Imagina que fueses capaz de cambiar el pasado, y así evitar una cadena de catastróficos acontecimientos en el futuro. Ethan es uno de los Elegidos, un guardián del tiempo que tiene la misión de luchar contra la Orden del Caos, un grupo de seres malvados que intentan alterar el curso de la Historia para sus fines perversos. Pero, por otro lado, Ethan también es un chico normal, que va a clase y se esfuerza en hacer los deberes todos los días. Y cuando le asignan de Aprendiza a Isabel, una compañera de clase, la línea que separaba sus dos vidas empieza a difuminarse. La gente en la que confiaba asume nuevos papeles, tanto buenos como malos, y Ethan deberá usar toda su astucia y habilidad para protegerse y proteger a los suyos.

I was really excited about this book...it got such a high rating and seemed like such a fantastic premise. Maybe that's why it seemed to fall short.

Ethan is a Guardian of Time; he travels to the past in order to keep evil denizens from the Order of Chaos from changing it, thus affecting the future. Of course Ethan's only a teenager, but he's already very good at what he does. So the Guard decides to test him by giving him the willful Isabel as his new apprentice. But Isabel's initiation brings a whole host of problems to the surface, most of them revolving around an ancient prophecy.

It sounds so wonderful, and so much could have been done with such a concept. Which is why it comes so close to painful to watch the story enacted quite a bit below its potential.

In fact, I think my irritation with this novel stems from the wasted potential. It was enjoyable on some levels, but all I could think was how much better it could have been. Ethan and Isabel have all the seeds of great characters, as do others they interact with; Ethan's wise and ever-youthful mentor Arkarian probably comes closest to being a truly relatable person. But again, they never come to life; they remain flat and stiffly-written, shifting between easy teenage narration and speech too stilted to ever really come out of a mouth. I think this is partly due to the first person narration, something that most authors are either good at...or aren't. Curley unfortunately is not. The emotions are also only vaguely felt.

The story itself also grazes shallowly along the surface of its awesome premise. Plot bumps detract from the realism; it's too obvious how the author hand-waves the various parts of the Guard with magic, illusions, or mysterious powers. It's also a tad misleading; I was expecting the bulk of the story to involve the time traveling missions, but by the end more focus is put on old feuds with evil Chaos denizens then on anything historical. And the few missions sprinkled in do little to actually expose the reader to the time period, barreling through the process and tossing in some random historical figures like King Richard II and Abigail Adams.

The premise saves the story, giving it some decent moments and a pretty good climax and conclusion. I'm not sure I'll be reading the rest of the trilogy right away; it didn't reel me in as I'd hoped it would. ( )

An interesting world with PoV switches that didn't work well for me. ( )

I got this from the library when I was about 11 or 12, and took it on holiday with me. I remember devouring it and wanting to go home from my holiday, purely so I could read the next one. I still love the series now, and re-read them every so often. They're a quick and easy read, and the story is gripping. If you're a fan of history, the books are especially appealing. I also liked that one of the main characters shared my name ;) ( )

A great first book in a fun trilogy. The characters are deep and fun and I enjoyed reading this book, starting the series. I recommended this book to others and they started to read the series as well. ( )