A story that doesn't leave you treading water.

I've been reading Madeleine L'Engle's books since I was about 9 years old. A Wrinkle In Time and A Wind in the Door impressed me, but didn't really capture my interest too much. I've always been more into historical fiction than into science fiction. Those two books leaned more into the science fiction realm. A Swiftly Tilting Planet, book three in the Time Quartet, reigned as my favorite book for many years. It linked a bit of the science fiction with historical fiction, and I was drawn into L'Engle's well constructed world. I didn't think that she could have improved on that third book.

Then I read 'Many Waters'.

Dennys and Sandy, the twin brothers of Meg and Charles Wallace, L'Engle's previous reigning characters, finally have their own adventure. They are the most normal of the Murry family, and thus, stumble into their adventure in a most normal way: by playing with their father's computer when they most certainly shouldn't be.

Before they know it, they are drawn into a world completely unknown to them. They appear to be on a completely different planet, in a completely different solar system.
But are they?

The story begins to seem a smidge familiar (if you even have had just a slight brush with the Bible...like myself) after just a few chapters. The boys find themselves in a primitive, wild, and corrupt world, where only a few people are kind and caring.
There are whisperings of coming floods, though the land is desert as far as the eye can see. Sandy and Dennys are in grave danger of being drowned, or lost forever in the sands of time.
In the meantime, they are growing up, falling in love, and having to contend with dark strangers and darker angels.
They find themselves lost where all times seem to meet, and wherever they step next could change the future forever.

This is a novel that looks at the well-worn theme of coming-of-age in a rather unusual way. I believe that it is great for adults as well as young adolescents. This is a book not to be missed.