Note: The link to the left is for the paperback, it is also available on Kindle HERE. Also, come back tomorrow – the author has some goodies to give away (and they are pretty freaking awesome!) Okay, so the review…

The end of the second book in this series, EQUILIBRIUM (Portal Chronicles Book Two), leaves us with quite a cliff hanger. I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting on the third book to come out. I have major instant gratification problems, so either the author took pity on me or I moaned and groaned enough in public forums that she sent me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Quantum just to shut me up. Either way, I was excited to find out what happened next. I’m a 30(mumble) year old woman, but I absolutely adore this young adult series.

It is very rare that I feel a series gets better as it goes on. In fact, the Portal Chronicles is the only one I can think of this year that I’ve felt that way about. It stays true to the storyline, the characters and the location. I didn’t feel the least bit disconnected from the previous two books. It’s one of the things I enjoy most about these books, they are complete stories, she left us hanging a bit on the 2nd one, but there’s no awkward breaks.

This particular book is very well written, very well edited and a great polished product. It is very professionally done and something the author should be very proud to call her final work product. I didn’t see any grammar issues or spelling issues; either I was too sucked into the story to notice or they simply don’t exist (I suspect the latter as Ms. Rose’s previous work has always been well done as well).

The characters were well formed. I felt I got to know more about each of them. Not only the Sigma-W, but all the central characters that we have gotten to know and love were fleshed out even more without delving into long monologues of their childhood or anything that would make me want to dig my eyes out with a spoon. I do wish there was more of Arizona in it, I felt she was absent from too many scenes, but having said that, she’s my favorite YA (Young Adult) book character, she’s a teenager, but she’s not snotty, silly or whiny. We have entirely too many whiny heroines in YA books these days. *cough*Bella*cough* My favorite aspect of the story came with David, but I won’t say anything more and spoil it for the fans.

All-in-all, I think what draws me to these books is that the characters are nice. Even the bad guys are pretty darn good underneath it all. There’s no hate filled tirades, there’s no gratuitous violence (or sex). This one had a few instances of the “s” word, but nothing horrible. But the characters… the characters are very likable. I suspect that the next in the series will be a little darker based on the epilogue, and I think that’s okay too, I think as Arizona and the crew gets older and more mature, they will come to see the darker things in life, but I like that the author let her be a kid, gosh darn it!

As far as the cliff hanger that we were left with in book 2, we are given some resolution. I have to admit I thought it was a bit of a cop out, but I also don’t see where anything else could have happened and still have this book be has fabulous as it truly was, so I’m not going to complain too much about it.

Both of the previous books have gotten four stars from me. They are so well put together, but Quantum brings the story into itself and really gives us a deeper understanding of this world that Imogen Rose has created for us and, for that, I give the book a full 5 stars and put onto my “must read” list for 2010. I would highly suggest checking the first two out before you read this one. The first is PORTAL (Portal Chronicles) and the second is EQUILIBRIUM (Portal Chronicles Book Two).

This book is recommended for Portal fans. The series is recommended for those that light a fun light read. The books are young adult, with light sci-fi and time travel. Fun and fabulous books. Even though the author provided me with this copy for free, I will be buying a copy for my kindle account so I can share with others on my account.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2010: 87

This the 2nd of the Outlander series and I just finished this one. Like the first, it’s long, excessively so. What makes this different from the first, however, is that it’s really really slow. About a quarter of the way in, I was ready to stop reading it. It didn’t appear to be going anywhere and was starting to make me a little angry, to be honest. I felt cheated by the author. I had invested so much time into the first book and she’s killing me slowly with the second.

It did redeem itself in the end. The story is well done, but really, half of the book could have been edited out and the story would have remained the same. I didn’t realize there’s such a following for these books, apparently entire groups formed around them. I would say they are good, but now the end-all be-all. I think they might be slightly overrated.

Having said THAT, the history that goes into the books is actually kind of impressive. It’s not really my thing, but if you like hearing about the 1800s Scotland, France, etc… this is probably right up your alley and you wouldn’t want to stab your eyes out with a spoon.

I’m debating on reading the third, but will definitely be taking a break from this series to read something a little more light and airy.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2010: 51

I first read this back in September 2006. It has always stuck with me so I chose it for a book club selection recently. I’m interested to hear what the others think about it. For me, it made me think a lot more on second reading. What would it be like to “come back” at the age of 14 knowing everything I do now? Would I do my life over again? Would I choose a different path?

That’s not to say the book doesn’t have a few holes if you really wanted to nitpick it. I’ve heard a lot of discussion about the ending, but I honestly don’t think it could have ended any other way. I like the not knowing aspect of it. Why did it happen? Will it happen again? What will they do now?

I guess the book really did open up more questions that I asked myself, but also about the plot in general. This is well worth a read. I read it because someone said “If you liked Time Traveler’s Wife, you’ll like Replay.” I think I might just like Replay a bit more… but just a tiny bit.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2010: 35