Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle

by N. D. Wilson Narrated by MacLeod Andrews

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

MAY 2016 - AudioFile

A myriad of strong characters is featured in Wilson’s story, which is part time travel, part thriller, part Western, and part quest. It all provides a showcase for MacLeod Andrews’s narration skills, and he doesn’t disappoint. Twelve-year-old Sam Miracle, an orphan who is besieged by dreams of the past, is determined to do right by his father and sister. If Sam can replay a portion of his past life, his personal situation will be resolved, but as he lights down in different timeframes, his enemy, the Vulture, is waiting to thwart him. Andrews moves in and out of each character deftly. His Sam is a spot-on tween, anguished or pigheaded; his Vulture is loud, forceful, and intimidating. Reading the narrative, Andrews soothes the listener with a calming voice as he sets all the scenes. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

Michael Northrop

An exciting adventure with relentless action and more twists and turns than a sidewinder snake on the hunt.

J.A. White

A lightning fast adventure with one breathless action scene after another.

Peter Lerangis

On the charges of wild action, mind-bending fantasy, unforgettable characters, and enough fun plot twists to blow the ten-gallon from any reader’s head, the verdict on ND Wilson’s Outlaws of Time: crazy guilty.

Booklist

A wide world of incredible magic.

Washington Post

A must-read series.

Booklist (starred review)

Praise for BOYS OF BLUR:“The story moves at heart-pounding speeds, furthered by magic and mystery and rooted in ideas of familial bonds and self-discovery.

Washington Post on the 100 Cupboards series

A must-read series.

Booklist (starred review) on Boys of Blur

The story moves at heart-pounding speeds, furthered by magic and mystery and rooted in ideas of familial bonds and self-discovery. In the end, it is a tale of one boy’s daring quest to save his family and to learn what it means to fly.

Booklist (starred review) on the Ashtown Burials series

A gem.

Booklist on Boys of Blur

The story moves at heart-pounding speeds, furthered by magic and mystery and rooted in ideas of familial bonds and self-discovery. In the end, it is a tale of one boy’s daring quest to save his family and to learn what it means to fly.

Booklist on the Ashtown Burials series

A gem.

MAY 2016 - AudioFile

A myriad of strong characters is featured in Wilson’s story, which is part time travel, part thriller, part Western, and part quest. It all provides a showcase for MacLeod Andrews’s narration skills, and he doesn’t disappoint. Twelve-year-old Sam Miracle, an orphan who is besieged by dreams of the past, is determined to do right by his father and sister. If Sam can replay a portion of his past life, his personal situation will be resolved, but as he lights down in different timeframes, his enemy, the Vulture, is waiting to thwart him. Andrews moves in and out of each character deftly. His Sam is a spot-on tween, anguished or pigheaded; his Vulture is loud, forceful, and intimidating. Reading the narrative, Andrews soothes the listener with a calming voice as he sets all the scenes. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2016-01-20
Starting with a ragtag bunch of boys, sweltering desert, and tall-tale sensibility reminiscent of Louis Sachar's Holes (1998), this fantasy quickly becomes a time-hopping shoot-'em-up. Sam Miracle, a 12-year-old blond white boy with arms that have been shattered and fused so tightly they don't bend at the elbows, lives at a ranch for destitute youth. He frequently slips into trances in which he and his sister, Millie, also blonde, face death. The visions are memory fragments: Sam's been killed repeatedly, as has Millie. A villain named El Buitre (the Vulture) is destroying life for "centuries in both directions," and to that end he must kill Sam—permanently. The plot's all action—Wild West, train wrecks, bridge crashes, gunfights—and the characters all recognizable types: a boy destined for greatness, an endangered sister, a girl sidekick, and three magical Navajos speaking a "mysterious liquid language" who orbit—and sacrifice themselves for—the white hero. One's an appallingly stereotypical medicine man, communicating with animals and performing medical wonders; his brother is Father Tiempo, sort of a corporeal spirit guide who propels Sam through years and centuries but sacrifices himself to death repeatedly. Gunshots abound, and sometimes, because of Sam's narrative viewpoint, they blast right at readers. Unforgettably, the medicine man fuses snakes with Sam's arms, making the boy a crack shot and a legend. Catchy tall tale, violent Western, and time travel, wrapped around inexcusable indigenous tropes. (Western fantasy. 9-12)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173434654
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/19/2016
Series:	Outlaws of Time Series , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

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