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Outlaws of Time #1
The Legend of Sam Miracle
This new fantasy-adventure series from N. D. Wilson, bestselling author of 100 Cupboards, pits a misfit twelve-year-old against a maniacal villain with a deadly vendetta. This one-of-a kind story is must read for fans of Brandon Mull and Soman Chainani, and the start of a thrilling tale from a masterful storyteller.
Sam Miracle’s life is made up of dreams, dreams where he’s a courageous, legendary hero instead of a foster kid with two bad arms that can barely move. Sometimes these dreams feel so real, they seem like forgotten memories. And sometimes they make him believe that his arms might come alive again.
But Sam is about to discover that the world he knows and the world he imagines are separated by only one thing: time. And that separation is only an illusion. The laws of time can be bent and shifted by people with special magic that allows them to travel through the past, present, and future. But not all of these “time walkers” can be trusted. One is out to protect Sam so that he can accept his greatest destiny, and another is out to kill him so that a prophecy will never be fulfilled. However, it’s an adventurous girl named Glory and two peculiar snakes who show Sam the way through the dark paths of yesterday to help him make sure there will be a tomorrow for every last person on earth.
333 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 19, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 331 reviews
April 19, 2016
N.D. Wilson has become a bestselling author by perfecting a triad: tipping his hat to the best that history and legend have to offer, showing kids that they don't have to be British or a wizard or the son of a Greek god to live adventures that matter, and letting his own imagination run wild.
Leepike Ridge combines Huck Finn with Treasure Island, beating with a Pacific Northwest heart; 100 Cupboards turns Kansas into a Platform 9 3/4 that leads to dozens of different worlds; Boys of Blur springs from the swamps of Florida with bones of football and Beowulf; Ashtown Burials places an entire order of Indiana Joneses on the shores of Lake Michigan; and now here's The Legend of Sam Miracle, a must-read mashup of Western, superhero, and time-hop.
I have to admit, time-travel stories irritate me as a rule. And I hate the desert. But Wilson won me over on both in this blistering adventure about gunslinging misfit preteen superhero Sam Miracle desperate to rescue his sister from the devil of an outlaw: El Buitre. The Vulture.
Sam is destined to kill El Buitre in a gunfight. Sam knows this. El Buitre knows this. Victory has already been written in the book of Sam’s life. But what can Sam do when El Buitre controls time itself? What can he do when El Buitre keeps rewinding the story to kill Sam first? What can he do when he escapes death—but El Buitre’s bullets shatter both his arms?
“Every hero needs to be part nightmare…”
Sam becomes Poncho: the legendary hero with two grafted rattlesnakes for arms and the fastest draw of all time. Only he stands a chance against El Buitre before El Buitre devours all the riches and cultures, cities and peoples of the world.
Sam’s ragtag team includes Father Tiempo, the priest who “walks the secret paths between times”; Manuelito, the tall Navajo with a taller hat and supernatural healing powers; a posse of rambunctious boyhood allies; but especially Glory, the spunky and fiercely loyal fan of the book who is determined to help Sam live his story one last time—live it right.
With their help, Sam just might have a shot at victory. But when it comes down to the choice of all choices—save his sister, or kill the Vulture—which will he choose? And will anyone he loves be alive by the time it’s all over?
This fantastically creative tall tale will have you flipping pages as fast as Sam’s rattlesnake hands. Wilson is an astounding phrase-turner (some of his words are worth a thousand pictures), but he’s also just a crazy inventor, crashing elements from all your favorite Westerns of every decade into one: dust storms, motorcycles, cowboys, Indians, saloons, scorching desert winds, cacti and cool moon nights and coyote howls. Not to mention an EPIC train wreck. You might even run into an Earp brother or two.
For those worried about violence in a kids’ book (as Wilson is famous for), I’ll say two things. One, Wilson does an incredible job executing the action while skimming over the gore. You’ll feel like you just witnessed a shootout for the ages yet without getting a bucket of blood flung in your face. Two, kids are tougher than you think, or at least they would be if the adults would quit freaking out and actually let them read more stories like this!
The issue isn’t violence per se; the issue is, what is it for? Wilson tells stories of tough times and tougher heroes. His worldview is jolly and robust, his tone filled with strength and honor, and the good guys always win. A spectacular gunfight (or two or three) should hardly disturb the 10-year-olds. Just the opposite. This is the kind of book that will produce more heroes like Sam, like Glory, like Tiempo. And those are exactly the heroes we need.
That’s the best thing about The Legend of Sam Miracle—it’s jet fuel for life. No matter your age, you’ll want to live better, faster, bolder. Like Glory, you’ll say: “I only get one life story. I don't want mine to be safe. I want it to be worth writing a book about.” But beware: There is only one way to change history. “By living,” as Father Tiempo says. “By dying.” So what will it be?
Hurry. Read. Help Sam Miracle finish the story the way it was meant to be written. The way it was meant to be lived. Help him defeat the greatest evil of his time.
And after you turn the last page, what will you do with your story?
Leepike Ridge combines Huck Finn with Treasure Island, beating with a Pacific Northwest heart; 100 Cupboards turns Kansas into a Platform 9 3/4 that leads to dozens of different worlds; Boys of Blur springs from the swamps of Florida with bones of football and Beowulf; Ashtown Burials places an entire order of Indiana Joneses on the shores of Lake Michigan; and now here's The Legend of Sam Miracle, a must-read mashup of Western, superhero, and time-hop.
I have to admit, time-travel stories irritate me as a rule. And I hate the desert. But Wilson won me over on both in this blistering adventure about gunslinging misfit preteen superhero Sam Miracle desperate to rescue his sister from the devil of an outlaw: El Buitre. The Vulture.
Sam is destined to kill El Buitre in a gunfight. Sam knows this. El Buitre knows this. Victory has already been written in the book of Sam’s life. But what can Sam do when El Buitre controls time itself? What can he do when El Buitre keeps rewinding the story to kill Sam first? What can he do when he escapes death—but El Buitre’s bullets shatter both his arms?
“Every hero needs to be part nightmare…”
Sam becomes Poncho: the legendary hero with two grafted rattlesnakes for arms and the fastest draw of all time. Only he stands a chance against El Buitre before El Buitre devours all the riches and cultures, cities and peoples of the world.
Sam’s ragtag team includes Father Tiempo, the priest who “walks the secret paths between times”; Manuelito, the tall Navajo with a taller hat and supernatural healing powers; a posse of rambunctious boyhood allies; but especially Glory, the spunky and fiercely loyal fan of the book who is determined to help Sam live his story one last time—live it right.
With their help, Sam just might have a shot at victory. But when it comes down to the choice of all choices—save his sister, or kill the Vulture—which will he choose? And will anyone he loves be alive by the time it’s all over?
This fantastically creative tall tale will have you flipping pages as fast as Sam’s rattlesnake hands. Wilson is an astounding phrase-turner (some of his words are worth a thousand pictures), but he’s also just a crazy inventor, crashing elements from all your favorite Westerns of every decade into one: dust storms, motorcycles, cowboys, Indians, saloons, scorching desert winds, cacti and cool moon nights and coyote howls. Not to mention an EPIC train wreck. You might even run into an Earp brother or two.
For those worried about violence in a kids’ book (as Wilson is famous for), I’ll say two things. One, Wilson does an incredible job executing the action while skimming over the gore. You’ll feel like you just witnessed a shootout for the ages yet without getting a bucket of blood flung in your face. Two, kids are tougher than you think, or at least they would be if the adults would quit freaking out and actually let them read more stories like this!
The issue isn’t violence per se; the issue is, what is it for? Wilson tells stories of tough times and tougher heroes. His worldview is jolly and robust, his tone filled with strength and honor, and the good guys always win. A spectacular gunfight (or two or three) should hardly disturb the 10-year-olds. Just the opposite. This is the kind of book that will produce more heroes like Sam, like Glory, like Tiempo. And those are exactly the heroes we need.
That’s the best thing about The Legend of Sam Miracle—it’s jet fuel for life. No matter your age, you’ll want to live better, faster, bolder. Like Glory, you’ll say: “I only get one life story. I don't want mine to be safe. I want it to be worth writing a book about.” But beware: There is only one way to change history. “By living,” as Father Tiempo says. “By dying.” So what will it be?
Hurry. Read. Help Sam Miracle finish the story the way it was meant to be written. The way it was meant to be lived. Help him defeat the greatest evil of his time.
And after you turn the last page, what will you do with your story?
April 24, 2016
Hooked from the get-go. I love the way Wilson writes villains as really evil without being gratuitous and doesn't shy away from pain in his stories. I love how he writes main characters the reader can actually root for - flawed, learning, growing, dependent, human, good. I know this is YA fiction, but whatever - it;s just good fiction.
June 16, 2017
Read this first in manuscript, and this time around listened to it on Audible. A regular roller coaster ride.
August 31, 2021
THIS BOOK IS FANTASTIC. I have read and will read it (and the rest of the series) many, many times. It combines some of my favorite elements: old western towns, gunslinging outlaws, the Gandalf-esque mentor (with playful spins!), and a strong girl who isn't trying to be "strong" emotionally and "tough" physically. She just is. The best part of this book, though? The TIME TRAVEL. It's unique and mind-boggling, but completely believable.
The stakes are high as Sam Miracle, with the help of the old Navajo priest Father Tiempo and a spunky girl named Glory; must be moved back through time to relive his past life, hopefully not to make the same mistakes he always does... hopefully to survive... and kill the villain.
My past may be in your future. My future will hold moments previous to this one by your reckoning. -N.D. Wilson, The Legend of Sam Miracle
What more can I say? READ IT. NOW. :)
The stakes are high as Sam Miracle, with the help of the old Navajo priest Father Tiempo and a spunky girl named Glory; must be moved back through time to relive his past life, hopefully not to make the same mistakes he always does... hopefully to survive... and kill the villain.
My past may be in your future. My future will hold moments previous to this one by your reckoning. -N.D. Wilson, The Legend of Sam Miracle
What more can I say? READ IT. NOW. :)
November 1, 2016
Blah. This was really boring. The thing is, it's well written but there was just something so uninteresting about it. Not even the surprising amount of violence could save this story. And the snake arms thing was weird and made me feel itchy.
June 7, 2016
"...how you feel means nothing," the priest said. "What will you do?"
Words to live by.
Words to live by.
April 21, 2017
I really, really enjoyed this book.
ND Wilson has done it again--an action-packed tale of an unlikely hero facing unimaginable evil. But this one is a bit different from the Ashtown Burials series. It's cleaner, shorter, and tighter. With fewer characters, MacGuffins, and baddies to keep track of, and with more relatable characters navigating a more recognisable world (with nevertheless some truly spine-tingling speculative-fiction fun, like a battleground filled with the dead bodies of the same time-traveller at different ages) the feel is much less chaotic and much more imaginatively satisfying.
My only major complaint was that
My favourite NDW book so far is still Boys of Blur, but I love the direction of this new series.
ND Wilson has done it again--an action-packed tale of an unlikely hero facing unimaginable evil. But this one is a bit different from the Ashtown Burials series. It's cleaner, shorter, and tighter. With fewer characters, MacGuffins, and baddies to keep track of, and with more relatable characters navigating a more recognisable world (with nevertheless some truly spine-tingling speculative-fiction fun, like a battleground filled with the dead bodies of the same time-traveller at different ages) the feel is much less chaotic and much more imaginatively satisfying.
My only major complaint was that
My favourite NDW book so far is still Boys of Blur, but I love the direction of this new series.
February 17, 2016
Whatever kind of story you like -- plot-driven, character-driven, deep-meaning-driven, or just plain crazily imaginative -- N.D. Wilson delivers the whole constellation time after time. I've read almost everything he has written, both fiction and nonfiction, and for now, at least, this my favorite on the fiction side. I trust that as great books continue to flow from his word processor, I'll find it harder and harder to pick a front-runner.
I wish I could write some superintelligent reason for why I like it best, but you know me...Miss Subjectivity. It just grabbed my heart. I love glorious Glory (and I hope she inspires a revival of the name Gloria, which is shamefully underused). I love the apostle-y posse. I love faithful-as-a-rock Father Tiempo. I love the way they all love Sam, laying down their lives for him, allowing him to be heroic despite being so broken.
All that and... snake arms!!!
(I received an advance reader copy of this book.)
I wish I could write some superintelligent reason for why I like it best, but you know me...Miss Subjectivity. It just grabbed my heart. I love glorious Glory (and I hope she inspires a revival of the name Gloria, which is shamefully underused). I love the apostle-y posse. I love faithful-as-a-rock Father Tiempo. I love the way they all love Sam, laying down their lives for him, allowing him to be heroic despite being so broken.
All that and... snake arms!!!
(I received an advance reader copy of this book.)
September 6, 2022
"Even with all that I have seen and known, there is only one way to change history. By living. By dying."
There was a lot less Endgamey "go back in time and magically fix all the problems" than most time travelling stories, but still just as much aimlessness and vague wishy washy story world. It's ironic how as soon as you start going everywhere you can in your time travelling, it feels like the story starts to go nowhere.
Also, why does the villain just dive out the window so much? Is that something Vultures do?
But also it was still one of Nate's books with a lot of little bits of words I loved to read.
There was a lot less Endgamey "go back in time and magically fix all the problems" than most time travelling stories, but still just as much aimlessness and vague wishy washy story world. It's ironic how as soon as you start going everywhere you can in your time travelling, it feels like the story starts to go nowhere.
Also, why does the villain just dive out the window so much? Is that something Vultures do?
But also it was still one of Nate's books with a lot of little bits of words I loved to read.
June 10, 2017
Quite good. Nate Wilson has a real gift, and the sheer inventiveness of the world he created was enough to impress. Snake arms? What? :)
May 2, 2022
I put off reading this for so long, and then I finally did read it because a) I had just read To Say Nothing of the Dog, a book I managed to enjoy despite being full of time travel, which made my brain go, “oh, it’s possible,” which subsequently made my brain go, b) well, if anyone can write time travel in a way I don’t hate it’s gonna be N. D. Wilson.
Turns out...no one can.
I do like this description of time:
”Time is beyond your comprehension. Time is a wind. Time is an animal. Time is choices. Time is light woven into song. Time is the Poet speaking the next word. We are small, and so we hear and live one word at a time, living the way you would read a book. Outside of the book, where only the Author exists, there is no time at all. It is not even a book. It is one endless, ever-growing but already-grown page. Most people live in the lines, but I march in the margins. I am sent to make the edits, the notes, the corrections. You and I and all creatures are ink on the page, but I can lead up through the white space between the words, where time is thin. I can lift you off the page until only your shadow is dragging behind.”
Particularly the part about the Poet speaking the next word, I dig that.
Reading this monologue (delivered by Father Tiempo, a beautiful character, near the book’s beginning), I thought maybe I could get behind however the time travel would work. Maybe someone could make it work for me.
The notion that time is choices. That individual choices have infinite significance. Sensitive dependence on initial conditions. (Seriously...just make it chaos theory and I like it apparently 😂😂) Those things are important to me. If you can use time travel to explore those themes, I am along for the ride.
But that’s the paradoxical problem of the whole “choices matter” thing. One person’s choices can change the course of history, meaning all the choices made subsequently DON’T matter. That’s the problem with time travel. The fact that you can unmake the infinitely important choices of PEOPLE. It’s so wrong. I can’t STAND it.
And if you try to solve it by simply saying oh, when that happens, you branch off into a new stream of time, an alternate version...then you just end up with a multiverse situation and it’s weird and dumb. We are not told what would have happened, Aslan tells us, and you know what? I think there’s a reason for that.
Anyway. Three stars because Glory was great, the writing was great (as ever), I had just watched Tombstone before watching this so the scene with Doc Holliday and the Earps made me stupidly happy 😂, and Father Tiempo and Sam and sacrifice and action and the desert and caves and Manuelito and just...yeah. N. D. Wilson is a great storyteller. But no time travel for me, THANKS.
Turns out...no one can.
I do like this description of time:
”Time is beyond your comprehension. Time is a wind. Time is an animal. Time is choices. Time is light woven into song. Time is the Poet speaking the next word. We are small, and so we hear and live one word at a time, living the way you would read a book. Outside of the book, where only the Author exists, there is no time at all. It is not even a book. It is one endless, ever-growing but already-grown page. Most people live in the lines, but I march in the margins. I am sent to make the edits, the notes, the corrections. You and I and all creatures are ink on the page, but I can lead up through the white space between the words, where time is thin. I can lift you off the page until only your shadow is dragging behind.”
Particularly the part about the Poet speaking the next word, I dig that.
Reading this monologue (delivered by Father Tiempo, a beautiful character, near the book’s beginning), I thought maybe I could get behind however the time travel would work. Maybe someone could make it work for me.
The notion that time is choices. That individual choices have infinite significance. Sensitive dependence on initial conditions. (Seriously...just make it chaos theory and I like it apparently 😂😂) Those things are important to me. If you can use time travel to explore those themes, I am along for the ride.
But that’s the paradoxical problem of the whole “choices matter” thing. One person’s choices can change the course of history, meaning all the choices made subsequently DON’T matter. That’s the problem with time travel. The fact that you can unmake the infinitely important choices of PEOPLE. It’s so wrong. I can’t STAND it.
And if you try to solve it by simply saying oh, when that happens, you branch off into a new stream of time, an alternate version...then you just end up with a multiverse situation and it’s weird and dumb. We are not told what would have happened, Aslan tells us, and you know what? I think there’s a reason for that.
Anyway. Three stars because Glory was great, the writing was great (as ever), I had just watched Tombstone before watching this so the scene with Doc Holliday and the Earps made me stupidly happy 😂, and Father Tiempo and Sam and sacrifice and action and the desert and caves and Manuelito and just...yeah. N. D. Wilson is a great storyteller. But no time travel for me, THANKS.
November 23, 2017
I have, just, so many thoughts. But it's a road trip and I want to spend my time reading and not reviewing. I'll write about both in my review for number two, perhaps.
November 12, 2020
This. Book.
Okay so first of all, full disclaimer - I'm a teenage girl, and I read this as a teenage girl. Not for a kid, not as a kid, none of that. But there's a C.S. Lewis quote about truly great children's stories not being just for children, and this definitely applies here.
First of all, this is classic N.D. Wilson style. Dramatic. Crazy. Extremely weird. Full of an incredulous wonder at this insane world we're a part of. Fantasy that twists real, everyday life into crazy unrecognizable shapes, and then flings a truth hard as ice straight into your soul that leaves you gasping in recognition. Insane prose that shouldn't work, but somehow does.
As far as plot goes, this book is confusing. I've read it twice, and frankly, I still don't really understand how all the mechanics works. This is a general problem with time-travel fiction. That feeling like you just stepped off a merry-go-round and still aren't really sure what just happened. So don't expect to be able to completely 'get' all the mechanics of this story. It's weird, and there are plot holes that aren't fully explained. But I think this is actually on purpose.
We don't understand this world and never will. We don't know the intricacies of time, the mystery of the way that the Author writes his story. What we must do is live inside the story we've been given, and live well.
Which brings me to the characters - primarily, Sam and Glory. Sam is technically the 'hero' here, and yet he's a wonderfully flawed one. He's got a weird set of memories, a deep and overwhelming love for his sister, a reluctance to kill, and some seriously messed-up arms (more on that later.) He's been saddled with a destiny that he didn't ask for and doesn't necessarily want. You can feel his frustration and just...fatigue, throughout the book. He's a flawed and broken hero who needs people to die for him, help him, remind him, protect him. And I love it.
And then there's Glory. Frankly I could go into a whole essay about the way N.D. Wilson writes strong girl characters, but suffice it to say - is Glory slightly stereotypical in the bossy, strong, get-it-done kind of way. And you know what? I don't care at all. I love seeing this personality in a girl character, especially a supporting character balancing a main character with a different personality. She's spunky and impulsive and incredibly brave. She gives up her life to protect someone she barely knows, simply for the reason that she knows he's going to have to do something hard, and doesn't want him to do it alone. There's just something so inspiring about her.
I said earlier that I'm not a kid, and didn't read this as a kid. This book is certainly about kids...but not in the way that you picture it. It's about kids living a life of danger and horror, in the best way they know how. It's about a man laying down his life to save the world (sound familiar?). It's about a villain whose power is great and evil is greater - and the good that is strong enough to defeat it.
I gave this 5 stars. I do that extremely rarely. But this book pulls me in. It leaves me breathless and slightly confused and ashamed of my own inadequacy in the way I write my own story. It's full of characters who are real enough to be relatable and insane enough to inspire. It's N.D. Wilson at its finest.
Okay so first of all, full disclaimer - I'm a teenage girl, and I read this as a teenage girl. Not for a kid, not as a kid, none of that. But there's a C.S. Lewis quote about truly great children's stories not being just for children, and this definitely applies here.
First of all, this is classic N.D. Wilson style. Dramatic. Crazy. Extremely weird. Full of an incredulous wonder at this insane world we're a part of. Fantasy that twists real, everyday life into crazy unrecognizable shapes, and then flings a truth hard as ice straight into your soul that leaves you gasping in recognition. Insane prose that shouldn't work, but somehow does.
As far as plot goes, this book is confusing. I've read it twice, and frankly, I still don't really understand how all the mechanics works. This is a general problem with time-travel fiction. That feeling like you just stepped off a merry-go-round and still aren't really sure what just happened. So don't expect to be able to completely 'get' all the mechanics of this story. It's weird, and there are plot holes that aren't fully explained. But I think this is actually on purpose.
We don't understand this world and never will. We don't know the intricacies of time, the mystery of the way that the Author writes his story. What we must do is live inside the story we've been given, and live well.
Which brings me to the characters - primarily, Sam and Glory. Sam is technically the 'hero' here, and yet he's a wonderfully flawed one. He's got a weird set of memories, a deep and overwhelming love for his sister, a reluctance to kill, and some seriously messed-up arms (more on that later.) He's been saddled with a destiny that he didn't ask for and doesn't necessarily want. You can feel his frustration and just...fatigue, throughout the book. He's a flawed and broken hero who needs people to die for him, help him, remind him, protect him. And I love it.
And then there's Glory. Frankly I could go into a whole essay about the way N.D. Wilson writes strong girl characters, but suffice it to say - is Glory slightly stereotypical in the bossy, strong, get-it-done kind of way. And you know what? I don't care at all. I love seeing this personality in a girl character, especially a supporting character balancing a main character with a different personality. She's spunky and impulsive and incredibly brave. She gives up her life to protect someone she barely knows, simply for the reason that she knows he's going to have to do something hard, and doesn't want him to do it alone. There's just something so inspiring about her.
I said earlier that I'm not a kid, and didn't read this as a kid. This book is certainly about kids...but not in the way that you picture it. It's about kids living a life of danger and horror, in the best way they know how. It's about a man laying down his life to save the world (sound familiar?). It's about a villain whose power is great and evil is greater - and the good that is strong enough to defeat it.
I gave this 5 stars. I do that extremely rarely. But this book pulls me in. It leaves me breathless and slightly confused and ashamed of my own inadequacy in the way I write my own story. It's full of characters who are real enough to be relatable and insane enough to inspire. It's N.D. Wilson at its finest.
September 27, 2015
UPDATE: Loved the book. Another inventive and gripping story from ND Wilson. And, just as I suspected, another series to follow and to recommend to lovers of Rick Riordan.
Hey is it just my pet peeve, but why haven't more kids latched on to ND's books?! Everything is there - great characters, plots, mythology, inventive worlds, great writing. Come on booksellers and librarians!
FIRST POST: Thank you to Edelweiss for an ARC of the book. I am not too far into it, but I can already tell that it is going to be just as good as Mr Wilson's previous books.I am a bookseller and huge fan.
But - why is he taunting us with a new story when we are waiting for Ashtown Burials #4?!
End of rant, back to regularly scheduled reading . . . . .
Hey is it just my pet peeve, but why haven't more kids latched on to ND's books?! Everything is there - great characters, plots, mythology, inventive worlds, great writing. Come on booksellers and librarians!
FIRST POST: Thank you to Edelweiss for an ARC of the book. I am not too far into it, but I can already tell that it is going to be just as good as Mr Wilson's previous books.I am a bookseller and huge fan.
But - why is he taunting us with a new story when we are waiting for Ashtown Burials #4?!
End of rant, back to regularly scheduled reading . . . . .
July 25, 2016
Really good - a good solid adventure story. I think this is probably the best ND Wilson book as far as plotting goes - it's tight, and doesn't get messy with sidekick characters. Also, the setting is pretty neat - time travel and the wild west, especially since the latter has a 'timeless' feel, making the juxtaposition subtle but distinct.
August 19, 2018
That was a trip
08/18: Not that I had any doubts, this is Wilson after all, but when a book absolutely kills it on a second read (or other subsequent reads) you know it’s a winner. Sam Miracle is a legend.
08/18: Not that I had any doubts, this is Wilson after all, but when a book absolutely kills it on a second read (or other subsequent reads) you know it’s a winner. Sam Miracle is a legend.
July 3, 2021
(did I not review this...? oops)
Well it was very different. Very Wilson. I can see us going great places with this and I look forward to the next book in the trilogy. (which I've already started by now XD)
Well it was very different. Very Wilson. I can see us going great places with this and I look forward to the next book in the trilogy. (which I've already started by now XD)
June 1, 2025
*4.5*
N. D. Wilson is the Madeline LeEngle of the 21st century.
N. D. Wilson is the Madeline LeEngle of the 21st century.
April 15, 2016
(This star rating HURTS. Really. I almost bumped it up to three based on my love of the author's other work, but in fairness if this was a book by an unknown author, it would get a two. Trying to stay honest here.)
Review originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
It is always hard when an author you typically love writes a book that you don't really love. I've read every single book N.D. Wilson has written and usually I put them down full of love and ready to gush. My feelings about his latest work, the first in his new Outlaws of Time trilogy, are far more complicated and my reaction mixed. The Legend of Sam Miracle has some excellent parts, but there are some elements that made me uncomfortable.
Sam Miracle is confused. The life he leads at his home for boys is simple. He works. He learns. He relaxes with his friends. But there are moments when he is in his head living lives of adventure and danger. Unlike most people's daydreams, Sam's do not have happy endings. He dies in the end every time. But he still loves the dreams even if they sometimes cause him to wander off into danger unknown because in them is arms don't hurt and they bend as they are supposed to. In his real life they are useless, damaged beyond help in a horrible accident. When a new doctor shows up at the ranch to take a look at Sam, the world as Sam knows it is flipped inside out. The doctor is not a doctor, but an outlaw sent through time to track Sam down and kill him. Sam finds himself torn out of a time he thought was his own and discovering that his dreams aren't dreams, but memories. And he has one last chance to change the end of his story.
The world and plot of The Legend of Same Miracle is ambitious. These two elements of the story work really well. Wilson's imagery brings the American west to vivid life: the heat, the harsh sun, the dryness, the sand. This is a story of outlaws and cowboys very much steeped in the mythology of the old west. There is a lot of adventure, peril, and heroics. The villains are the sort who have no trouble torturing and killing young people. They've done it numerous times and pulled time apart to do it again. This gives the sense of peril in the book the realistic edge I expect from Wilson. His fantasies have teeth, and I've always appreciated that. Sam keeps getting another chance to get things right even after dying multiple times. The mechanics of this and the time travel are vaguely alluded to, but it isn't necessary to understand how it works to know that it does. The plot bounces between the linear story of Sam discovering (again) who he is and going about this attempt to make his story right and the flashbacks to his past lives. Once the adventure starts the reader also gets to see what the main villain is up to with some moments showing what Sam's sister Millie is enduring. The book is difficult to put down, and it has Wilson's signature descriptive prose that hooks the reader and holds them to the end. It also has quite a bit of humor. (The acronym for Sam's home is SADDYR and there are delightful motivational phrases to go with each letter posted on the wall.) Thematically the book is what I've come to expect from Wilson as well. There are a great many of lines that are quotable and had me nodding and smiling.
The problems I have are with the characterization. It is hard to feel connected to Sam because he is so confused and doesn't really know who he is for much of the novel. He is clueless and incompetent, which is completely understandable given everything he goes through. However the turn around on that is far too abrupt. This is partly due to how his arms are "fixed", but he has a major change in attitude too. It's like the first half of the book and the second half of the book have two entirely different main characters, and it's not clear how or when they were switched out.
My biggest problem with the characterization is with the other major characters. Three important people in Sam's journey are members of the Navajo nation. I know Wilson's intentions here came from a genuine place. He wrote about it here. The end result left me uncomfortable though. All three characters are very much the magical Native American. Their sole purpose in the narrative is to drive the story of the white hero. One of them sacrifices everything for him. These characters were problematic on several levels. It takes an actual Native hero away from the work with his actual people and nation and focuses his attention on this random white kid. The way they talked about communing with animals and had this strange magic made me squirm. It felt very much like Disney's Pocahontas-a white person's cobbled idea of what Native Americans are.
The Native characters made me uncomfortable. The female characters made me angry. One reason I have never really liked westerns is that the women in them either tend to be agentless bodies to be raped/tortured/murdered to advance the male protagonist's story or evil manipulators working for the baddy. Sam's sister is the former. And she's had to endure it a thousand times over. She has a brief moment of agency when she snarks the villain, but she still needs to be rescued at the end and the reader is left with no sense of who she is as a person outside of who she is to Sam. His motivation. (Blech.) The main female character is Glory. She is the daughter of Sam's foster parents, and for plot reasons gets swept up into the story. She has a little more agency than Millie. She actually chooses to accompany Sam and help him. It was a heroic thought. She does help in saving his life. Then she spends the rest of the book as his secretary (for all intents and purposes). Oh, and she also needs to be rescued by him. More than once. Again, I ended the book with no real sense of who she was apart from her role in Sam's life. The only other female character in the book is evil. This made me even more angry because I expect better of Wilson. I can't believe this is the same author who wrote Henrietta, Antigone, Diana, and Arachne. I KNOW HE CAN DO BETTER.
Will I read the second book? Yes, I will because Wilson's past seven novels have earned my trust. I'm willing to stick around to see how he deals with some of this later on. It's a book that I can't wholeheartedly recommend on its own merits though. And that makes me sad.
I read an ARC made available by the publisher, Katherine Tegen Books, via Edelweiss. The Legend of Sam Miracle is on sale April 19th.
Review originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
It is always hard when an author you typically love writes a book that you don't really love. I've read every single book N.D. Wilson has written and usually I put them down full of love and ready to gush. My feelings about his latest work, the first in his new Outlaws of Time trilogy, are far more complicated and my reaction mixed. The Legend of Sam Miracle has some excellent parts, but there are some elements that made me uncomfortable.
Sam Miracle is confused. The life he leads at his home for boys is simple. He works. He learns. He relaxes with his friends. But there are moments when he is in his head living lives of adventure and danger. Unlike most people's daydreams, Sam's do not have happy endings. He dies in the end every time. But he still loves the dreams even if they sometimes cause him to wander off into danger unknown because in them is arms don't hurt and they bend as they are supposed to. In his real life they are useless, damaged beyond help in a horrible accident. When a new doctor shows up at the ranch to take a look at Sam, the world as Sam knows it is flipped inside out. The doctor is not a doctor, but an outlaw sent through time to track Sam down and kill him. Sam finds himself torn out of a time he thought was his own and discovering that his dreams aren't dreams, but memories. And he has one last chance to change the end of his story.
The world and plot of The Legend of Same Miracle is ambitious. These two elements of the story work really well. Wilson's imagery brings the American west to vivid life: the heat, the harsh sun, the dryness, the sand. This is a story of outlaws and cowboys very much steeped in the mythology of the old west. There is a lot of adventure, peril, and heroics. The villains are the sort who have no trouble torturing and killing young people. They've done it numerous times and pulled time apart to do it again. This gives the sense of peril in the book the realistic edge I expect from Wilson. His fantasies have teeth, and I've always appreciated that. Sam keeps getting another chance to get things right even after dying multiple times. The mechanics of this and the time travel are vaguely alluded to, but it isn't necessary to understand how it works to know that it does. The plot bounces between the linear story of Sam discovering (again) who he is and going about this attempt to make his story right and the flashbacks to his past lives. Once the adventure starts the reader also gets to see what the main villain is up to with some moments showing what Sam's sister Millie is enduring. The book is difficult to put down, and it has Wilson's signature descriptive prose that hooks the reader and holds them to the end. It also has quite a bit of humor. (The acronym for Sam's home is SADDYR and there are delightful motivational phrases to go with each letter posted on the wall.) Thematically the book is what I've come to expect from Wilson as well. There are a great many of lines that are quotable and had me nodding and smiling.
The problems I have are with the characterization. It is hard to feel connected to Sam because he is so confused and doesn't really know who he is for much of the novel. He is clueless and incompetent, which is completely understandable given everything he goes through. However the turn around on that is far too abrupt. This is partly due to how his arms are "fixed", but he has a major change in attitude too. It's like the first half of the book and the second half of the book have two entirely different main characters, and it's not clear how or when they were switched out.
My biggest problem with the characterization is with the other major characters. Three important people in Sam's journey are members of the Navajo nation. I know Wilson's intentions here came from a genuine place. He wrote about it here. The end result left me uncomfortable though. All three characters are very much the magical Native American. Their sole purpose in the narrative is to drive the story of the white hero. One of them sacrifices everything for him. These characters were problematic on several levels. It takes an actual Native hero away from the work with his actual people and nation and focuses his attention on this random white kid. The way they talked about communing with animals and had this strange magic made me squirm. It felt very much like Disney's Pocahontas-a white person's cobbled idea of what Native Americans are.
The Native characters made me uncomfortable. The female characters made me angry. One reason I have never really liked westerns is that the women in them either tend to be agentless bodies to be raped/tortured/murdered to advance the male protagonist's story or evil manipulators working for the baddy. Sam's sister is the former. And she's had to endure it a thousand times over. She has a brief moment of agency when she snarks the villain, but she still needs to be rescued at the end and the reader is left with no sense of who she is as a person outside of who she is to Sam. His motivation. (Blech.) The main female character is Glory. She is the daughter of Sam's foster parents, and for plot reasons gets swept up into the story. She has a little more agency than Millie. She actually chooses to accompany Sam and help him. It was a heroic thought. She does help in saving his life. Then she spends the rest of the book as his secretary (for all intents and purposes). Oh, and she also needs to be rescued by him. More than once. Again, I ended the book with no real sense of who she was apart from her role in Sam's life. The only other female character in the book is evil. This made me even more angry because I expect better of Wilson. I can't believe this is the same author who wrote Henrietta, Antigone, Diana, and Arachne. I KNOW HE CAN DO BETTER.
Will I read the second book? Yes, I will because Wilson's past seven novels have earned my trust. I'm willing to stick around to see how he deals with some of this later on. It's a book that I can't wholeheartedly recommend on its own merits though. And that makes me sad.
I read an ARC made available by the publisher, Katherine Tegen Books, via Edelweiss. The Legend of Sam Miracle is on sale April 19th.
December 13, 2023
Dark and gritty. He really makes his heroes crawl over broken glass to be victorious. Light only comes after the dark.
I have a distinct dislike of time travel stories, there’s always paradoxes and logical problems with how it works. This book is no different. With the way he rewinds time and restarts before a character dies, or another character sending his oldest version of himself back in time to die, then the next oldest etc, to the point where I ask, “if this youngest version of himself is dead, then how did the older versions live to also fight? Even with this, the story was a lot of fun, but I had to take a star from it
I have a distinct dislike of time travel stories, there’s always paradoxes and logical problems with how it works. This book is no different. With the way he rewinds time and restarts before a character dies, or another character sending his oldest version of himself back in time to die, then the next oldest etc, to the point where I ask, “if this youngest version of himself is dead, then how did the older versions live to also fight? Even with this, the story was a lot of fun, but I had to take a star from it
December 19, 2018
Excellent. I knew that I would enjoy this, since I enjoy everything that ND Wilson writes, but it far exceeded my expectations. The story grip was phenomenal. I highly recommend the audiobook version, the reader is incredible!
February 4, 2024
I love this book it's so good. if you are considering reading it do it. It's a mysterious time travel western. It balances everything so well. I love the characters. And the pace of the book. It's a must-read
May 11, 2016
This is his most recent book, and it's definitely my favorite. Fascinating story. Profound truths. Colorful writing. It's everything a Christian story should be. Excellent!
September 28, 2020
I still like 100 Cupboards and Ashtown Burials better, but this one was MUCH better the second read. For some reason I was dreadfully confused the first time I read it. 😂
February 13, 2025
I forgot how much I love Nate’s writing. It is my favorite! 👌
May 30, 2019
Oh man. This book was absolutely fantastic! N.D. Wilson really takes a unique turn with time travel, filling ever corner of this book with adventure and surprise! The characters were extremely real, and his writing of the Vulture was absolutely stunning and scary. This was definitely one of my favorite reads this year, and I can't wait to read the next two books.
November 13, 2025
Previously, I began this book several times. I'm not a time-travel aficionado; I had to get past that. But I knew, if I became invested, I would find writing like this:
Father Tiempo speaking:
Time is beyond your comprehension. Time is a wind. Time is an animal. Time is choices. Time is light woven into song. Time is the Poet speaking the next word. We are small, and so we hear and live only one word at a time, living in the way you would read a book. It is one endless ever-growing but already-grown page. Most people live in the lines, but I march in the margins. I am sent to make the edits, the notes, the corrections. You and I and all creatures are ink on the page, but I can lead you through the white space between the words, where time is thin. I can lift you off the page until only your shadow is dragging behind.
I'm glad I read it.
Father Tiempo speaking:
Time is beyond your comprehension. Time is a wind. Time is an animal. Time is choices. Time is light woven into song. Time is the Poet speaking the next word. We are small, and so we hear and live only one word at a time, living in the way you would read a book. It is one endless ever-growing but already-grown page. Most people live in the lines, but I march in the margins. I am sent to make the edits, the notes, the corrections. You and I and all creatures are ink on the page, but I can lead you through the white space between the words, where time is thin. I can lift you off the page until only your shadow is dragging behind.
I'm glad I read it.
July 10, 2021
A well-written, middle-grade, time-travel western? Sold. Now I need to rewatch Tombstone.
October 5, 2023
Ok, so I love time travel stories. And I love N.D. Wilson's books. Therefore, I loved Legend of Sam Miracle. (as an added bonus, there's some great symbolism in this book if you like that kind of thing)
Content:
Violence
Content:
Violence
May 28, 2019
May 2019: I gave up hoping for the third book to show up in audio and am relistening to the first two to gear up for finally reading it in print. Story always wins. Glory and Sam know this. Killing the dragon isn't enough if the hero doesn't also get the girl. I'm not one of those people who has a strong visual sense of what I read, but much of this book is almost cinematic to me thanks to the descriptive writing. I only get a little lost in some of the more fantastical bits. Good soul food.
May 2016: Got it on audio, so I get to review this edition, too (my print review is here). I need to re-listen to the last couple of chapters. I got distracted at one point and lost track of how somebody got somewhere (or somewhen). The Legend of Sam Miracle is still my favorite of N. D. Wilson's fiction, and Glory Spalding is still my favorite character in it. I'm also listening to Fellowship of the Ring when I'm in the car, so her similarity to my my favorite LOTR character has been on my mind. They both have a bold, tenacious, self-sacrificial loyalty that I can only aspire to. But being a girl, Glory's helper role is, well, lovelier than Sam's. Even when clad in grubby long johns. Since there's so much meaning in the names in the book, I find myself wondering if Spalding has any significance. There's a Spalding, Idaho, not too far from Wilson's home in Moscow. It's named after Henry Spalding, whose wife Eliza was cut from the same cloth as Glory. Coincidence? I'ma go out on a limb and think not. On the other hand, perhaps Wilson just likes basketball, but if that were the case, you'd think he'd go for this one. Rumor has it (I think it was in some interview with the author) there's more of Glory's story in the next book. I am eager. (As for the Rose of Sharon reference in El Buitre's name, I'm stumped. I used to know a Bill Rose. He wasn't very vulturine.)
Knowing the author's voice, it's hard for me to listen to somebody else reading his books, but MacLeod Andrews does a very fine job. I especially appreciated his characterizations, which differentiated well without straying into too-hammed-up territory.
Oh, and I really need to see Tombstone .
May 2016: Got it on audio, so I get to review this edition, too (my print review is here). I need to re-listen to the last couple of chapters. I got distracted at one point and lost track of how somebody got somewhere (or somewhen). The Legend of Sam Miracle is still my favorite of N. D. Wilson's fiction, and Glory Spalding is still my favorite character in it. I'm also listening to Fellowship of the Ring when I'm in the car, so her similarity to my my favorite LOTR character has been on my mind. They both have a bold, tenacious, self-sacrificial loyalty that I can only aspire to. But being a girl, Glory's helper role is, well, lovelier than Sam's. Even when clad in grubby long johns. Since there's so much meaning in the names in the book, I find myself wondering if Spalding has any significance. There's a Spalding, Idaho, not too far from Wilson's home in Moscow. It's named after Henry Spalding, whose wife Eliza was cut from the same cloth as Glory. Coincidence? I'ma go out on a limb and think not. On the other hand, perhaps Wilson just likes basketball, but if that were the case, you'd think he'd go for this one. Rumor has it (I think it was in some interview with the author) there's more of Glory's story in the next book. I am eager. (As for the Rose of Sharon reference in El Buitre's name, I'm stumped. I used to know a Bill Rose. He wasn't very vulturine.)
Knowing the author's voice, it's hard for me to listen to somebody else reading his books, but MacLeod Andrews does a very fine job. I especially appreciated his characterizations, which differentiated well without straying into too-hammed-up territory.
Oh, and I really need to see Tombstone .
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