Hard to Put Down Once Started
4 Stars
A fantasy/sci-fi story that is deeply rooted in reality, “Completely Restored” is hard to put down once you started reading it. And though it is 213 pages long, I actually read it in one sitting (or shall I say one sleepless night). I laid down in bed to start reading it and found myself continuing to read way past my bedtime simply because I wanted to know what happened to Joe, Linda, Nate, Abby and Sammy, the family which the story revolved around.
Written on a first person account (via Joe’s POV), the story begins in the present, then slowly brings us to the recent past and then an abrupt (as in overnight) change. The Murphys who went to bed in 2009 woke up in 1909! And this is where the story really began. Throughout the whole book, readers saw how the Murphys dealt with living 100 years before their time.
Well-written and well-put together, with all the characters developed and fleshed out nicely, this book is a total joy to read. So, why am I only giving it four stars? My answers will have ***SPOILERS*** so, please stop here if you don’t want to see it.
***SPOILER ALERT***
I am a big fan of sci-fi/fantasy and I love time-travel stories. I love the way author Robert Kerr brought the readers from 2009 to 1909 via an completely restored Victorian house. There was no scientific explanation and in the book, it was explained that it was about “fate” or “faith”. I could live with either of the three explanations – science, fate or faith. What I cannot live with is that even at the conclusion, the readers were left hanging.
Was Silas the reason why they were brought back? Was it because of Samuel Green? Or, was it a combination of both? There was a touch of “Quantum Leap” here – to right a wrong, as the old TV series said. But, there really was no conclusion. The ending was so abrupt. The scene was created as if an explanation will be given. But, it came to naught. Either, the author did not really write anything or somehow, the editor found the scene redundant and cut it. Nevertheless, it took away from my full enjoyment of the story and thus, I had to take away one star from my otherwise stellar review.
