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eletricjb's review against another edition
4.0
Can't resist a retelling of an old myth! But dang, this is for sure the weirdest one of the Time Quintet.
yanskeedoodle's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
fabulousdave's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
sarah0554's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
story_thief's review against another edition
1.0
Every so often an author comes along and changes all science-fiction and pop culture with their masterpiece: [a:Frank Herbert|58|Frank Herbert|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1591018335p2/58.jpg] and [b:Dune|44767458|Dune (Dune, #1)|Frank Herbert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1555447414l/44767458._SY75_.jpg|3634639], [a:Douglas Adams|4|Douglas Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1616277702p2/4.jpg] and [b:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|386162|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)|Douglas Adams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559986152l/386162._SX50_.jpg|3078186], [a:Orson Scott Card|589|Orson Scott Card|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1294099952p2/589.jpg] and [b:Ender's Game|375802|Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1)|Orson Scott Card|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408303130l/375802._SY75_.jpg|2422333], and [a:Aldous Huxley|3487|Aldous Huxley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1547138835p2/3487.jpg] and [b:Brave New World|35677333|Brave New World|Aldous Huxley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500068770l/35677333._SY75_.jpg|3204877], among others. What they all have in common is that everything they wrote after that was just... not as good. [a:Madeleine L'Engle|106|Madeleine L'Engle|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1305256804p2/106.jpg] and [b:A Wrinkle in Time|33574273|A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1)|Madeleine L'Engle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507963312l/33574273._SX50_.jpg|948387] belong on this list. The word to describe reading the fourth book in the Time Quintet series is simply... cringe. From the half-naked four-foot tall dark-skinned desert people, to the awkward dialogue, to the magic shapeshifting immortal fallen angels hitting on sixteen-year-old girls, this retelling of Noah's Ark just comes off as well-intentioned but wrong on so many levels. I never thought I would do this to a book in the Time Quintet series, but I had to give this book one star. That's less than [b:Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two|29056083|Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two (Harry Potter, #8)|John Tiffany|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1470082995l/29056083._SY75_.jpg|48765776]. That's how poor of an addition to the series this is.
Like the other books in the Time Quintet series, this one has travel across time and space, fantastical beings guiding the main characters through their journey, and religious themes of harmony and trusting in God's grand plan. In this book, Murray twins Sandy and Dennys (good luck telling them apart; more on that later) accidentally mess with their father's experiment and are transported to the time just before Noah started building his Ark. Then they do almost nothing for a year before figuring out a way to get back home that they should've figured out in at most a week. It's almost like [b:A Swiftly Tilting Planet|77276|A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Time Quintet, #3)|Madeleine L'Engle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327465278l/77276._SY75_.jpg|1196024], but worse because at least ASTP had an almost puzzle-like element to it and deepened the lore of the Time Quintet series. However, for anyone with some knowledge of of the Biblical story of Noah's Ark and the Flood, the fates of the characters and the end of the story in Many Waters are foregone conclusions.
Another Goodreads reviewer, Andrew Leon, had criticisms of this book that I 100% agree with (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1048557964) but I have some more to add:
1) Why has no one in the Murray family told Sandy and Dennys abut their adventures in space and time? And why don't Sandy and Dennys tell their family their story by the time of A Swiftly Tilting Planet? The twins aren't too interested in their parents' scientific work but the stories from books one and two would make great stories to share around the dinner table. Even if the father's experiments were a state secret, the twins could keep a secret by the time they're fifteen. It irks me to no end when characters in speculative fiction stories don't tell other characters about their experiences. It makes sense in more serious works like Animorphs but in this case it doesn't.
2) Sandy and Dennys do almost nothing. I have notes on this book that say "101 pages in and still no sign of the plot" and "164 pages in and the plot is barely taking off" and "300 pages in and they're just barely building the Ark!" The first one hundred pages or so are focused on the twins recovering from sunstroke and sunburn and getting to know the characters, which makes sense. The main conflict of the story comes from the twins trying to save a girl named Tiglah, who apparently is the only person in the oasis worth saving and inexplicably does not have a place in Noah's Ark despite being his daughter. The twins have a surprisingly realistic conversation about her lack of immunity to unfamiliar diseases (which is not often discussed in time-travel science-fiction) and providing identity papers for her. This conversation becomes moot when Tiglah is saved by a literal Deus ex Machina. Almost the same story could be told without the twins and with a third-person omniscient narrator focusing on the people of the oasis.
3) I don't mind that this book deals with themes of discovering sexuality because it handles that quite well. I don't mind that the supporting characters are half-naked, especially the women (at least, I got used to the idea). I mind that this book does not have anything to say about religion that the previous three books did. The twins discuss this only a little, but what does it say about God that good and bad people will be drowned in the flood? What does it mean that modern people are just as bad or even worse? Will God send another flood for it? What does it say about God that the daughters of Noah and their families have no place on the Ark? This book is meant for older/grown-up readers of A Wrinkle in Time, so maybe they're ready for a cynical answer: God is petty and sexist and another flood is coming soon. Or, L'Engle can write something clever that reconciles this with the themes of God's love and all things working together in harmony.
3.5) On that note, even after seeing such fantastical things as time and space travel, unicorns, manticorns, mammoths, seraphs, and nephil, how do the science and practical-minded twins not wonder how four men, four women, and a couple of farm and desert animals repopulate the entire planet? That question is not satisfied for me.
4) A petty one, but good luck telling the difference between the twins or the seraphim without taking notes like I had to.
It hurts to hate a book, but at least hatred can be entertaining for a short while. It first I said this book was cringe but really it made me feel nothing. And that's the worst thing a book can do.
Like the other books in the Time Quintet series, this one has travel across time and space, fantastical beings guiding the main characters through their journey, and religious themes of harmony and trusting in God's grand plan. In this book, Murray twins Sandy and Dennys (good luck telling them apart; more on that later) accidentally mess with their father's experiment and are transported to the time just before Noah started building his Ark. Then they do almost nothing for a year before figuring out a way to get back home that they should've figured out in at most a week. It's almost like [b:A Swiftly Tilting Planet|77276|A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Time Quintet, #3)|Madeleine L'Engle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327465278l/77276._SY75_.jpg|1196024], but worse because at least ASTP had an almost puzzle-like element to it and deepened the lore of the Time Quintet series. However, for anyone with some knowledge of of the Biblical story of Noah's Ark and the Flood, the fates of the characters and the end of the story in Many Waters are foregone conclusions.
Another Goodreads reviewer, Andrew Leon, had criticisms of this book that I 100% agree with (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1048557964) but I have some more to add:
1) Why has no one in the Murray family told Sandy and Dennys abut their adventures in space and time? And why don't Sandy and Dennys tell their family their story by the time of A Swiftly Tilting Planet? The twins aren't too interested in their parents' scientific work but the stories from books one and two would make great stories to share around the dinner table. Even if the father's experiments were a state secret, the twins could keep a secret by the time they're fifteen. It irks me to no end when characters in speculative fiction stories don't tell other characters about their experiences. It makes sense in more serious works like Animorphs but in this case it doesn't.
2) Sandy and Dennys do almost nothing. I have notes on this book that say "101 pages in and still no sign of the plot" and "164 pages in and the plot is barely taking off" and "300 pages in and they're just barely building the Ark!" The first one hundred pages or so are focused on the twins recovering from sunstroke and sunburn and getting to know the characters, which makes sense. The main conflict of the story comes from the twins trying to save a girl named Tiglah, who apparently is the only person in the oasis worth saving and inexplicably does not have a place in Noah's Ark despite being his daughter. The twins have a surprisingly realistic conversation about her lack of immunity to unfamiliar diseases (which is not often discussed in time-travel science-fiction) and providing identity papers for her. This conversation becomes moot when Tiglah is saved by a literal Deus ex Machina. Almost the same story could be told without the twins and with a third-person omniscient narrator focusing on the people of the oasis.
3) I don't mind that this book deals with themes of discovering sexuality because it handles that quite well. I don't mind that the supporting characters are half-naked, especially the women (at least, I got used to the idea). I mind that this book does not have anything to say about religion that the previous three books did. The twins discuss this only a little, but what does it say about God that good and bad people will be drowned in the flood? What does it mean that modern people are just as bad or even worse? Will God send another flood for it? What does it say about God that the daughters of Noah and their families have no place on the Ark? This book is meant for older/grown-up readers of A Wrinkle in Time, so maybe they're ready for a cynical answer: God is petty and sexist and another flood is coming soon. Or, L'Engle can write something clever that reconciles this with the themes of God's love and all things working together in harmony.
3.5) On that note, even after seeing such fantastical things as time and space travel, unicorns, manticorns, mammoths, seraphs, and nephil, how do the science and practical-minded twins not wonder how four men, four women, and a couple of farm and desert animals repopulate the entire planet? That question is not satisfied for me.
4) A petty one, but good luck telling the difference between the twins or the seraphim without taking notes like I had to.
It hurts to hate a book, but at least hatred can be entertaining for a short while. It first I said this book was cringe but really it made me feel nothing. And that's the worst thing a book can do.
christyxoxo87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
katiereads24's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
mandtastic's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Not at all my favorite of the “Wrinkle in Time” installments. However it was still classically L’Engle with her mixture of sci-fi and religious fantasy. This was the Murray Twins stand alone adventure.
karisbirchett's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
ameserole's review against another edition
2.0
Many Waters is the fourth book in A Wrinkle in Time series and it's probably my least favorite. It was just a really boring book to breeze through. I mean they are only like.. 12 chapters each book but man was I bored with this one.
Sandy and Denny messed with their dad's new computer and traveled to a different time. They end up within Noah and the Ark storyline which seemed pretty cool.. but was just really boring and disappointing. For some reason, it just didn't work for me and kind of rubbed me the wrong way. No amount of coffee, wine, or puppy snuggles could get me to like this book. I'm just happy that I'm almost done with this series.
The one thing I didn't like, and trust me there was a lot of things I didn't like, was the sex talk. Or sexual references. ANYTHING to do with sex in this book - I didn't like. I think the reason I didn't like it was because this series isn't supposed to be that type of young adult.. more like middle school young adult.. with no sex. EVER.
Overall, this book was a hot mess in my eyes. I just didn't like. I hope the last book is way better.
Sandy and Denny messed with their dad's new computer and traveled to a different time. They end up within Noah and the Ark storyline which seemed pretty cool.. but was just really boring and disappointing. For some reason, it just didn't work for me and kind of rubbed me the wrong way. No amount of coffee, wine, or puppy snuggles could get me to like this book. I'm just happy that I'm almost done with this series.
The one thing I didn't like, and trust me there was a lot of things I didn't like, was the sex talk. Or sexual references. ANYTHING to do with sex in this book - I didn't like. I think the reason I didn't like it was because this series isn't supposed to be that type of young adult.. more like middle school young adult.. with no sex. EVER.
Overall, this book was a hot mess in my eyes. I just didn't like. I hope the last book is way better.