Review: The Volcanic Rose by Rene Duke

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The Volcanic Rose by Renee Duke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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The time-traveling saga of the Wolverton family comes to an explosive end in "The Volcanic Rose." I'm not giving any spoilers you can't get off the cover. Yes, Mt. Vesuvius is involved.

One thing about the Wolvertons, there are plenty of them to get involved in fixing the things that go wrong in the past. Featured over the four previous books, we follow the current generation of time travelers, siblings Paige and Dane, and their cousin, Jack. In the third book (Spirit Rose), they meet Skookaweethp, a syilx (First Nations tribe) girl from centuries before, who knows not only they are time travelers, but that another time traveler, the evil Khatcheres, wants to disrupt time to his own advantage.

The Time Rose travelers learn they are tasked by time itself to thwart Khatcheres' plot, but in doing so, their ability to time travel will end.

The cryptic writings of one of their time traveling ancestors, Aurea-Rose, leads them through the steps they must take, which involves returning their Time Rose and other time artifacts to a girl named Varteni who awaits them in 79 AD at Ercolano, known now as Herculaneum. Varteni and the town lie in the direct path of the explosion of Mt. Vesuvius. To be sure, time is more of the essence than usual.

This is a great setup to end the series with both dramatic flair, but also to make sure we readers of the series will (sadly) know this will be the end of the Time Rose tales.

It is best to read the books in order even if the travelers are hopping around in time themselves. Lots of clues are provided throughout the series which make the conclusion logical and inevitable.

My only complaint is the cast of characters within the Wolverton clan alone is numerous. However, five plus generations of the family are represented, so it's not surprising there are tons of aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, grand-parents, great-grand-parents and even a great-great-great-grand-aunt. It's a bit difficult keeping track of who's who. I'd love to see the Family Tree.

It'd be great if the publisher now puts the entire series together as a boxed set. It'd be a wonderful gift for middle-grade kids who like a rousing fantasy tale.

Highly recommended for kids of all ages. I'm giving this five stars to include the entire series. I'm usually stingier with stars.


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