Title: The Rock
Author: Ted Stephens
Publisher: XlibrisAU
ISBN: 978-1-5035-0241-3
Pages: 142
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Suzanne Gattis
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Curious experiments, ancient history of Aborigines, attacks in the night, and time travel all make for a great tale in Ted Stephen’s The Rock. Set in both modern day and the prehistoric Australian outback, this work of fiction takes the reader to a new world, full of adventure, as they navigate through this easy-to-read novel.
The book follows the journey of Matt, Rick and Kim, each 9th year science students, who inadvertently send themselves back in time. Finding themselves in an unknown time and environment, they must get creative to not only stay alive but to also try to find a way back home. Befriended by the local tribe, after a bit of drama involving a mysterious drink and a spear, they are able to learn the land and the habits of the Aborigines; finding ways to survive in the meantime. However, for the boys, surviving is not enough. Not sure how they will do it, their ultimate mission is to return home.
The journey home is not an easy one and the author navigates the reader through several twists and turns along the way. The first few tries of time travel are short of a being a success. I enjoyed that the book exposes the reader to a less than happy potential ending; it adds a dose of reality to this work.
The author does a great job with the characters in this book. I think his understanding of boys of that age would make this a great young-adult fiction genre. What young boy wouldn’t want to travel to a new time and place and experience the adventure found in our past? The excellent character development extends to other characters in the book as well. Even the concerned science teacher and the burden of responsibility he feels are well described; the emotions jump off the pages.
A lot of the book is focused on the methods that the boys used to get back home. While I enjoyed this detail, I did find myself starting to drift off as I wanted to get to the next part. Additionally, I would have liked to see some more adventures of the boys while they were in the past. However, I do understand that scientific credibility is an important aspect of the story, however the adventure theme was the boys’ need and drive to get home. Overall, I found the tale to be a well written, enjoyable and a very interesting read.
