Book Review

Walker of Time by Helen Hughes Vick


Walker of Time was the story of a 15 year old Hopi boy named Walker Talayesva. After the unfortunate death of his Uncle Naat, Walker finds himself chasing a legend of his Uncle's past through Walnut Canyon. Throughout his exploration Walker finds Tag, the son of an archeologist in Walnut Canyon. The 2 of them end up getting zapped 800 years in the past. Walker and Tag soon run into an ancient Indian civilization that is extremely similar to the Hopi that Walker came from.

I found that Walker Of Time was a extremely good read. The way that many of the areas in the book were described was very in depth and helped make the area seem real in my head. I also liked the way that the characters were portrayed. Walker was really accepting of Tag and the Ancients were accepting of Walker. They didn't just make Tag a total idiot and everyone managed to get along, yet a conflict did still eventually develop. That was one of the few things I didn't like about the story. The conflict of Walker vs Naat's death seemed to develop way too slowly. It also felt like the conflict between Walker and Grey Wolf was too minute and random. There would be some event and then suddenly Grey Wolf attacks.

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. It was a good, short, and entertaining book. A friend of mine even got extremely excited when he found out I was reading it. I hope to read the sequels soon!

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Sick Days(Friday Post#3)

Post 5
10-30-11
Page 138
Due to my recent sickness I haven't actually gotten the time to read, so hopefully I will have a post up next Friday.

Historical Fiction(Friday Post#2)

Post 4
9-23-11
Page 138
The Historical Fiction in prevalent in the Walker Of Time has extremely drastic effects on the Character and Setting. The Setting has to be in history for a book to be Historical Fiction. This is a HUGE effect on the Setting. The Setting in the Walker Of Time starts in the present but moves back 800 years. Historical Fiction also has affects on the Character. If a character has no importance in history or cant become part of history they cant be in a book with Historical Fiction.

Oops

Post 3
9-19-11
Page 77
Today I realized that I have completely messed up my objective with this blog. I thought I was supposed to analyze the character and setting of my story, along with the effects they have on the story's other elements and each other. The standard I am supposed to be covering reads "Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character period as as a means of understanding how authors use or alter history". I have roughly translated that to "Analyze the affect historical fiction has on the character and setting". From now on I will be mainly analyzing the affects of historical fiction on the character and setting of my story instead of  just analyzing the character and setting of my story. 

Into The Village(Friday Post#1)

Post 2
9-16-11
Page 68
So far I have seen a huge development in Setting as I said before but now I am also seeing a a lot of different changes in Character. Tag seems to have become more important to the story. He seems now to be more of a dynamic character than a static character. He is learning more of the culture of the Ancient Ones and going with things instead of stubbornly rebelling against them. There have also been a lot of new characters introduced in the book, like Flute Maiden, Great Owl, Grey Wolf, Scar Face, White Badger. I think all 5 of them will end up playing some significant role in the story.

Going Back In Time

Post 1
9-14-11
Page 32
Today while I was reading, what I believe was a huge change in setting occurred. I believe that time in the book jumped backward approximately 800 years. I knew from the description of the book that this would eventually happen but I didn't think it would happen this fast. There isn't even much of an established conflict yet, but this huge change in setting occurred. I am still wondering what the conflict will be and what the change in setting has to do with It. I also wonder what the role of Tag will be. He is a huge change in Character along with this huge change in setting. I am curious to see what will happen to him, because I don't think him and Walker will get along very well. I also wonder what the mission is for Walker or what lesson he will  learn. As I said in the First Impression post i think the huge change in time will somehow change Walker, making him a dynamic character. I am not sure what kind of character Tag is yet. I think he might be a static character, because he seems extremely stubborn.    

First Impression

From the moment I learned what The Walker Of Time was about I figured that setting would probably play some kind of role in the story, more than in any random book. A person going back in time 800 years is a huge change in the setting. This change in the setting would probably have a huge effect on all the other elements of the story. The plot would probably be changed by the huge jump in time. The characters would probably also be changed by this setting change. This leads me to believe that the main character is probably a dynamic character. I thought that this character would have to go back in time to learn some kind of lesson before somehow going back to whatever time would be his/her present.

This post was written after being about 30 pages through the book, but in the perspective of only having a slight knowledge of it, the same knowledge I had when my group and I picked the book.