More than a sequel...

"A Wind in the Door" is more than just a sequel to Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" and more than just the second installment in her "Time" series. It is a fabulous work that more than stands on its own.

Of course, if you've read "A Wrinkle in Time", you're familiar with Meg and the Murray family, their dog Fortinbras, as well as Calvin O'Keefe. "Wind" continues on with these main characters and introduces us to more unforgettable characters and experiences.

"A Wind in the Door" is so well written that it can be appreciated on many levels. First, taken as pure storytelling, it is a well-spun tale that is part epic, part science fiction and part fairy tale. Digging a little deeper you find scientific concepts and mind-bending illustrations of the complexity of the universe. Underlying this there are even deeper truths about relationships, beliefs, and spiritual reality. You could teach several college courses just on the concepts and issues raised by this book!

There are unforgettable characters. Proginoskes the cherubim. Blajeny and Louise the Larger the teachers. Charles Wallace the prodigy. The terrible Echthroi. Sporos needing to "deepen" and refusing.

There are unforgettable scenes. Meg at the star-gazing rock. The three Mr. Jenkinses. The struggle inside the mitochondria. Louise the Larger warning Meg of impending danger.

L'Engle's genius is in her ability to take very deep and philosophical truths and find characters and situations which make them tangible. Like all good fiction, the fantastic characters and the improbable scenarios help to illustrate very real and practical truths.

I cannot recommend this book too highly. I just recently checked out the "audio book" version of the story from our local library, and I have a whole new appreciation (20 years after my first reading of it) for L'Engle's story-telling and the wonderful truths that can be gleaned from it.