Sara Masarik
Tag: Book ReviewMoody Publishers
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After loving The Unlikely Intrusion of Adams Klein, I eagerly anticipated the release of this second book in the trilogy, The Bewildering Courage of Emma Bloom. My daughter and I were delighted to find that it was even better than the first book. It is not only a strong middle book, but it is a satisfying and interesting new story that enriches the first. I genuinely enjoyed this book. It is clever, well written, and surprisingly rich. It is exactly the sort of story that exercises the right literary muscles for young readers.
Where the first book centered on Adams and his experience with time travel, this second installment shifts its attention to Clay and Emma. At the end of Book One, Adams is restored to his own timeline, but Clay and Emma end up being pulled forward with him. The three are separated when we enter into their story, and for the first quarter of the book we follow two distinct storylines that eventually converge. The structure works beautifully.
While Adams is learning how to survive in a world that he was supposed to have escaped from, Emma and Clay must figure out how to survive in a world that they were never meant to enter. The shifting arcs add intrigue, and they give Clay and Emma space to come into their own – not as sidekicks but as heroes in their own right. And, in this story, Adams is restored to his father and another good adult mentor, which helps to keep the story wholesome.
Time travel remains part of the world, but in this book it steps back from being the central device. Instead, the story leans more into character-driven science fiction and adventure. In particular it wrestles with artificial intelligence, AI sentience, and scientific intervention into nature. All are excellent science fiction topics in their own right, but also topics that are particularly relevant and interesting in our current time.
This is a book that will appeal to readers who enjoy long-form imaginative science adventure series. I find myself wishing that young readers devouring Keeper of the Lost Cities could find their way to this trilogy instead… not because the two are remotely similar in quality or worldview, but because the same audience would fall in love with what Greco has created here. His work offers everything those readers enjoy, but with far better writing, a firmer moral center, and a much more grounded sense of reality. And, two books in, there is still barely a hint of any romance between our heroes, and that is also a nice reprieve for our young readers who are reading so many teen novels centered on relationships.
One of the most impressive elements of this book is the way Greco handles faith. Christian fiction today can be uneven, and many well-intentioned works tend to speak only to already-believing audiences. This book is different. Our three protagonists are not particularly devout. Adams comes from a thoroughly post-Christian age in which humanity believes it has mastered life, death, and everything in between. Emma and Clay are from our time, but they are not especially formed in the faith. Greco writes to a wide audience of Christians and those that may not have any religious experience at all. These characters, with intelligence, courage, and moral certitude, find themselves at war with a tyrant who is seeking to become a demigod. Greco raises questions of something greater at work (both good and evil) gently and intelligently, inviting our heroes to consider what might be happening beneath the surface of events. And then, as evil is becoming revealed, a small pocket of Christians hidden away find themselves exposed and about to become martyrs. There is no preachiness, no forced conversions, no tidy moralizing. Instead, we watch the slow awakening of wonder, humility, and possibility. It is handled with real genius.
The world Adams comes from is one in which man has taken the place of God. Human beings believe they have become masters over life, death, and even history itself. Greco uses this setting to show that, left to his own devices, man does not always choose well. The Marshal, the villain who dominates this book, is a brilliant inventor and warlord who is utterly intoxicated by his own power to create and manipulate reality. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that his ambitions are fueled not only by technological genius but by something dark and supernatural. He is genuinely frightening. Greco spares us from the modern trick of making the villain sympathetic. The Marshal is a bad man doing bad things, and the clarity of that is refreshing.
In all, this is a strong and satisfying continuation of the trilogy. It is thoughtful, imaginative, and well-crafted. I am grateful for a series that takes faith, character, and storytelling seriously, and I’m delighted to recommend it to families and librarians – especially those looking for books that are both exciting and nourishing.