Stepbrothers Darrell and Wade, along with female friends Lily and Becca and Wade's father fly to Germany to attend the funeral of an elderly professor of Wade's father. They discover he was murdered and end up mingled into a dangerous global chase to discover a secret that could jeopardize the fate of human race. Their mission is to locate some hidden parts of a time-navigation astrolabe built by Copernicus. They are in a mad race, fearful that the device could fall into the hands of the believable antagonists, led by a villainous brilliant female (with heterochromia.)

If you love Astronomy and unearthing hidden secrets then you will like this book, but even if you don't, there is plenty of humor, fast paced action, puzzles, camaraderie, and travel Texas, Germany, Paris, Rome, Guam.) My only complaint is that the problem solving was too contrived, with huge leaps of faith, but this is fiction after all. Next book will be not be published until October :-( ( )

Finally, a book I can recommend. The youth were youth, smart for their ages but not suddenly, unbelievably experts at anything and everything. There was an adult in their lives as often as possible, so I didn't shut the book asking the age old question, "Where were their parents?!" There was no kissing, no creeping (well, amongst the good guys), and very very little cussing.
This is a story that reaches back in history to Copernicus, a mystery spanning time and space. With luck, perseverance, and some help, the crew of four teenagers and their adult slip through the frantically grasping fingers of the Teutonic Order--this time.

I love anything that has a hint of the supernatural and the challenge of a quest and this book really met the bill. ( )

The fact that I was able to put this book down for a couple weeks is a good indication that it isn't the fast paced middle school adventure that I thought it was. I can't remember where I thought it was slowing down, but there were just parts where it obviously did. Still liked it, and will stock it in my library, but I'm hoping book two moves a bit faster. I'm a bit shocked to learn that the plan is for 11 more books; don't know if I like it well enough to devote THAT much shelf space to one series, especially with the book the width that it is! ( )

Absolutely awesome! Action-packed excitement, characters that felt genuine, intelligent plot and interesting facts interspersed throughout. A great middle grade adventure. The marketing plan looks like it will be great fun too! I look forward to seeing more of The Copernicus Legacy series. ( )