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The Violet Flash: A Novel
There’s a rip in the blue umbrella, and time—and Chelsea—are slipping through! One moment she was there, the next moment she was not, and Ches Cholmondeley was watching when it happened. And he learns of other mysterious for three days in a row the world’s atomic clocks have lost a second, resulting in bizarre accidents ranging from dropped casseroles to plane crashes. Are these events related? What’s a brother to do? Figure out a way to get his sister back, of course. In search of answers, Ches befriends the local clockmaker, Myron Stinchcombe, who knows a lot about time, and seeks out Sky Porter, who knows a lot about, well, everything. But time is running out. And Ches is torn, knowing that the very deed that can save the world might also keep his sister from ever returning to it.
372 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
6 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Mike Mason
118 books80 followersMike Mason is the best-selling, award-winning author of The Blue Umbrella, The Mystery of Marriage, The Gospel According to Job, Champagne for the Soul, Twenty-One Candles, and many others. He has an M.A. in English and has studied theology at Regent College. He lives in Langley, BC, Canada, with his wife.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 30, 2012
Twelve-year-old Ches Cholmondeley is a curmudgeonly kid whose favourite place is his room. There he enjoys sitting in the dark, making rainbows or otherwise playing with light. Though his father is in a coma after the showdown with the evil Dada (the end of The Blue Umbrella), he never goes to visit his dad, whom he hates and disrespectfully calls "Rev." After all, what should one expect from a kid whose dad tried to kill him?
However, other things soon begin to go wrong in The Violet Flash, Mike Mason's second book in The Blue Umbrella series. Earth's atomic clocks are losing entire seconds, causing accidents and deaths. The disappearance of Ches's beloved sister Chelsea during one of these incidents does a lot to convince him to say yes to Sky Porter's request that he accept the task of trying to stop the time thief.
Again we meet characters from The Blue Umbrella like Eldy, Sky Porter, Zac, O, and Chelsea. But this story is mainly Ches's and focuses on him and his relationship with his father, the Reverend Edgerton Cholmondeley. The names are always interesting and I loved the characterizations, especially of intriguing players like Horace Henbother and Myron Stinchcombe.
The setting is imaginative, well thought-out, and drawn in detail, though I did find Ches's world of weather, color flashes, and their relationship to time and the blue umbrella hard to get into and stay interested in.
Plot-wise the fantasy setting and elements sometimes seemed a little like cheating as there was always some magic within the blue umbrella to counteract anything fatal happening to our hero.
This fantasy tale that focuses on time also contains an abundance of skilfully concealed Christian symbolism. For example, Chelsea's description of the land if Idyllis with its Elements and Inclements reminded me of the spirit world and heaven, especially when she says, "Ches! Idyllis is more real than here. This world is passing away but that one will last forever." p. 320
Eldy, Sky Porter's father (who seems a type of God the Father) spends his time forming stars. When Ches asks Sky why the powerful Eldy didn't stop some of the bad things from happening, Sky replies, "He could have. But he'd rather use his power to do good than to stop evil." p. 326.
Sky Porter is clearly a type of Jesus, illustrated by the words of Chelsea when she explains to Ches what happened to her: "Sky saved me. He came and took my place in the black hole, and I went free..." p. 318. Later Ches muses: "The blows that had been meant for him had fallen upon Sky" p. 319.
As in The Blue Umbrella, I loved Mason's writing. The story is told simply but in words carefully chosen for their profundity. My paperback copy is full of underlines like,
"What he had just seen could not have happened. He had no category for it." p. 21
"In Ches's book a man was what he did, not what he might do," p. 29
"...an alien-looking gibbous moon hung over the roof of the church bathing the town in moth-white light" p. 43. (Note that lovely word "gibbous." Well, there's a glossary at the back of the book explaining the meaning of it and other deliciously different and obscure words Mason uses to tell the story.)
Three "Outakes"—scenes that were cut from the final version of the story— show how the tale could have taken different turns and shed a little light on an author's range of choices and direction for plot and character.
For readers who enjoyed The Blue Umbrella, The Violet Flash is a must-read. Though the story stands on its own I would say you really should read The Blue Umbrella first to enjoy this book to the max.
All in all this is a fine and fantastical tale that will give children and their adults lots of mull over and discuss.
Article first published as Book Review: The Violet Flash by Mike Mason on Blogcritics.
However, other things soon begin to go wrong in The Violet Flash, Mike Mason's second book in The Blue Umbrella series. Earth's atomic clocks are losing entire seconds, causing accidents and deaths. The disappearance of Ches's beloved sister Chelsea during one of these incidents does a lot to convince him to say yes to Sky Porter's request that he accept the task of trying to stop the time thief.
Again we meet characters from The Blue Umbrella like Eldy, Sky Porter, Zac, O, and Chelsea. But this story is mainly Ches's and focuses on him and his relationship with his father, the Reverend Edgerton Cholmondeley. The names are always interesting and I loved the characterizations, especially of intriguing players like Horace Henbother and Myron Stinchcombe.
The setting is imaginative, well thought-out, and drawn in detail, though I did find Ches's world of weather, color flashes, and their relationship to time and the blue umbrella hard to get into and stay interested in.
Plot-wise the fantasy setting and elements sometimes seemed a little like cheating as there was always some magic within the blue umbrella to counteract anything fatal happening to our hero.
This fantasy tale that focuses on time also contains an abundance of skilfully concealed Christian symbolism. For example, Chelsea's description of the land if Idyllis with its Elements and Inclements reminded me of the spirit world and heaven, especially when she says, "Ches! Idyllis is more real than here. This world is passing away but that one will last forever." p. 320
Eldy, Sky Porter's father (who seems a type of God the Father) spends his time forming stars. When Ches asks Sky why the powerful Eldy didn't stop some of the bad things from happening, Sky replies, "He could have. But he'd rather use his power to do good than to stop evil." p. 326.
Sky Porter is clearly a type of Jesus, illustrated by the words of Chelsea when she explains to Ches what happened to her: "Sky saved me. He came and took my place in the black hole, and I went free..." p. 318. Later Ches muses: "The blows that had been meant for him had fallen upon Sky" p. 319.
As in The Blue Umbrella, I loved Mason's writing. The story is told simply but in words carefully chosen for their profundity. My paperback copy is full of underlines like,
"What he had just seen could not have happened. He had no category for it." p. 21
"In Ches's book a man was what he did, not what he might do," p. 29
"...an alien-looking gibbous moon hung over the roof of the church bathing the town in moth-white light" p. 43. (Note that lovely word "gibbous." Well, there's a glossary at the back of the book explaining the meaning of it and other deliciously different and obscure words Mason uses to tell the story.)
Three "Outakes"—scenes that were cut from the final version of the story— show how the tale could have taken different turns and shed a little light on an author's range of choices and direction for plot and character.
For readers who enjoyed The Blue Umbrella, The Violet Flash is a must-read. Though the story stands on its own I would say you really should read The Blue Umbrella first to enjoy this book to the max.
All in all this is a fine and fantastical tale that will give children and their adults lots of mull over and discuss.
Article first published as Book Review: The Violet Flash by Mike Mason on Blogcritics.
September 5, 2011
Title: THE VIOLET FLASH
Author: Mike Mason
Publisher: David C. Cook
June 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4347-6525-3
Genre: Inspirational/young adult/fantasy
Ches Cholmondely and his sister Chelsea, along with two of their friends go across the street to the weather shop where Chelsea is showing them how to make Jack Frost paintings, when suddenly, the blue umbrella rips and Chelsea disappears into the umbrella!
Ches is frantic, and Sky (the weather maker) suddenly becomes “under the weather”. But even more weirdly, Ches learns that someone is stealing time…a second at a time from every living person on earth. And when that second is stolen, bad things happen. Like airplane crashes. Chelsea’s disappearance. And more.
Ches is on a mission to find his sister and to discover where time goes when it disappears. Solving one will solve the other. But how does one even begin?
THE VIOLET FLASH is the sequel to The Blue Umbrella, and it does not at all stand alone. Readers must be familiar with the events in The Blue Umbrella to have some understanding of what is happening in THE VIOLET FLASH. I did read The Blue Umbrella, but it was so long ago, I wished I still had it in hand to reread before starting this book. I did eventually figure things out, and I did remember some characters.
If you like fantasy, then THE VIOLET FLASH is a book to consider. Full of magic, unexplained events, and mystery, this is a book that will thrill any youth, male or female. The main character is male. I found the afterwords portion of the book especially interesting, as it included deleted scenes, and a glossary of words that might be unfamiliar to younger readers—which would be excellent in building their vocabulary. $9.99. 331 pages.
Author: Mike Mason
Publisher: David C. Cook
June 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4347-6525-3
Genre: Inspirational/young adult/fantasy
Ches Cholmondely and his sister Chelsea, along with two of their friends go across the street to the weather shop where Chelsea is showing them how to make Jack Frost paintings, when suddenly, the blue umbrella rips and Chelsea disappears into the umbrella!
Ches is frantic, and Sky (the weather maker) suddenly becomes “under the weather”. But even more weirdly, Ches learns that someone is stealing time…a second at a time from every living person on earth. And when that second is stolen, bad things happen. Like airplane crashes. Chelsea’s disappearance. And more.
Ches is on a mission to find his sister and to discover where time goes when it disappears. Solving one will solve the other. But how does one even begin?
THE VIOLET FLASH is the sequel to The Blue Umbrella, and it does not at all stand alone. Readers must be familiar with the events in The Blue Umbrella to have some understanding of what is happening in THE VIOLET FLASH. I did read The Blue Umbrella, but it was so long ago, I wished I still had it in hand to reread before starting this book. I did eventually figure things out, and I did remember some characters.
If you like fantasy, then THE VIOLET FLASH is a book to consider. Full of magic, unexplained events, and mystery, this is a book that will thrill any youth, male or female. The main character is male. I found the afterwords portion of the book especially interesting, as it included deleted scenes, and a glossary of words that might be unfamiliar to younger readers—which would be excellent in building their vocabulary. $9.99. 331 pages.
September 30, 2018
This is more like a 4.5 star book. I just didn't enjoy it quite as much as The Blue Umbrella. It was still really good though, and Mike Mason is definitely on my radar now! I look forward to his future novels. ^_^
Thoughts:
1. Ches
2. Writing
3. Themes and Messages
4. Symbolism
5. The Ending
Thoughts:
1. Ches
2. Writing
3. Themes and Messages
4. Symbolism
5. The Ending
April 10, 2016
Enjoyed reading this with my 10 year old. We loved the First Book: The Blue Umbrella and with minutes of starting this one, we were sucked in again!
These have been great to read together and discuss!!!
These have been great to read together and discuss!!!
July 24, 2012
Read this without reading the first book. I liked the whole concept of weather, elements and magic mixed with science.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews