Infinityglass by Myra McEntire

Infinityglass
by Myra McEntire
Read: September 30 - October 1
Published: August 6th 2013 by EgmontUSA
Source: NetGalley: THANK YOU, Egmont!
Category: Time Travel/Sci-fi YA
Series: Hourglass book 3
Find: Goodreads | Amazon

The stakes have risen even higher in this third book in the Hourglass series.

The Hourglass is a secret organization focused on the study of manipulating time, and its members — many of them teenagers -­have uncanny abilities to make time work for them in mysterious ways. Inherent in these powers is a responsibility to take great care, because altering one small moment can have devastating consequences for the past, present, and future. But some time trav­elers are not exactly honorable, and sometimes unsavory deals must be struck to maintain order.

With the Infinityglass (central to understanding and harnessing the time gene) at large, the hunt is on to find it before someone else does.

But the Hourglass has an advantage. Lily, who has the ability to locate anything lost, has determined that the Infinityglass isn't an object. It's a person. And the Hourglass must find him or her first. But where do you start searching for the very key to time when every second could be the last?
________________________________________________________________________

On Infinityglass
Infinityglass is the third and final book in Myra McEntire's science fiction based Hourglass series, which features characters with unique time related abilities and the dangerous results of a broken space time continuum. This installment stars Dune and Hallie. He works for the Hourglass, is a computer genius and can control the tides. She is a new face but has the most powerful ability of all. Like the previous books in this companion series, Infinityglass is smart, witty and has great characters and respectful relationships without excessive drama or angst.

Dune and Hallie's relationship is the most straightforward of the series. It's also my favorite romance of the three. That's largely due to Dune who won me over immediately. Dune is the quietest of the Hourglass group. He is intelligent and thoughtful, but also struggles with his ability to control the tides, which can result in terrible consequences if not carefully under control. Hallie is the privileged and sheltered daughter of the head of Chronos, a very different time related organization from the Hourglass (her dad is often compared to a mob boss). She is brilliant and feisty and isn't pleased when her overprotective dad hires Dune to be her bodyguard. Or at least that's what she thinks Dune is doing. You'll have to read the book to find out why he's really there. Dune and Hallie's differences heighten the tension between them. I enjoyed their quick banter and swoony moments especially, but they also make a great team and balance each other out well. 

Of course these books are not only about romance. As the series progresses, the past and the present are bleeding together in the form of increasingly dangerous time slips, or rips. The members of the Hourglass are fighting to locate the person(s) responsible and fix the space time continuum before it's too late. I really like that we get to see Emerson, Michael, Kaleb and Lily again, and watch them all work together, as they attempt to finally stop the problem before it's too late. 

On the series
Usually I'm a huge fan of companions, because they give readers the opportunity to stay in a story world and see previous characters, all while getting to focus on new ones (the Hourglass trilogy does this well). However, I have mixed feelings about the switching point of views in this series. I didn't know the subsequent books would follow different characters until well after I read the first one. I will admit to missing Emerson's voice a great deal when I started Timepiece, although I ended up really liked Kaleb's perspective. Also, each book in this series relies heavily on complicated plot details from the previous books, and with the character shifts, I've felt like the momentum of the story slowed down at the start of each book. Especially, because the space/time element is complex. Specific to the shift from Timepiece to Infinityglass, there was a moderate cliffhanger at the end of book 2, which was pretty much glossed over at the start of Infinityglass. 

The farther into this series I read, the less I felt connected to to the original time travel plot. Partially because the main characters in books 2 and 3 don't have time travel abilities. But also, with the momentum changes and the fact that the villain shifted in book 3, the intensity of the over arching storyline lowered a great deal as the series progressed. I enjoyed watching the characters finally resolve the big problem, but I was no longer as emotionally invested in it. 

That said, I wonder if I would have had a very different experience with this series if I'd read it closer together and known a head of time that it would feature companions, instead of waiting a year between books. Or if I'd re-read the previous books as I went along. With such a complicated plot, remembering everything that happened before definitely slowed down my reading pace. 

Overall, I did really enjoy this intelligent, funny and romantic series set in the south, and I look forward to whatever else Myra McEntire publishes in the future. 

Love Triangle Factor: None
Cliffhanger Scale: Series conclusion