Image copied from Goodreads
Westfallen by the brother and sister duo Ann and Ben Brashares is an edge-of-your seat adventure for readers ages 8-12 that includes time travel and alternate history elements that change the contemporary world into an eerie dystopian alternate reality. It blends elements of communicating through time reminiscent of the older movie Frequency with the dystopian, alternate history elements of The Man in the High Tower, only geared toward a Gen Z and Gen Alpha audience. It also includes a diverse cast of kids as the main characters and deals with themes of friendship, inclusivity and bigotry.
The story unfolds when three friends in the present, Henry, Frances and Lukas, come together after having drifted apart through middle school to bury a beloved pet they all shared. In the process, they uncover a mysterious radio that lets them talk to three other friends, Alice, Lawrence, and Artie, who live in the same town as them, but seventy-nine years in the past. What starts out as a fun and harmless comparison of life in 2023 to life in 1944 soon takes a dark turn. Somehow sharing information about the future with those in the past changes the outcome of WWII and causes the kids in 2023 to find themselves in an alternate United States controlled by the Nazis. Even worse, Henry, Lukas and Frances have no idea what they said that caused history to change or have any idea how they will be able to change it back.
The pacing in this novel never lets up. As each event occurs, the tension builds and things go from bad to worse with each domino drop. The authors did an excellent job as well of making it a mystery how the six kids will fix the past to save the future after they decide using the radio to communicate is too dangerous. Unfortunately, this is proven true after they've decided to take steps not to talk to each other anymore, leaving the 2023 group stranded in an new dystopian reality. Of course, determination, friendship and more than a little ingenuity helps as they slowly figure out what happened to change the past and concoct a plan to stop it from happening. However, just when you think everything is back to normal and the world has been saved from Nazi rule, some clues foreshadow that maybe not all the problems for the characters have been solved after all. The cliffhanger ending also leaves things open for more adventures to come.
I only wish that the release date for the sequel had been announced before I finished this first book. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves action and adventure with time travel, alternate history and dystopian elements, especially readers in the middle grade (8-12) age range. I thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book in exchange for this honest review. The release date for Westfallen is very soon on September 17th!
Stay tuned for my next reviews for two other middle grade novels in a couple of weeks, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling and Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek by Kwame Mbalia. Below are covers and blurbs for both books. The cover images were each copied from Goodreads along with the blurb for Insignificant Events. The blurb for Jax Freeman was copied from NetGalley.
Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.
On his twelfth birthday, Jackson "Jax" Freeman arrives at Chicago's Union Station alone, carrying nothing but the baggage of a scandal back in Raleigh. He's been sent away from home to live with relatives he barely knows. But even worse are the strangers who accost him at the train station, including a food vendor who throws dust in his face and a conductor who tries to steal his skin.
At his new school, Jax is assigned to a special class for "summoners," even though he has no idea what those are . . . until he accidentally unleashes an angry spirit on school grounds. Soon Jax is embroiled in all kinds of trouble, from the disappearance of a new friend to full-out war between summoning families.
When Jax learns that he isn't the first Freeman to be blamed for a tragedy he didn't create, he resolves to clear his own name and that of his great-grandfather, who was a porter back in the 1920's. By following clues, Jax and his schoolmates unlock the secrets of a powerful Praise House, evade vengeful ghosts, and discover that Jax may just be the most talented summoner of all.
A unique magic-school fantasy from the best-selling and award-winning author of the Tristan Strong trilogy has just pulled into the station.
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