Editorial Review
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.
"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."
A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.
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Customer Reviews
Great book! 
2008-07-03
I am compelled to put my five stars on this book mostly to counteract a number of nearly unintelligible one-star reviews by "readers" who apparently were either forced to read the book by a teacher and/or never bothered to finish reading the book. Much as I love her writing I'll admit that this and L'Engle's other books are not for everyone. But if you hate your reading assignment how about taking it out on your teacher and not the author? And if you are going to review a book, you should probably read all of it first; it might surprise you at the end. Just my two cents.
Power Versus Love 
2008-05-28
The title of this book caught my attention. I've read none of the others in the series, with the exception of A Wrinkle In Time many years ago. The story was slow drawing me in, but once "Within" it was a good read. Teenage Charles Wallace, his sister Meg, and a Unicorn named Glaudior ("more joyful") work together to save the earth from annihilation, traveling back in time to different places to change something that "might have been." The thematic contrast between dominance and interdependence (power vs. love) runs all through the story. The plot was hard to follow on occasion because of the frequent changes in time and setting, but on the whole an enjoyable and worthwhile story--for adults as well as children.
enjoy fantasy 2008-05-09
Although this is not a new book, it is still timely and enjoyable to spark a trip in the imagianation..
WOW 2008-05-04
The Wrinkle in Time Quintet Boxed Set (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time)
I had never read these books as a child, I wish I had having read them now. The complexity of the characters and the incredible nature of the plots are real page turners.
Forward to the past! 2008-01-27
In Madeleine L'Engle's first Time Quintet book, A Wrinkle in Time, she took her readers on a mind-bending trip through space. In the sequel, A Wind in the Door, she looked at scale, as the heroes found universes within universes. In the third book, A Swifting Tilting Planet, it is time itself that is played with.
Once again, the principal characters are Meg and Charles Wallace Murry. It is around a decade since the previous books, and Meg is now married to Calvin O'Keefe and very pregnant. It is Thanksgiving, but Calvin is away at a conference, leaving the Murry family alone with Calvin's nasty mother. When word comes in that a mad South American dictator has threatened the world with nuclear war, the older Mrs. O'Keefe suddenly recalls an ancient rune, that is a spell that can be invoked to avert disaster. The use of this rune will send Charles off on a bizarre adventure to stop the dictator while Meg is relegated to the sidelines as an observer.
With the aid of a time-traveling unicorn named Gaudior, Charles Wallace will go back in time to go "Within" certain key figures. Going Within means sensing all that the person senses, with minimal influence on their behavior. The people who Charles Wallace goes Within are O'Keefe ancestors who are also related to the dictator through family ties that span centuries and go from Wales to the United States to the Patagonian country Vespugia. It is through witnessing - and perhaps subtly altering - this history that Charles Wallace hopes to create a change that will somehow avert nuclear oblivion. Standing in his way are the demonic Echthroi from A Wind in the Door as well as the rivalries within the families themselves.
Though technically children's literature, these books can also appeal to adults; in fact, it is possible that the complicated ideas in them could be intimidating to some younger readers. Personally, I find A Swiftly Tilting Planet, like its predecessors, a good book, though not necessarily meriting classic status (and it is not necessary to read the earlier books; each stands alone). If you have enjoyed the previous books, then this one should also be entertaining.
A Swiftly Tilting Planet 2007-10-21
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.
"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."
A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.
Awesome! Well written time travel fantasy!! 2007-09-14
Madeleine out-does herself this time. Charles Wallace undertakes a special adventure to save humanity by travelling thru time to find the "might-have-been" that would have caused peace on Earth during Charles Wallace's time instead of Earth facing a death threat from Mad Dog Branzillo. Meg is in this one of course, guiding her baby brother thru time with the technique of kything (telepathy). Madeleine's ability to keep a nice flow thru the book while changing to multiple characters with deep pasts is amazing. I definately recommend this book as it will blow your mind to see if Charles Wallace will indeed succeed in saving the world.
Amazingly beautiful tapistry! 2007-08-09
I have been reading the time series for the first time. I've read the first two books and was a bit disappointed. In the first two books, because the setting was so out-of-this-world and abstract, I felt L'Engle was straining just to get it across. A quarter of the book was spent on conveying the "world(s)" that the main characters adventured into.
This third book (or fourth in the characters' timeline) - A Swiftly Tilting Planet - did not do that. Instead, L'Engle simply told the stories, the stories of many generations. Then the intricate and beautiful web that links these generations simply came to be. I was deeply drawn into the story and the lives of the characters. I truly felt like I was Charles Wallace living through the lives of the many characters. The most powerful part of the story is when I finished it, it was like a drop of the final ingredient that got added to a fantastic bomb. It explodes into fresh water and the water engulfed me into it. I was in the world of Madoc, Matthew, Brandon, Zilla... Then there I was again feeling the entire story within me or was I within it?
This book is beautifully woven and I highly recommend it.
The Eternal Triangle 2007-04-15
The Owl Service
A similar theme is seen in the Alan Garner new classic The Owl Service.
With global warming hanging over a tilted planet , this story seems
to still have a current bite: with an element of Celtic legend mixed with popular magic
it gives a very entertaining result. I liked the original
"A Wrinkle in Time". In this series of books the Sidhe are
reborn as benevolent aliens and fayness becomes an high I.Q.
with telepathic traits.Magic and familiars become
"Christian" in a strange peace loving way.
Blue eyed Indians which are the paleoanthropology dream
make a new American history with a Welsh folk tale of recurring archetypes.
Can past and future both be changed for the better ,
if we know the consequences of failure?
Hugo Chavez: The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela
A Swiftly Tilting Planet 2006-12-14
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
By Madeline L'Engle
What would you do it your country was being threatened by a nuclear war? Maybe hop on a unicorn and travel through time? That's what Charles Wallace, a 15 year old boy does.
Charles Wallace, the son of a great scientist, has the most frightening Thanksgiving ever. His father is informed that the U.S. is being threatened a nuclear war, by a man named Madog Branzillo. Thinking of the impending doom, his sister's mother in law recites a rune for hope, which later that night, Charles Wallace repeats in his backyard. Out of nowhere, a unicorn appears, and whisks him away for an adventure not soon to be forgotten. The unicorn travels through time with Charles Wallace and makes him go "within" certain people to learn how to stop Madog Branzillo.
This book is 278 pages of pure fantasy. It has all the elements, like mystical places and creatures. You haven't read a fantasy until you've read this, thus recommending it to all fantasy lovers.
The only down side to the book is that the climax isn't very well defined. The author makes up for that with her colorful descriptions.
"The moon slipped behind the trees to join briefly, her brother sun. The stars danced their intricate ritual across the sky."
This book, being third in the time quartet series, is one of Madeline L'Engles best. With that, you don't have to read the first two in the series, one of which, A Wrinkle In Time, has won a Newberry award.
A Swiftly Tilting Planet is a page-turning, suspenseful, must-read, and in my opinion the best of the time quartet.
