Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic (Timeless #1) - Armand Baltazar [Review]

Title: Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic (Timeless #1)

Author: Armand Baltazar

Genre: Fiction, Steampunk, Middle Grade, Science Fiction

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publishing date: October 3rd 2017

Pages: 624   

Rating

★★★★☆

Hello! Today I’m reviewing a book I read a while ago, Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic by Armand Baltazar.

This book is set in a weird future in which the world as we know has ended. There was an

event called the Time Collision that fractured time and space, tearing apart the earth and reshaping it into something entirely new.

This is the world Diego Ribera was born into. The past, present, and future coexisting together. Timeless.

In New Chicago, Diego’s middle school hallways buzz with kids from all eras of history and from cultures all over the world. The pieces do not always fit together neatly, but this is the world he loves. There are those, however, who do not share his affection.

On his thirteenth birthday, Diego learns of a special gift he has within, a secret that is part of something much bigger—something he cannot understand. When his father, New Chicago’s top engineer, is taken by the Aeternum, a malicious organization that seeks to reverse the effects of the Time Collision, Diego must rescue him and prevent this evil group from disrupting the fragile peace humanity has forged.

This book is a steampunk, science fiction story that follows Diego in his quest to rescue his father,

From left to right: Paige, Diego, Luxy and Pete.

Diego’s quest is full of action, heartfelt moments, and an incredible setting, turning the story in a very unique and creative one full of surprises and mixing elements that are hard to imagine together like pirates, dinosaurs and robots.

The book is pretty thick with more than 600 pages, but it contains 150 full color illustrations, some of them big enough to cover two pages. The illustrations are made by the author and other artists with different techniques, I liked most of them a lot, except the ones that looked like someone had drawn over a picture. The pictures are stunning and printed in high quality glossy paper.

I liked that the characters are racially diverse. Diego, the main character, is half Filipino and half white. I liked him as a character, and he was my favorite. I felt he and the captain were the most fleshed out and developed characters, the rest of the characters felt somewhat flat.

Diego is accompanied by some of his classmates, Lucy, a daring girl from a conservative family, she is the love interest of Diego and is supposed to be unique, different and smart, but I found her annoying. The second one is Pete, Diego’s best friend; he had no important part in the story so he was likeable but easy to forget. And the last one was Paige, a black girl who has had a rough life, she was tough, sometimes with reason, but sometimes she was just mean.

During the story it is introduced that Diego has a special ability, just like his father, but it is not explained if that’s the only ability out there, or if others have different ones, which turns Diego into the special one.

This book ends in a cliffhanger, it’s the first in a series but I haven’t found information about the second book.

This is an interesting middle grade book. It has an interesting setting, tons of action and adventure and an interesting and original premise. I really enjoyed it, but I think its strongest point was the world, and the weakest point were the characters that felt flat sometimes. If you like steampunk and fast paced middle grade books full of action; you should give this one a try.