Storm at the Edge of Time

by Pamela F. Service

Three children, Arni, a Viking boy from the past, Jamie, a girl from the present, and Tyaak, a half-human boy from the distant future, search for three magical staffs

Genres: Fantasy, Time Travel, Young Adult, Ghosts, Aliens

179 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Born in Berkeley, California, Pamela F. Service grew up loving to hear, read, and tell stories - particularly about weird stuff. Pamela earned a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley followed by an MA in history and archaeology from the University of London.

She spent many years living in Bloomington, Indiana, writing, serving on the city council, and being curator of a history museum. She has a grown daughter, Alex, who is also a museum curator. Pamela is now living in Eureka, California, where she writes, works as a museum curator, and acts in community theater.

Reviews

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storm at the Edge of Time is a good idea, and nicely presented, but on reading it one realises it could have been a lot better with a little more length and time, as well as depth into the characters and circumstances.

Jamie is a young American girl holidaying in Scotland, Arni is a young Viking living on the coast, and Tyaak is a half-human, half-alien boy who is going through with his rite-of-passage stay on Earth's island of Britain. All of them are separated by thousands of years, yet all of them are descendants of each other. They are each called toward the great stone circle in their separate times and greeted by the wizard Urkar who presents them with a task only they can pre form: to prevent the chaotic storm of destruction from destroying the world, they must find and return to him three magical staffs that can stabilise the worlds. These... Read More:
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[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This the first book by this late 20th/early 21st century author of children's fantasy/sci fi that I've read. Her first book, Winter of Magic's Return, was published in 1985, when I was in college and not reading much for pleasure...And then the 1990s were a difficult time reading-wise for me--I would go to libraries and bookstores and not find anything that looked good. It was so wonderful when the internet happened, and my tbr pile never looked back. But in any event, this evening I finished reading Storm at the Edge of Time.

Three young teenagers, Arni (a Viking), Jamie (a contemporary American girl), and Tyaak (a half alien from the far future) are all on Orkney in their different times when they are pulled back to the ancient past by a magician desperately trying to save the universe from destruction. The magician spent most of his own power 6000 years ago in the past, and the three staffs that were once joined in a single tree of protective power were scattered. The three kids are descendants of the magician, and have inherited some of his power, and so they are pitted against the forces of darkness, desperately search for the staffs in their own time periods.

They are not a natural team, they have no idea what they are doing, they are time travelling (1 person in their own time, the other 2 not), and powerful agents of darkness, who do know what they are doing magic-wise, are trying to get the staffs themselves. Unfortunately, the book is too short to do justice of all of this, and the Three Time Travel adventures ended up feeling sort of skittery and surface level, with the occasional elements of good description and emotional depth making the reader (me) want the whole thing to be more...

The part that I actually enjoyed best was the bit where Jamie is introduced--dragged to Orkney by birdwatching parents, she's annoyed and isolated, and desperate to see a ghost so that she can have something that is special about her....This very introspective, character focused section is a sharp contrast to the adventures in time. The two boys each get their own introductory bit too, but these are short and don't quite make their characters three dimensional, especially that of the half alien from the future, who is just an unpleasant grump for most of the book.

All this being said, I didn't mind reading the book at all, though I do wish it had pushed a bit more past the adventures into the characters. And I will certainly pick up Pamela Service's New Magic series and stand alone books if they come my way, though probably not her Alien Agent and Way-To-Real Aliens books.

[Douglas Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story tells of 3 teenagers, Jamie, a 20th-century girl, Arni, a boy from the ancient Viking era, and Tyaak, a space-traveling half human from the future who are trying to fetch 3 pieces of a staff that will ward off evil. Each of the teens has a power and they come to rely on all of their powers to accomplish their mission.

This is a fast paced story and each of the three time travel trips could be a story unto itself. I liked how Service melded the stories of the 3 teens together, making each of them very believable but powerful at the same time.

[Jeri Roys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even as a kid I think I found this a little too serious a book for such a silly premise.

[Aelvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Orkney Islands hold much history, and many secrets. Three children from across time are called to band together to find the three wands necessary to fortify ancient defenses against the forces of Destruction. Arni, an 11th century Viking boy. Jamie, a modern girl. Tyaak, a 26th-century half-human. None of them have experience with magic, but they will need more than ordinary power to prevail . . .

This was okay, but the plot felt too repetitive and predictable after the initial setup. Go into the era of one of the kids, use that kid's local knowledge to get around, while the group tries to sense the location of the staff, then try to snatch the staff out from under the agents of Destruction who are also after it. The specifics vary, of course, depending on the century, but it's hard to feel too much tension since this is obviously a stand-alone book and not part of a longer series. (In other words, there's no time for failure. The page count alone tells me they have to succeed.)

Jamie, being the modern representative, gets the most narrative focus. She would have gotten a little more of my sympathy if she hadn't been so determined to just fall into some great talent that none of her family enjoyed (hint: even natural skill in the areas her parents and brother succeed in takes a lot of hard work to become that big a success). At least she's not instantly great at magic (mostly due to a failure of imagination about how to use it).

Overall this wasn't a bad read, but I did find myself more bored with the story than not, so it's not one I'd come back to. I rate this book Neutral.

See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....

[Thistle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three teenagers from different times (a Viking boy, a modern girl, and a half-alien boy) end up thrown together through time to do something something mumble something. The Viking boy was a little interesting, but other than him the story didn't hold my attention. I'm sure the three had to save the world somehow.

DNF

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good adventure/sci fi but very early 90's !!

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like Pamela Service's work, but I thought this was just same old, same old. Gifted teens unite to save the world using powers they didn't know they had. I must have read too many young adult books with the same theme. I would recommend reading something of Andre Norton's, instead.

[Chantel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK! Randomly pulled it off a shelf one day & I've kept reading it ever since. :)