Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: One mirror, every ten years a kid is picked, but not older than 17, and time traveling begins.

Opening Sentence: “Here’s what you need to know: You’re my son and you’re something like negative twenty-two, because that’s how long it will be before you’re born.”

The Review:

Kenny is 14 when his parents buy this old house that is a total fixer upper, and while cleaning out the place and checking everything out he stumbles across a dead baby and a note with several names on it, including his. He also finds some other notes and carvings that lead him to believe he can travel through the mirror, but he isn’t interesting in testing that theory until the night he meets Luka. The girl from 1987, and she explains the rules he wrote. Every ten years the mirror picks a kid and they can go backward, when they return home they can pull the kid from the past forward and after midnight you can always get home. Once the mirror chooses you, you can always travel through the mirror no matter your age.

Soon Kenny, Luka, Jimmy and the others begin a journey to save the dead baby, and try to stop Prince Harming. Along the way Kenny ends up trapped in the past with Peggy and Lilly, and they begin figuring out the connections between them and who the baby is. Kenny also begins to workout making doorstops that allow them to travel 30 years back instead of just ten, and that keys allow for longer jumps forwards and backwards.

He also finds out that sometimes no matter how hard you try to help, you just can’t undo things and sometimes it’s your messing around that causes problems. Will Kenny be able to save the baby and figure out who Prince Harming is so he can stop him from hurting his new friends?

This book was a total gem, and I was more than a little sad when I found that it’s not part of any series or trilogy. I was sucked in and reading from the moment Kenny started figuring everything out. I had to know what was going to happen. I will say in some places if you aren’t paying attention you can get confused because as with anything concerning time travel, it can get crazy if you aren’t really reading. That being said, I loved the world building and I loved the discovery process, and the connections. It was so amazing to see how this mirror picked kids randomly, but along the way you find it isn’t that random.

The mystery itself wasn’t that hard to figure out once the story gets going, but the suspense of confirming it really keeps you invested, and wrapping your head around who Prince Harming is totally feels like a reward at the end. I enjoyed every minute of this book and can only wish there was more. Seriously, I do wish for more, not because the end wasn’t satisfying, but because it was just that good.

Notable Scenes:

“If I went out there, and nothing happened, my ticket into the story I had been living in my head would turn out to be a forgery I had made myself.”

“The last thing I heard in 1987 before I shoved my face into iced molasses sounded like a slap.”

“In every decade we could, there seemed to be nothing more than rumors and legends.”

“You’ll go down the backward glass.”

“It didn’t even register at first that he had shot me.”

“I guessed he made a pretty decent wise old man, though I had been hoping for a little more wisdom about the way the force worked and how to handle a light saber.”

FTC Advisory: Flux provided me with a copy of Backward Glass. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

Full review at http://thebookshelfgargoyle.wordpress...

Lomax has created a complex timeslip novel with strong characters and a well-paced plot. Although the "rules" of mirror travel seem quite complicated, it's not necessary to commit them to memory in order to enjoy the story, as Lomax does a good job of having his characters work through their time-travel issues, while at the same time reminding the reader of the need-to-know elements.

It's refreshing to see a largely untapped premise in the YA bracket - this book will appeal to lots of readers who are looking for something for this age group that stands apart from the crowd.

Recommended. ( )