I’d been looking at this book for a while before I actually finally broke and purchased it. I flew through it, this one was totally engaging, and I loved every minute of it. It combines a fun, time-travelling adventure story, some creepy characters, and some vintage photographs.

When things take a turn for the tragic in his life, and his possibly senile grandfather is killed, Jacob finds himself thrust into a world he never would have believed would have existed. Spurred on by photographs, and a cryptic message from his grandfather, Jacob is determined to learn more about the life the man he knew lived.

Traveling to a small island off the coast of Wales, his search comes up against a wall, as clues are few and far between.

That is until he bumps into a girl his age named Emma.

From there, Jacob finds himself in an extraordinary adventure that is part time-travel story, part X-men, and part monster movie, as the revelations about what is going on begin to arrive fast and quick.

I couldn’t put this one down, and knocked it out incredibly rapidly, I love how Riggs has created his characters, and uses the largely untouched vintage photographs in the book to fill out his tale, and add, in a lot of cases, a sense of mystery, wonder, and in some cases downright creepiness to his story.

I don’t want to expound too much on the plot, because I went in with a bare minimum of knowledge, and was thinking this read was going to be one thing, but then it turned around and revealed itself to be something completely different, and while in some cases that may have upset me, I quite like where this one went, and I’ll be curious to see what happens in the follow-up books.

I’m also a little troubled with the idea that Fox has picked up the rights to produce a film based on the book. Half of the appeal of the story is that these are real photographs that Riggs has gathered from collectors, and built a story around. That side of it will be lost, and if not done properly, then it could just succumb to the curse of the typical teen novel film, a great read, a horrible translation to the screen.

So before cameras roll, get out there, pick this one up, and read it, revel in the pictures, as some of them are beautiful, almost all of them are odd, and some, well some are right down troubling.

Riggs has crafted an enjoyable tale, about a young man finding his way through the extraordinary, and learning that everything, including himself is extraordinary. His characters are real, and they seem to leap off the page to embrace the reader in the world he’s created.

I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book!

Have you read them?