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A Review of Out of Time by Shane Malcolm Billings

42 Comments

Normally, I don’t post pieces on Tuesday. (My schedule is—for the most part—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.) But last night, Shane Malcolm Billings, our town library’s former Adult Services Librarian, posted such a wonderful, thoughtful review of my new YA fantasy Out of Time that I thought I would share it.

Here are a couple of excerpts of the review taken from Shane’s blog, In His Own Words:

Laurie Graves is back with Out of Time, the third entry in her Great Library Series. More straightforward in its progression than its two predecessors, with their skillful time jumps and multiple narrative threads, Out of Time is also Graves’s most well-written book yet.

Out of Time is faster and flashier than Maya and the Book of Everything and Library Lost, but somehow deeper as well. Graves expands her cast of characters, continues to develop her lead, and experiments with ever more elements of magic and fantasy. Her writing continues to shine, and she has become even more adept at balancing the action sequences with the philosophizing, the adventure with the quiet reflection. These are special books, which will appeal to a wide range of readers. In these trying times, escapism is more welcome than ever. You will find great escape as well as much food for thought in Out of Time, the strongest entry yet in the Great Library Series.

Click here to read the entire review.

Many, many thanks, Shane!

42 thoughts on “A Review of Out of Time by Shane Malcolm Billings”

  1. How wonderful! I do have this book on my Kindle and I will get to it soon I hope! Isn’t it great to have the support of your local libraryian!

  8. Great review Laurie and the comments show that your writing, over the series is becoming more powerful and skilful with every book, that is an art, wonderful Laurie, keep it up!

  10. How gratifying to receive such a positive review from someone who ‘knows’ books and their readers. I wish you well with the marketing of this one.

    1. Thanks, Derrick. On another subject…I had a dream last night about you and Jackie. I had made a cake for you, but alas it was too dry. What an embarrassment! I was glad to find it was only a dream. 😉

  15. How nice to have this thoughtful reader! I myself am getting near the end and can see that you must be planning to go beyond the trilogy form. Lucky for us all!

  17. I particularly liked this bit:
    “Like Tolkien, she invests a certain tone of sorrow into her novels, even when things are heading in the right direction. This is always a beautiful part of her books for me, even if it’s subtle; in fact, the subtlety adds to the effect.”

      1. You can find similarities between most writers if you look hard enough. I might mention enough food to have a reader reaching for the cookie jar! I am not actually a big fan of Tolkien, although perhaps I ought to be. I grew up with the old fairy stories.

  18. I’m not going to read the whole review because I will be reading this book during the holidays and I don’t want any preview information! As you know, I can hardly wait. But that review does NOT surprise me. You are a lovely and skilled writer, Laurie. And he’s right: this is a special series. Congrats.

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