“Mel has been a literature and English fan since a very early age. After studying as much English as she could during high school, Mel now tutors English studies at an HSC level while completing her undergraduate degree. ”

Infinity Ring: A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner is the first of seven books in Scholastics’ latest fiction series aimed at readers aged between 8-12 years.

Dak and Sera are the two main characters who navigate a secret society, SQ, that now rule the world. The climate is unpredictable and destructive which shows the seriousness of the problems SQ have created by ‘breaking’ history. Dak and Sera must then travel through time with help of the other ‘hystorians’ to begin to fix the parts of history that SQ has messed with to ensure that the future is no longer filled with world-threatening natural disasters.

A strong friendship between Dak and Sera is established early on and their love for history and science is brought up. The relationship between these two characters is definitely the main winning feature of this book. Dak is trusting and possesses an adorable innocence, and Sera balances him out with quick, logical thinking.

Another great feature of this series which makes it appealing is the way Scholastic have included other resources (puzzles, clues for the next book in the series and internet games) to broaden the readers’ experience of the world Dak and Sera find themselves in. Given that the generation reading this series is increasingly technologically savvy, Scholastic have made a good decision to blend these aspects into their series, making it even more appealing to its audience.

The challenges Dak and Sera face are often offset with an enjoyable, light-hearted and extremely well written humour which is entirely appropriate for the ages of the readers. Dashner has written a predominantly successful novel which acts as a firm introduction to what promises to be an interactive and popular series for Scholastic.

– Mel

Not only does this book look like the beginning of an exciting adventure with all seven books of the series being written by different authors and a large collaboration of author’s thoughts going into the action, it comes with the potential for some online fun – which in this ever evolving technological world connects children to the internet.

The website for the series – Infinity Ring, a Time-Travel series and games – is full of interactive games and forums about the book which allows kids to take the adventure off the page. I suggest that you definitely check it out for yourself and get your children in on the action.

– Leah

Pick it up online at:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
IndieBound
BAM!