MMGM: The Obsidian Blade by Pete Hautman

About The Book: The first time his father disappeared, Tucker Feye had just turned thirteen. The Reverend Feye simply climbed on the roof to fix a shingle, let out a scream, and vanished — only to walk up the driveway an hour later, looking older and worn, with a strange girl named Lahlia in tow. In the months that followed, Tucker watched his father grow distant and his once loving mother slide into madness. But then both of his parents disappear.

Now in the care of his wild Uncle Kosh, Tucker begins to suspect that the disks of shimmering air he keeps seeing — one right on top of the roof — hold the answer to restoring his family. And when he dares to step into one, he's launched on a time-twisting journey — from a small Midwestern town to a futuristic hospital run by digitally augmented healers, from the death of an ancient prophet to a forest at the end of time. Inevitably, Tucker's actions alter the past and future, changing his world forever.

First Line: The first time his father disappeared, Tucker Feye had only just turned thirteen.


What Others Are Saying:"This might be Hautman’s most daring book yet. Throughout, Hautman raises significant issues concerning family, faith, and destiny. Well-developed and complex characters, a fascinating time travel framework (including dispatches from the far future), and a heart-stopping conclusion will leave readers looking forward to the next book." —Publishers Weekly(starred review.)

Vivid imagination and deft storytelling make for refreshing speculative fiction in this time-travel tale... Part science fiction, part adventure, part mystery, but every bit engrossing; be sure to start the hold list for the sequel. —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

What I Thought: Since I hadn't read any of Hautman's earlier work, I didn't have anything to compare to. There's a lot going on in the first book in the Klaatu trilogy series. World building, mystery spinning and   intense adventure that captivate the reader. Of course, my favorite part is the time travel because I love that stuff! Tucker is no simple character as he navigates between challenges with no easy answers. Often you're left wondering what else could possibly go wrong. While I'm not normally a science fiction reader, I enjoyed Hautman's ability to bring so many places and times together. Either that or my watching Dr. Who with my husband has opened the sciencey-fictiony part of my brain.  

About The Author: 
Pete Hautman

Website
Blog:Pete Hautman Says...
Twitter:@petehautman

Publisher: Candlewick

Who:  I was born in 1952 in Berkeley, California. I lived in the Bay Area until I was five, by which time I had three younger siblings. In 1958 we moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota, where my parents continued to produce offspring. By 1964 I had four brothers and two sisters. I attended Cedar Manor Elementary School (also the alma mater of Al Franken and the Coen brothers), and eventually graduated honor-free from St. Louis Park High School.

For the next seven years I attended college, first at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, then at the University of Minnesota, where I took nearly every one-level class offered, but very few three- or five-level classes. I left college without graduating, but knowing a little bit about nearly everything, and a great deal about absolutely nothing. That superficial education now serves me well at cocktail parties, and as a novelist.

After college I worked various jobs for which I was ill-suited, including sign painter, graphic artist, marketing executive, painter cap salesman, pineapple slicer, etc. Eventually, having no better options, I decided to write a novel. I finished writing Drawing Dead in 1991. Two years later it was published by Simon & Schuster. -Pete Hautman.com