Thirteen-year-old Darrell Connor is a troubled girl, still haunted by the motorcycle accident that took her father’s life and part of her leg three years ago. She is not pleased when her worried mother sends her to board at Eagle Glen School for the summer. But there is a sense of mystery at the school that appeals to Darrell, and as she investigates, she finds adventure and begins to form a few tentative friendships. When she stumbles upon a passage through time, she begins to wonder - is it possible to change her own past?
kc dyer loves travel and has literally flown around the world in search of fantastic stories. When not on the road, she resides in the wilds of British Columbia, where she walks her dogs in the woods and writes books. Her most recent novel, EIGHTY DAYS TO ELSEWHERE, is the madcap story of a young woman so desperate to save her family’s bookstore that she undertakes a race around the world, but ends up falling for her competition. kc is also the author of FINDING FRASER, an international bestseller in romantic comedy. And coming this fall, AN ACCIDENTAL ODYSSEY continues the ExLibris adventures: When an unexpected phone call derails a young woman’s wedding plans, it sparks an epic adventure around the magical, modern-day Mediterranean.
kc has spoken before thousands of readers — kids and adults — across Canada, the US, Europe and Asia. She's been writer-in-residence at New Westminster Secondary School, and a featured presenter at the Surrey International Writers Conference, the National Council of English Teachers in the US; YouthWrite BC, Young Authors Kamloops, WORD Vancouver, Canadian Authors’ Association, OLA Super-Conference, SFU Southbank Writers, WriteOn Bowen, Word on the Lake and many others.
She is represented by Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary Agency.
This was a time travel story for teens or middle school. The main character was a girl who is sent to a summer school for summer that is not your usual school. There is all sorts of equipment for those with special interests such as art or computers. Life has been rough for our heroine. Her father was killed in a motorcycle accident when she was 10 and she ended up losing her leg up to her knee. This has made her upset with the world but her experiences at the camp help her get back to normal.
She discovers a hidden cave which allows her to time travel to the middle ages in the midst of the European plague. She makes friends in the past and present. Her present-day friends even end up time traveling back with her. The book ends with a hint that there may be more adventures to come. I hope so.
Let's be clear: Seeds of Time is not a bad book. It's just an okay book.
Honestly, it has a lot of potential. Unlike ever U.S.-centric novel, this book is set in Canada at a summer school. Our protagonist is a disabled girl who is very honest about how her prosthetic foot affects her life. Neatest of all is that this story involves time travel to medieval Scotland!
However, overall the writing is lackluster. The pacing is very fast, considering it spans an entire summer, there is no subtlety to the themes of the story. It's clear that Darrell is intended to have a character arc and that the story is anti-ableism and anti-racism (all good things!), but it's so obvious and blatantly told to the reader instead of being shown that it loses its nuance. If delivered with a less obvious touch, all of this could have been impactful, but unfortunately it falls flat here.
Darrell is not a really likeable protagonist. Her downer attitude is on purpose to set up an emotional arc, but it also makes it really hard to connect with her as a reader. Even after her redemption, I was struggling to understand her as a character. Her friends are also fairly one-dimensional characters, and it's hard to understand why they put in effort to try to befriend her.
The Scotland plot was interesting from a historical detail angle, but it came in a bit too late for me to care too deeply.
Seeds of Time isn't the most stellar novel in the world, but if you're looking for a quick novel and have a keen interest in medieval Scotland, this might be a good read for you.
Reviewed by Katrina C. Margell for TeensReadToo.com
"Think of all the different things that happened in the past as seeds. Some seeds grow, becoming the future, and some never grow at all."
Darrell Connor was a typical pre-teenager. Bright, active, and happy, without a worry in the world. Until that fateful day a motorcycle accident took her father's life and part of her own right leg three years ago.
Still bitter about her past, thirteen-year-old Darrell faces a new challenge: spending the summer at Eagle Glen, a "special" arts boarding school. Though reluctant, Darrell cannot ignore the sense of mystery there; it draws her. As unbidden friendships begin to form, she investigates.
While in the undertaking of catching an illegal crab-trapper, Darrell discovers a passage through time. She finds herself in Medieval Scotland during The Black Plague - a change of pace that eventually helps her regain her footing. Adventure abounds in the past and present for Darrell and her friends at Eagle Glen, and she begins to wonder: "Is it possible to change my past, too?"
SEEDS OF TIME is a captivating novel by KC Dyer. Her enjoyable writing style draws the reader in and holds them until the end. Complete with Scottish Gaelic vocabulary and castle terminology, SEEDS OF TIME is a miniature history lesson in disguise.