Travel to criminal underworld of eighteenth-century London in this start to a trilogy that Entertainment Weekly calls “a rollicking historical adventure.”
The year is 1763. Gideon Seymour, thief and gentleman, is hiding from the villainous Tar Man. Suddenly the sky peels away like fabric, and from the gaping hole fall two curious-looking children. Peter Schock and Kate Dyer have fallen straight from the twenty-first century, thanks to a faulty experiment with an antigravity machine. Before Gideon and the children have a chance to gather their wits, the Tar Man takes off with the machine—and Peter and Kate’s only chance of getting home. Soon Gideon, Peter, and Kate are swept into a journey through the dangerous underworld of eighteenth-century London, traveling the routes of notorious highwaymen and even entering King George’s palace. And along they way they form a bond that, they hope, will stand strong in the face of unfathomable treachery. Filled with adventure, intrigue, and plenty of twists and turns, this start to a trilogy is written by a history scholar and wordsmith who makes the extraordinary believable, and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 9781442465510
ISBN-10: 1442465514
Published on 4/24/2012
Binding: Hardcover
Number of pages: 416
Book Reviews (6)
Anonymous
The book is okay. There is something about it... I don't know what it is but it isn't as interesting as most books I have read in the past. It is a book you wouldn't exactly jump at the chance to read but you most likely wouldn't be complaining about it if you bought it. The book doesn't really give you a definition of 1763 (where most of the book took place) and the way some things work is just confusing. They get there by an antigravity machine and they can literally turn invisible for instance.
moxiemolli
It was really long and slow and you really have to push yourself to actually read it. You probably have to skim through it because of all the details that were too "heavy" for the book and I couldn't get through the last three chapters because it was too boring and I had to turn it in the next day. I couldn't read it for a long time because of how boring and long and slow. I also felt like it had too many useless dangerous acts and the book had really long chapters that could have been broken into multiple chapters.
Rose
I think this book pretty boring. The original concept was good but the way it was written made it very slow and poorly written. The personalities and the dialogue didnt stay very true to what people in the 1700s were like. It didnt intrigue very much, and the plot was poorly developed. Although there was a lot of good parts of the book, the setting was very good, and the characters thoughts and feelings were portrayed very well.
Book Critic
I would say this book is a little boring and slow. Although it is an original concept slightly twisted, I felt it was a little hard to understand and that I had to force myself to read and didn't read it willingly. It didn't intrigue me like other books.
This book is about two kids, Kate and Peter, who accidentally got sent back to 1763 in England. They make friends with an person, Gideon, and they all have the same enemy, The Tar Man. The Tar Man has the machine that brought them there, which was Kate's father's anti-gravity experiment. The machine is sort of part of them, because they can travel back to their time, as ghosts. Still, to REALLY stay in their time, they have to get the machine. Now, Kate and Peter have to find a way to gt back the machine, while not getting anyone they know in danger. This book is full of humor, suprises, and more.
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