Liked this much better than Magnason's award winning, The Story of The Blue Planet, probably for the depth of the inventive fairy tale and the moral of nothing good is easy. A young girl (Sigrun) awakens from a TimeBox®, that her parents and she used to await better times. She finds other kids and makes her way to Grace's house, where Grace asks for their help to awaken everyone. Most of the book is Grace telling the children the story of King Dimon's overprotection of Princess Obsidiana, following Queen Sunbeam's death when the Princess is born. He wants to give her the world, and save her from the ravages of time, leading to many poor decisions, including leaving her in untrustworthy hands. Her only friend is Anori, a young thief hoping to find something to steal in the Castle, who releases her from the casket of time, where she is kept. Note: the description of the book is misleading.