Rating: 3.7
In Nicola Corrick’s The Phantom Tree, you get the stories of Alison Bannister and Mary Seymour. Alison, a former Tudorian resident, found the secret to time travel some ten years before the book begins and is now living in the present, with occasional flashbacks. Whereas poor Mary is stuck in a dreary life back in the 1500’s.
In both stories, the focus is magic, friendship, and finding a lost son no matter where in time you have to look. I found the stories fascinating. (Especially the part about Alison already being in the future and adjusted when the book starts.) So let me explain why my rating was a little low:
On their own, either story was good. However, because the stories were so different, I found the differences made it hard to establish a reading rhythm. Let’s compare:
- As pointed out before, they took place in two different times.
- Mary’s story was told through first person POV and Alison’s through third.
- Mary’s story was going forward in time whereas Alison’s was going backwards.
All of these elements were done for necessary reasons, I am sure; however, because there were so many of them, it often was hard to get back into the story when you got taken out.
(Another reason my rating was a little low was because there were a couple of grammar/spelling errors. I don’t expect books to be perfect, especially since I’m sure nothing I’ve ever written, including this review, has been perfect. I wouldn’t have let these small errors affect my overall opinion, except that an entire page was missing in my copy! Page 174.)
Anyway, while there were a few things that I disliked about the book, overall, I enjoyed it. I could see it being a good choice for GBC.