This is a fun middle grade adventure story with absolutely STUNNING art. The story itself is enjoyable, though probably best enjoyed by those in its target audience. However, even as an adult I found the story amusing—and I could pore over the artwork in the book for hours. ( )

This book has everything! Flight on boards that defy gravity, robots, dinosaurs, ladies from Victorian times Women pilots & pirates.
A can't-put-down high-action tale across time and waves that will keep you at the edge of your seat. An Absolutely enthralling, thrilling adventure perfect for all! ( )

Reseña en español: http://boisde-merveilles.blogspot.com/2018/06/timeless-diego-and-rangers-of_18.h...

This book is a steampunk, science fiction story that follows Diego in his quest to rescue his father,
Diego’s quest is full of action, heartfelt moments, and an incredible setting, turning the story in a very unique and creative one full of surprises and mixing elements that are hard to imagine together like pirates, dinosaurs and robots.

The book is pretty thick with more than 600 pages, but it contains 150 full color illustrations, some of them big enough to cover two pages. The illustrations are made by the author and other artists with different techniques, I liked most of them a lot, except the ones that looked like someone had drawn over a picture. The pictures are stunning and printed in high quality glossy paper.

I liked that the characters are racially diverse. Diego, the main character, is half Filipino and half white. I liked him as a character, and he was my favorite. I felt he and the captain were the most fleshed out and developed characters, the rest of the characters felt somewhat flat.

Diego is accompanied by some of his classmates, Lucy, a daring girl from a conservative family, she is the love interest of Diego and is supposed to be unique, different and smart, but I found her annoying. The second one is Pete, Diego’s best friend; he had no important part in the story so he was likeable but easy to forget. And the last one was Paige, a black girl who has had a rough life, she was tough, sometimes with reason, but sometimes she was just mean.

During the story it is introduced that Diego has a special ability, just like his father, but it is not explained if that’s the only ability out there, or if others have different ones, which turns Diego into the special one.

This book ends in a cliffhanger, it’s the first in a series but I haven’t found information about the second book.

This is an interesting middle grade book. It has an interesting setting, tons of action and adventure and an interesting and original premise. I really enjoyed it, but I think its strongest point was the world, and the weakest point were the characters that felt flat sometimes. If you like steampunk and fast paced middle grade books full of action; you should give this one a try.
( )

Armand Baltazar hat das Buch nicht nur geschrieben, sondern auch die wunderbaren Illustrationen gezeichnet, die die Geschichte neben dem geschriebenen Wort erzählen. Mit über 600 Seiten ist das Buch sicherlich kein kurzes Werk, allerdings ist es sehr leicht, sich in der vom Autor geschaffenen Welt zu verlieren. Mir persönlich hat das besonders gut gefallen. Mich stört es nicht zwingend, wenn die Hauptgeschichte etwas in den Hintergrund rückt, während die Figuren jede Menge andere Abenteuer erleben. Die Bilder erzählen die Geschichte teils anstelle des Textes fort und sind so wunderschön, dass die Figuren und die Welt ein ganz besonderes Leben eingehaucht bekommen.

Nachdem sein Vater entführt wurde, beschließt Diego ihn zu befreien. Sein bester Freund Petey sowie die beiden Mädchen Paige und Lucy begleiten ihn anfangs eher unfreiwilligerweise. Dabei sind besonders Paige und Lucy am Anfang eher anstrengend und nervig geschrieben, entwickeln sich aber im Laufe der Geschichte weiter und werden gute Freunde von Diego und Petey.

Die Welt, die Baltazar geschaffen hat, fand ich gigantisch. Ich würde mir wünschen, dass es schon mehrere Bände gebe, die man lesen könnte. Ich will da auf alle Fälle noch mehr Abenteuer erleben können. Das Ende deutet ja ein bisschen darauf hin, dass wir hier noch mehr erwarten können und ich persönlich freue mich sehr drauf.

Fazit
Für mich war das Buch ein absolutes Lesevergnügen. Die Illustrationen verleihen dem ganzen einen wirklich einzigartigen Charme und auch wenn einige Rezensenten bemängelt haben, dass die Geschichte zu langatmig sei und der Autor handwerklich nicht gut geliefert hat, hat mich an dem Buch eigentlich nur gestört, dass die 600 Seiten so schnell vorbei waren. Da wollte ich noch soviel mehr haben. ( )

This book is really something special. It's an exciting science-fiction adventure with the author's own lavish, full-color illustrations generously interspersed throughout. (The author, Armand Baltazar, has a background in film animation, and this book is really a testament to his talents, both as illustrator and as writer.) The book is a recent new arrival in my school library, courtesy of the parents' group that so generously supports our school. I'm looking forward to further volumes in the Timeless series.