Escape from the Past: The Kid
by Annette Oppenlander
GENRE: YA
historical/sci-fi
BLURB:
Time-traveling gamer, Max, embarks on a harrowing journey through
the Wild West of 1881! After a huge fight with his parents, Max tries to return
to his love and his best friend, Bero, in medieval Germany. Instead he lands in
1881 New Mexico. Struggling to get his bearings and coming to terms with Dr.
Stuler’s evil computer game misleading him, he runs into Billy the Kid. To his
amazement Billy isn’t at all the ruthless killer history made him out to be.
Trouble brews when a dying Warm Springs Apache gives Max a huge gold nugget to
help his sister, Ela, escape from Fort Sumner. Shopping for supplies Max
attracts the attention of ruthless bandits. Before Max can ask the Kid’s help,
he and Ela are forced to embark on a journey to find his imaginary goldmine.
This is book 2 in the Escape from the Past trilogy.
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EXCERPT:
Getting back on the donkey was the
hardest thing I’d ever done. By the way the sun hung lower, it had to be
mid-afternoon. I was bone-tired and so hot that my light shirt was dark with
sweat. Once in a while I scanned the horizon, wishing for clouds, wishing for
something to change and get me out of my misery.
Of course, there was no such thing. The
relentless blazing continued, the sky huge and intensively blue. My muscles
screamed with every step and the insides of my thighs burned raw.
“Hey, Kid.” The voice sounded muffled
as I woke from a daze. The Irish had pulled his horse next to Donkey Biter,
watching me with clear green eyes.
“What?” I croaked.
“You don’t look so good. Where do you
say you come from?”
I swallowed, but there was nothing but
grit in my mouth and my mind was blank. I finally waved my chin toward my right
shoulder. “East.”
“You a city boy.” It wasn’t a question.
“Going to make your fortune in the west? Get some gold?”
I nodded and threw a sideward glance at
the man, my eyes aching from the scorching brightness sinking low in the sky. I
had to ask. “Where’re we going?”
The Irish threw me a quick look. “Santa
Fe. Isn’t that where you were heading?”
I managed another nod. That was in New
Mexico if I remembered right. “How far?”
“Boss, look.” Wade yanked around his horse. I saw nothing, but Scarface next to him raised an arm. Everyone stopped. I was glad Donkey Biter got his cues from the other horses or I would’ve walked on.
“Boss, look.” Wade yanked around his horse. I saw nothing, but Scarface next to him raised an arm. Everyone stopped. I was glad Donkey Biter got his cues from the other horses or I would’ve walked on.
“Looks like settlers,” Broken Nose
said. “Are we going to take them?”
My
Review of The Kid:
I
received a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.
Yes finally I got to read The Kid! After reading The Duke’s
Wrath I knew I had to read The Kid and boy am I glad I did. Oh Max is back
again and is having a day in his life. He is upset with his dad again and all
he wants is to get away. It has been almost a year since Max played the game
where he traveled back in time to Germany in 1471 and he never thought he would
play again. Going back in time the first and not knowing if he was going to
ever find his way out of the game and get back home again was pretty scary for
him.
But with everything that is going on his life right now
and with all the time that has passed since the last time he played Max has
kind of forgotten what it was like to be stuck in the past. Besides all that he
misses his old friend Bero and his sister Julianna. Last time Max had a crush
on Julianna and she also liked him. Julianna wanted Max to marry her that is
what all the young girls did her time. They got married young and had a family.
But Max being from a different time wasn’t ready for a family. Oh no he still
had his whole life ahead of him for that. First he needed to finish high school
and then maybe get a degree first. But he did miss them a lot so he decided that
he would take his chance and go visit them again. He thought he had this game
all figured out but he sure didn’t have something down pat because he ended up
in another time in another country than before.
This time when he played the game and traveled back in
time he went back to 1881 in the Wild West days. He saw a family being attacked
by the Indians while traveling. He also met Billy the kid who turned out not to
be the bad guy that history claimed him to be. Max actually became pretty good
friends with him. But he also met another pretty girl who he came to like and
care for a lot too. This girl wanted him to marry her as well but Max wasn’t
ready for a family. He cared for this girl a lot and did think about staying in
the past with her.
Max was also left with not knowing what he was supposed
to do in the game or what his missions were. He was almost as confused this
time around as the first time he played. He thought he had it all figured out
but he soon realized he was mistaken. But he didn’t really know what he wanted
if he wanted to stay in the past or go back to the future. Will Max figure out
what it is he is supposed to do? Will he ever make it out of the game? Does he
really want too? What will he do? What will his family do?
If you like reading historical/time traveling books then
you are going to fall in love with the Escape from the Past series. It is and
amazing series and I can’t wait to read the next book to see where Max takes us
on his next adventure. I can’t wait to see where he goes and who he meets.
Escape
from the Past: The Duke's Wrath:
by Annette Oppenlander
GENRE: YA historical/sci-fi
GENRE: YA historical/sci-fi
BLURB:
When fifteen-year old nerd and gamer Max Anderson thinks he’s
sneaking a preview of an unpublished video game, he doesn’t realize that 1)
He’s been secretly chosen as a beta, an experimental test player. 2) He’s
playing the ultimate history game, transporting him into the actual past:
anywhere and anytime. And 3) Survival is optional: To return home he must
decipher the game’s rules and complete its missions—if he lives long enough. To
fail means to stay in the past—forever.
Now Max is trapped in medieval Germany, unprepared and clueless.
It is 1471 and he quickly learns that being an outcast may cost him his head.
Especially after rescuing a beautiful peasant girl from a deadly infection and
thus provoking sinister wannabe duke Ott. Overnight he is dragged into a hornet’s
nest of feuding lords who will stop at nothing to bring down the conjuring
stranger in their midst.
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EXCERPT:
“Mutter, I brought someone.”
Bero slumped on the bench, scanning the table. I stood unmoving. Two tallow
lamps flickered in earthen pots, barely making a dent into the gloom. The thick
mixture of smoke, dust and body odor was worse. Disgusted, I rubbed my nose. It
didn’t do any good.
The left side of the ceiling
hung so low that I easily touched it with my hand. The other half was hidden by
dense smoke. A scrawny fire smoldered in a stone hearth along the back wall. In
front of it stood a woman of indefinable age, stirring a cast-iron pot.
“You’re late,” she said
without turning. “Next time we eat without you.”
“I told you she’s mad,” said
the girl who’d been shelling beans earlier.
“Hush, Adela,” the mother
shot back. I looked back and forth between them, struggling to follow the weird
speech while identifying the smell emanating from the pot. Nothing came to
mind. Despite the terrible stench in the house, my stomach gurgled in
anticipation.
“Nay, I was late because of
this lad,” Bero said. “He needs shelter for tonight.”
At last, the mother turned
around. Even in the gloom I could tell that she was shocked, maybe scared, her
eyes blackish pools in the haggard face. She carefully placed the ladle on a
stone plate and stepped closer—her eyes now squinting, scrutinizing. I wanted
to bolt. A disgusting odor enveloped me. While Bero smelled of earth and pigs,
the woman reeked of sweat and something sour. I tried breathing shallow
breaths, thinking I should just leave and sleep outside. But then I thought of
the rustling in the woods, the evil riders wielding their swords— worse, how
clueless I felt.
My
Review of The Duke's Wrath:
I
received a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.
Are you a big gamer? Have you ever wished you could be a
beta gamer? Have you ever wished you could get your hands on a copy of a game
before it was published? Well that is just what Max did in Escape from the
Past: The Duke’s Wrath. His best friend Jimmy’s dad is a game developer. So Max
kept begging and begging Jimmy to get him a copy of his dad’s new game. Jimmy
finally gave in and gave him a copy.
Max loaded the game into computer that night thinking he
would only play for a couple of hours. It was not the first time he had pulled
an all-nighter playing a game. To him it was no big deal. He was young and didn’t
need that much sleep besides if and when it did eventually catch up with him he
would sleep then. When he loaded it up it gave no options or clues as to what
or how to play the game. Well I guess it did have a few options something like beginner
or advance player. Max being the big gamer that he is of course he choose
advance player thinking he with the time he has put in to games and seeing how
he is good gamer then advance would be a piece of cake to him. But he was in for
a big surprise.
When Max entered the game and he took a good look around
him he realized that he may be playing a game but it was real. He had been transported
to the past but where he had no idea. But he did hit it lucky though as he met
a nice young man or boy who helped him out and became his best friend. Max’s
new friend Bero took him home with him. Bero and his family didn’t have much
but what they had they shared it with Max but of course Max was nice as well
and helped Bero with his chores.
Max liked being with Bero and his family and spending
time in the past but he soon became homesick. But he didn’t know how to get
back home. He didn’t know what missions that he needed to complete in order for
him to leave the game and return home again.
When I read the summary of The Duke’s Wrath I knew I had
to read it. I like the idea of traveling back in time but to do it through a
game is awesome. Just to think about time traveling and visiting places in the
past is just amazing to me. I would love to travel back in time and visit lots
of historical events in history but I don’t think I would like being stuck in a
game not knowing when or if I would ever find my way home again. Now that would
be scary. I am so glad that I got the opportunity to read The Duke’s Wrath. I
am so looking forward to the next book in the series The Kid. I know it will be
just as amazing and The Duke’s Wrath.
If you like reading historical novels or playing games
then I think you would probably enjoy reading The Duke’s Wrath. So go and grab
your copy today!
The
Duke's Wrath Trailer:
Book Trailer:
AUTHOR BIO:
Annette Oppenlander writes historical fiction for young adults.
When she isn’t in front of her computer, she loves indulging her dog, Mocha,
and traveling around the U.S. and Europe to discover amazing histories.
“Nearly every place holds some kind of secret,
something that makes history come alive. When we scrutinize people and places
closely, history is no longer a number, it turns into a story.”
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