Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

Victorian England went nuts for time travel after the publication of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine.  This book has three related stories each featuring Wells as a character.  In the first a man wants to borrow Wells’ model time machine in order to prevent his lover from being killed by Jack the Ripper.  In the second a man pretends to be from the future in order to seduce a woman.  In the third a real time traveler tries to steal manuscripts from three authors in order to publish them himself.

I enjoyed this book.  Each story is a complete novella and is full of twists and turns.

I Am Half Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

Eleven year old Flavia de Luce’s family is broke in post-war England.  They rent out their estate to a film company to make a movie with the famous actress, Phyllis Wyvern.  But when the actress ends up strangled with a loop of film before filming starts, Flavia takes it upon herself to catch the killer.   She is also laying a trap for Santa so she can catch him to prove to her sisters that he is real.

This is the fourth Flavia mystery.  I like combination of her childlike ways (wanting to scientifically prove Santa exists) and her adult knowledge of chemistry and poisons.

Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire

The fourth book in the Wicked series starts with Oz in the middle of a civil war. Glinda is under house arrest. Everyone is looking for a tactical advantage by finding the book of magic used by Elphaba and finding her relatives (son and granddaughter) to help use it. Also Doroty Gale is suddenly back in Oz and is put on trial for the murder of Nessarose and Elephaba.

I loved Wicked but I was totally bored by the next two books. When I started this one I fell in love with the series again. Focusing on Glinda made it fresh and interesting. However, as soon as it left her about 1/3 of the way into the story it started to drag again. There was a feeling that something big was about to happen. Anytime now. Really soon even. But it never did. The book just fizzled out. It was incredibly disappointing.