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Product Description: Sandy and Dennys have always been the normal, run-of-the-mill ones in the extraodinary Murry family. They garden, make an occasional A in school, and play baseball. Nothing especially interesting has happened to the twins until they accidentally interrupt their father's experiment.
Then the two boys are thrown across time and space. They find themselves alone in the desert, where, if they believe in unicorns, they can find unicorns, and whether they believe or not, mammoths and manticores will find them.
The twins are rescued by Japheth, a man from the nearby oasis, but before he can bring them to safety, Dennys gets lost. Each boy is quickly embroiled in the conflicts of this time and place, whose populations includes winged seraphim, a few stray mythic beasts, perilous and beautiful nephilim, and small, long lived humans who consider Sandy and Dennys giants. The boys find they have more to do in the oasis than simply getting themselves home--they have to reunite an estranged father and son, but it won't be easy, especially when the son is named Noah and he's about to start building a boat in the desert. Amazon.com: We've all done it. In the frigid depths of winter we've wished we could be magically transported to someplace warm and sunny. But most people don't have genius parents who just happen to be working on a scientific experiment with time travel at the moment of our wish. Sandy and Dennys Murry, the "normal" boys in a family of geniuses, suddenly find themselves trudging through a blazing-hot desert, seeking a far-off oasis for shade. Their desperate wandering brings them face-to-face with history--biblical history. Soon they're feeling right at home with Noah and his family. Even so, the urgent question is, how will Sandy and Dennys get back to their own place and time before the floods--the many waters--come? As they begin to cross the invisible border into adulthood, the twins must confront their ability to resist temptation and embrace integrity. In Many Waters, Madeleine L'Engle continues the Murry family saga, which includes A Wrinkle in Time; A Wind in the Door; and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, which won the American Book Award. L'Engle's mystical mix of science fiction and fantasy, time and space travel, history, morals, religion, and culture once again urges her many adoring readers to stretch their minds and hearts to understand why the world is the way it is. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-02-03
For Readers of the Lost Ark Story
In the previous three volumes of Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quintet tales of the Murry family, the focus has been on the siblings Meg and Charles Wallace. The twins in the middle, Sandy and Dennys, are kind of off to the side. That all changes in Many Waters, when they are front-and-center.
Though written fourth, in the internal story chronology, this fits in between A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Fifteen year olds Sandy and Dennys accidentally trigger one of their father's inventions and wind up in a desert. They find people here who seem to top off around four feet tall; the twins, already at six feet, appear to be giants. An effort to get them to shelter does not work out as well as expected, and both wind up almost killed by sunburn and sunstroke.
Sandy winds up in the tent home of Lamech, an elderly man. Dennys, even more severely ill, is taken care by the family of Lamech's son, Noah. Yes, that Noah: the two have been transported to early Biblical times, before the Flood. This is a land of strange creatures, including mammoths, manticores and griffins, and humans are not the only races. There are also the seraphim, essentially angels, and the nephilim, who are seraphim who have tied themselves to the Earth and mate with the local women.
Sandy and Dennys get entangled in the intrigues of the various people in Lamech and Noah's oasis. Both the patriarchs hear from El, the god (or God) who warns of an upcoming disaster. The twins know what's coming and know who will survive: Noah, his three sons and their wives. Noah's daughter, Yalith, who the brothers have both fallen for, is not slated to be saved. And, of course, there is no record of the two of them surviving the Flood either; are they doomed, or will they be able to get home?
The fact that they are around in A Swiftly Tilting Planet seems to bode well for Sandy and Dennys, but there is still suspense, particularly regarding Yalith and the rather nasty nephilim. While Wrinkle in Time may get the most acknowledgement, I actually found this to be my favorite book of the four I've read. While the three previous books are all fine, they tend to focus more on mind-bending concepts; Many Waters has a more straightforward story with deeper characterization. If you have enjoyed the previous books, you will find this one to be distinctly different but still a pleasure to read.
Rating:
Date: 2007-10-22
Many Waters
This is one of the 5 books in the set and it is fantastic!!
I highly recommend the entire set to readers of all ages!!! Rating: 
Date: 2007-09-28
Not what I expected from a talented author
I was excited to find this book, after enjoying the L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series as a child. However, this book does not live up the expectations I had. The characters are flat and boring. I kept having to page back in the book to even keep track of which twin was Sandy and which was Dennys. L'Engle starts to frame conflict and interest between the Nephilim and Seraphim but then never follows through with any meaningful development of those two groups. There is a strange love triangle between Sandy, Dennys, and Yalith. I refer to it as strange because while Yalith appears to be a teenager, she is actually over 100 years old. Like the rest of the plot, this love interest is not particularly well developed. And parents be aware: there are some overt sexual references in this book, not at all in character with other L'Engle books I have read. The author tries to build suspense about how Yalith will be saved from the flood but even that falls flat. Overall, a disappointing book, especially coming from such a gifted writer. Rating:
Date: 2007-09-14
This book is awesome... one of my favorites. the book was in great condition!! I've already read it since I got it.
This is a great book that mixes a biblical story with time travel and mythological beasts. Madeleine L'Engle has a way of writing that keeps you interested and makes your mind work. Being a Christian, I appreciate her twist of the story to add a little more life to it for her characters, Dennys and Sandy. I highly recommend this book. This book made me WANT to read books. Rating: 
Date: 2007-01-11
Good but Not for Younger Readers
I loved the L'Engle's books as a child, but didn't read the fourth until now, when my daughter is old enough to read the other three. However, my fifth grader is *not* going to read this one for many years. The religious ideas are quite interesting to contemplate, that is not the issue. But these teenage boys (Meg's older brothers) are are on the cusp of becoming men and I'm not talking about the hair on their upper lip. I cannot believe that the amazon review says "Grade 6 and up" and later in the same paragraph talks about "sexual tension". This book is not appropriate for middle schoolers. And I don't think it is even appropriate for young high schoolers.
However, if you are the right age for the book, it is a good read. Parts of it really make you think. And it is always fun to revisit old characters in a new setting. |
