A myriad of strong characters is featured in Wilson’s story, which is part time travel, part thriller, part Western, and part quest. It all provides a showcase for MacLeod Andrews’s narration skills, and he doesn’t disappoint. Twelve-year-old Sam Miracle, an orphan who is besieged by dreams of the past, is determined to do right by his father and sister. If Sam can replay a portion of his past life, his personal situation will be resolved, but as he lights down in different timeframes, his enemy, the Vulture, is waiting to thwart him. Andrews moves in and out of each character deftly. His Sam is a spot-on tween, anguished or pigheaded; his Vulture is loud, forceful, and intimidating. Reading the narrative, Andrews soothes the listener with a calming voice as he sets all the scenes. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle
Narrated by MacLeod Andrews
N. D. WilsonUnabridged — 7 hours, 58 minutes
Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle
Narrated by MacLeod Andrews
N. D. WilsonUnabridged — 7 hours, 58 minutes
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Overview
This new fantasy-adventure series from N. D. Wilson, bestselling author of 100 Cupboards, pits a misfit twelve-year-old against a maniacal villain with a deadly vendetta. This one-of-a kind story is must read for fans of Brandon Mull and Soman Chainani, and the start of a thrilling tale from a masterful storyteller. * * *
Sam Miracle's life is made up of dreams, dreams where he's a courageous, legendary hero instead of a foster kid with two bad arms that can barely move. Sometimes these dreams feel so real, they seem like forgotten memories. And sometimes they make him believe that his arms might come alive again.
But Sam is about to discover that the world he knows and the world he imagines are separated by only one thing: time. And that separation is only an illusion. The laws of time can be bent and shifted by people with special magic that allows them to travel through the past, present, and future. But not all of these “time walkers” can be trusted. One is out to protect Sam so that he can accept his greatest destiny, and another is out to kill him so that a prophecy will never be fulfilled. However, it's an adventurous girl named Glory and two peculiar snakes who show Sam the way through the dark paths of yesterday to help him make sure there will be a tomorrow for every last person on earth.
Editorial Reviews
01/25/2016
An orphan with all-consuming daydreams and non-functioning arms discovers his true destiny in this odd time-travel adventure, which sees 12-year-old Sam Miracle transported into the past to battle the malevolent thief known as the Vulture. It turns out that Sam has lived numerous times before, and every time he is struck down in battle or killed, an enigmatic priest, Father Tiempo, saves him to try again; this, however, is Sam’s last chance to prevent the Vulture from achieving his terrible goals. Sam is joined by a courageous girl named Glory, who proves to be a valuable ally, and his arms are magically bonded with a pair of snakes, giving him inhuman speed and skill with guns. Wilson (Boys of Blur) delivers a twisty, swashbuckling tale, but some of the cross-temporal mechanics come off as awkward, either ill-explained or underutilized (such as Father Tiempo’s habit of communicating between his older and younger selves). But readers who embrace the novel’s off-kilter perspective should find it an entertaining romp, one that lays groundwork for future installments in the Outlaws of Time series. Ages 8–12. Agent: Aaron Rench, Leaptide Literary Group. (Apr.)
An exciting adventure with relentless action and more twists and turns than a sidewinder snake on the hunt.
A lightning fast adventure with one breathless action scene after another.
On the charges of wild action, mind-bending fantasy, unforgettable characters, and enough fun plot twists to blow the ten-gallon from any reader’s head, the verdict on ND Wilson’s Outlaws of Time: crazy guilty.
A wide world of incredible magic.
A must-read series.
Praise for BOYS OF BLUR:“The story moves at heart-pounding speeds, furthered by magic and mystery and rooted in ideas of familial bonds and self-discovery.
A must-read series.
The story moves at heart-pounding speeds, furthered by magic and mystery and rooted in ideas of familial bonds and self-discovery. In the end, it is a tale of one boy’s daring quest to save his family and to learn what it means to fly.
A gem.
The story moves at heart-pounding speeds, furthered by magic and mystery and rooted in ideas of familial bonds and self-discovery. In the end, it is a tale of one boy’s daring quest to save his family and to learn what it means to fly.
A gem.
05/01/2016
Gr 5–8—Sam Miracle has always been different. An orphan who lives in a group home, he often blanks out and finds himself in vivid dreams that seem almost real. Sam is also disabled; his arms were shattered in an accident he cannot remember, and though they are healed, they are immobile and painful at times. He soon discovers he is part of a small group of people who can walk through time and that he has lived the same life over and over—dashing around time trying to live long enough to stop an evil outlaw who wants to end the world. Now the time of the final conflict approaches, and with the help of another foster kid, a girl named Glory, and his companion through time, Father Tiempo, Sam sets out to meet his destiny. There's tons of action and adventure in this book, most of which is set in the old West, but though Wilson tries, he does not successfully manage all the time threads. Younger readers will most likely be confused by the constant, intricate time line shifting as well as the small details of Sam's past adventures, which are revealed too slowly. Other major hindrances are the problematic elements of stereotypical wise Native American elders and Sam's disabled arms being cured through magic. VERDICT Though some action scenes are satisfying, overall this time-twisting tale takes too long to sort itself out. Recommended only in libraries where the author's previous works are very popular.—Angie Manfredi, Los Alamos County Library System, NM
A myriad of strong characters is featured in Wilson’s story, which is part time travel, part thriller, part Western, and part quest. It all provides a showcase for MacLeod Andrews’s narration skills, and he doesn’t disappoint. Twelve-year-old Sam Miracle, an orphan who is besieged by dreams of the past, is determined to do right by his father and sister. If Sam can replay a portion of his past life, his personal situation will be resolved, but as he lights down in different timeframes, his enemy, the Vulture, is waiting to thwart him. Andrews moves in and out of each character deftly. His Sam is a spot-on tween, anguished or pigheaded; his Vulture is loud, forceful, and intimidating. Reading the narrative, Andrews soothes the listener with a calming voice as he sets all the scenes. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
2016-01-20
Starting with a ragtag bunch of boys, sweltering desert, and tall-tale sensibility reminiscent of Louis Sachar's Holes (1998), this fantasy quickly becomes a time-hopping shoot-'em-up. Sam Miracle, a 12-year-old blond white boy with arms that have been shattered and fused so tightly they don't bend at the elbows, lives at a ranch for destitute youth. He frequently slips into trances in which he and his sister, Millie, also blonde, face death. The visions are memory fragments: Sam's been killed repeatedly, as has Millie. A villain named El Buitre (the Vulture) is destroying life for "centuries in both directions," and to that end he must kill Sam—permanently. The plot's all action—Wild West, train wrecks, bridge crashes, gunfights—and the characters all recognizable types: a boy destined for greatness, an endangered sister, a girl sidekick, and three magical Navajos speaking a "mysterious liquid language" who orbit—and sacrifice themselves for—the white hero. One's an appallingly stereotypical medicine man, communicating with animals and performing medical wonders; his brother is Father Tiempo, sort of a corporeal spirit guide who propels Sam through years and centuries but sacrifices himself to death repeatedly. Gunshots abound, and sometimes, because of Sam's narrative viewpoint, they blast right at readers. Unforgettably, the medicine man fuses snakes with Sam's arms, making the boy a crack shot and a legend. Catchy tall tale, violent Western, and time travel, wrapped around inexcusable indigenous tropes. (Western fantasy. 9-12)
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940173434654 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Publication date: | 04/19/2016 |
| Series: | Outlaws of Time Series , #1 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Age Range: | 8 - 11 Years |
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