, but Nimmo really needs to work on her storytelling a bit more. All she does in her writing is tell you what happen. She doesn't even try to make your imagination work.

A good example of her writing style would be like so: "Charlie saw the tree falling and he moved out of the way. It hit the ground." And even that is too descriptive for her. A major event will happen, and she'll brush over it in a sentence or two. "So and So was saved! Hurrah!"

The books have such a wonderful plot that the shameful storytelling hurts them. I honestly think Nimmo needs to take a few creative writing courses at her local university before she attempts another novel. She needs to learn how to envoke emotion and imagination from her writing, instead of just telling us what happened in a flat, static way.

The problems at Bloor Academy intensify for young Charlie Bone in this second adventure. Poor Henry Yewbeam, actually Charlie's great-granduncle, goes missing from the year 1916 and turns up in the present. Charlie discovers his distant relative and the powerful Time Twister that allowed him to make his incredible journey. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long before Manfred Bloor, his father, and grandfather pick up the trail. Things get very complicated as Charlie keeps losing Henry while trying to figure out the riddle of the Time Twister.

Jenny Nimmo has written five books so far in the Charlie Bone series. She's also written other books for children, including THE SNOW SPIDER, the first book in her Magician Trilogy, for younger readers.

The Charlie Bone books are easy and entertaining reads. Even though they usually clock in at 400+ pages, the language, the storyline, and the characters lend themselves naturally to the reader. Charlie's world is large, filled with mystery (what DID happen to his father?), villains (most of them from his own family!), and magic (what else does that wand do that Charlie got from evil Skarpo?). I had a good time reading this one to my 8-year-old. We laughed together, and fretted to, and we got to enjoy solving some of the mysteries.

The scene changes still remain somewhat abrupt in the books. Maybe it's just me, though, because my son never once complained.

Overall, CHARLIE BONE AND THE TIME TWISTER is another good read from Ms. Nimmo. Readers wanting something like Harry Potter will be pleased with this series.

Do you like Harry Potter? Then the series of Charlie Bone are for you!

Jenny Nimmo is one of my favorite authors so far in my life.

Charlie Bone and the Time Twister is the sequel to Midnight For Charlie Bone. This serie is labeled as adventure and mystery. I saw the first book as an advertisement in 6th grade, the guy said if you like the Harry Potter series then you'd like Midnight For Charlie Bone. Charlie Bone and the Time Twister is the book that shares the joy and danger of adventures from kids 12+. Charlie is a 14 year old boy who has a unique talent of hearing and seeing the people move in pictures and paintings. His grandmother discovered that he started having this power so she sent Charlie to a school called Bloor's Academy where other kids have special talents as well. There he meets new friends, weird teachers, and enemies. A boy who comes out of nowhere appears in the academy and he becomes friends with Charlie. His name is Henry, Charlie figured out that Henry is his great-great uncle from about 80 years ago. Henry should be over 100 years old by now but he came to this time because of the Time Twister so he looks like a regular 14 year old. I would be amazed if I get to see an ancestor of mine 80 years ago! I would ask so many questions about how life was when there was no techology and things that we have now in 2006. So Charlie's evil principal, Ekziel, who is Henry's cousin wants to capture and torture him because Henry was always better than him at everything. The adventure goes on but you have to read the book to find out if Henry will be safe from harm. I would recommend this book to everybody. I give this book 4 out of 5.

The Timetwister is the sequel to Midnight for Charlie Bone and the second in the Red King series. This time, Charlie is trying to save a boy, sent out of his own time by a jealous cousin, slap bang in to the present day. Unfortunately for both boys, this cousin is not only very much alive, but is still resident in Blurs academy. It is a race against time, literally, to get Henry sent back to where he belongs before his cousin finds him.

I thought this was better than it's predecessor, and I liked that book very much. Jenny Nimmo still has a warm, down to earth style, and we also get to read the story from other view points than Charlie's. Notably, Tancred Torson, one of my favourite characters.

Simon Russle Bealle returns and does a splendid job.

A very enjoyable series for all ages.

Young Charlie Bone's "endowment" is an interesting and, at first, seemingly ineffectual one (compared to, that is, endowments that have immediately obvious benefits like divining from people's clothing what they feel, and if they're dead or alive; mind control; the ability to change into a bird of any shape or size; conjuring up one's spirit's ancestors, or the ability to summon violent storms of wind, rain, thunder, and lightening). Charlie can look into portraits and hear people talk. In the first book in this installment, we get a few examples of that, and what he hears is mainly of the garden variety: "Sit straight," "you're too fat in your bikini," etc. But we are also told in that same book that after Charlie's father died that Charlie's Grandma Bone (his father's mother) took down every picture of him in the house. If that isn't a smidgeon of foreshadowing, then I'm unfamiliar with the word.

Here we have the second installment in the series. Back in 1916, the horribly cruel Zeke Bloor sent his cousin Henry Yewbeam into the future - Charlie Bone's future, of course - using a magical device called The Time Twister. Now, it's somewhat unbelievable that Zeke, a person whom we know craves power, would let something so valuable out of his reach merely to send off a cousin for whom he cares little and whom poses no immediate or distant threat to him, but this is where suspension of disbelief comes in. Without this occurrence, there is no story. So we must accept it, and while it's somewhat glaring, the suspension of disbelief can be honored, mainly because Ms. Nimmo is writing for a younger age group than the Potter crowd.

Fast forward to present day, and we find all of the malevolent forces at Bloor's academy aware of Henry's arrival, and Zeke - now Ezekiel Bloor, a crustaceous, horrid beast of a man - is still intent on doing away with his cousin. This is the second major time where we are asked to suspend disbelief. Why in the world would a 100 year old man care what a 10 or 11 year old boy does? Again, especially when that boy is, himself, not one of the endowed, and poses no threat to Ezekiel. The answer is spite. And evil people tend to possess a few common qualities: avarice, paranoia, and spite. Still, I had a much more difficult time understanding the motive behind the Bloor's and their cronies making poor little Henry Yewbeam's life so miserable. Why were the Yewbeam aunt's and Grandma Bone so concerned with where he was?

Regardless of this, Ms. Nimmo is a gifted storyteller and pacer, and, as before, she has created a story that is populated with believable and likable characters (mostly on the good side - the bad side is slightly less believable, if only because we don't spend much time with them so little character development is possible), all of whom any reader would have great affection for. So the story, even accepting this suspension of disbelief, is a thoroughly enjoyable one.

Because Henry is a relative, and because Charlie is the quintessential good guy who will do whatever he can to help his friends (a marvelous quality, really), they try to rescue poor Henry from the clutches of the Bloor's. Their attempts make for a terrific and blazing read. We also see a little more of Charlie's gifts. Anyone who read the first book must have asked themselves: "If he can hear portraits, what about paintings?"

A final thought to ponder: when will the Tree and the flames - if ever - reveal their true identities, and give the Bloor's and the nastier Yewbeam's their comeuppance? Or will that task reside entirely on Charlie Bone's shoulders?

Charlie Bone has recently finished his first adventure: waking up a girl who has been hypnotized for eight years. Now, his second adventure is taking place when he's barely recovered for the first one: A mysterious boy from the past appears in the cold hallway of Bloor's Academy. His name is Henry Yewbeam, and for Henry, his troubles have only begun.

A failed magician lives in the attics of Bloor's Academy. His face is little more than a skull with skin stretched tightly across the wicked face like wax. His name is Ezeikel Bloor, grandfather to Dr. Bloor and Great Grandfather to the head boy, Manfred Bloor. And Ezeikel wants Henry dead.

Charlie and his friends make it their mission to save Henry and, if possible, get him back to the time period he belongs in. Many people are out to stop him: The Yewbeam Aunts, not to mention Grandma Bone, the Bloors, and the Beast, that stalks the ruin by night.

Luck is against Charlie, as is time. He and his friends will need to act quickly, if Henry is to be saved.

Book #2 in the popular Children of the Red King Series.

Kids love the fantasy, humor, mystery, characters, & suspense.

Kids should read Book 1: MIDNIGHT FOR CHARLIE BONE before reading this one.

I liked the book, but there were too many things going on at once. First there's the time twister, then tere's Ezekiel, and Billy Raven, then there's the evil man from the picture, and the there's the Yewbeam family along with Yolanda trying to find the time twister while manipulatingsome kids into thinking that she's a sweetheart. It's just too much unless you really follow the different parts of the story and are an intense reader.