Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic

Armand Baltazar

Book - 2017

"In a world where past, present, and future have collided, Diego and his friends must rescue Diego's father from an evil group of renegades, otherwise their whole existence is threatened"--

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Subjects
Genres
Science fiction
Published
New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers [2017]
Language
English
Main Author
Armand Baltazar (-)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
607 pages : color illustrations ; 22 cm
ISBN
9780062402363
Contents unavailable.
Review by New York Times Review

THIS NEW GENERATION is weird. Usually, despite all our handwringing about epochal changes, kids are kids. But a recent study by Jean Twenge suggests young people today have become so enamored with smartphones that they are voluntarily delaying time-honored rites of passage like getting drivers' licenses and having sex. How is a writer supposed to reach kids so attached to their screens? One answer is to make books as vivid as the screens they're watching. That is what Armand Baltazar has done in "Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic." Like a midsummer action movie, the scope (and budget) of the book is dazzling. Six hundred glossy pages, with hundreds of luscious color illustrations by Baltazar, depict a world after a cosmic event that has reshuffled epochs. People from every era coexist with dinosaurs and giant robots. Diego Ribera is turning 13 as the book opens. His father, Santiago, is the Thomas Edison of his age, responsible for reinventing much of the world in the aftermath of the "Time Collision." When Santiago is captured by the Aeternum, a group of radicals who want to reverse the Time Collision, Diego and three friends stow away with pirates to rescue him. Kids will swoon over Baltazar's illustrations of World War II fighters strafing robots as pteranodons swoop by. Unfortunately, his brilliance in painting gorgeous cityscapes and charming nonhumans (robot- spider-cranes! herds of murderous aquatic dinosaurs!) does not extend to his characters, who are photorealistic to the point of being frozen. But there is real dynamism in the passages of graphic storytelling, when illustrations alone advance the plot. This formal blending, pioneered in children's books by Brian Selznick, is used only occasionally here, often during a climactic action scene. Kids will enjoy the challenge and variety of this mental gear shifting. The world of "Timeless" is rich with diversity and its challenges, both new and familiar: Diego is called "clock-mongrel" by a Time-Separatist gang because his parents come from different epochs; two black characters, one from the 19th century and one from the 21st, discuss the wounds of racism. Baltazar effectively explores biases old and new, albeit not perfectly: there are moments when his depictions of certain characters, particularly Paige, the black member of the group, lapse into unintended but unfortunate stereotypes. Nonetheless, "Timeless" shows us a way forward. There's a moment of giddy disequilibrium as we realize that the world's most celebrated inventor is a tattooed 40-something named Santiago. We begin to believe in this future. While the action will enthrall, and the struggle for a better world will inspire, the reader will ultimately be won over by the intimate moments in "Timeless." Diego is an impulsive, imperfect kid, struggling to be a good friend and a good son. This is Baltazar's debut, and there are plot points that feel forced and occasional clunky dialogue. But as the novel unfolds, he finds his stride and manages to write and paint a thrilling adventure with a relatable protagonist. Like any good blockbuster, "Timeless" promises a sequel, and children will clamor for it. Even as applications for drivers' licenses drop, children's book sales are on the rise. Why? Phones may promise, in the palm of a child's hand and in the privacy of their bedrooms, intimacy with others and themselves. But by now kids know that promise is belied by online bullying, hacking and public shaming. They want a window into the human heart. That's what books were invented for. 0 ADAM GIDWITZ'S most recent novel is the Newbery Honor-winning "The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog." By A

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 16, 2018]
Review by Booklist Review

Using a narrative technique similar to Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), Baltazar, a concept artist for Pixar and other studios, mixes pages of print with frequent full- or double-page painted scenes, often in brief sequences, that cinematically advance the plot. The resulting brick opens a series featuring four kids tasked with saving the world or rather, their world: a Time Collision left Earth's surface kaleidoscopically fragmented into select eras, and every kid born post-Collision will vanish if a scheme to restore the original time line comes to fruition. Hotshot gearhead Diego Ribera works out personal frictions with his compatriots while helping to rescue his kidnapped dad, Santiago, a gifted engineer. The multicultural fledgling Rangers are outfitted with steam-powered antigravity skateboards, giant mechanical robots, and mystic powers and sent to battle prehistoric monsters and WWII-era Messerschmitts in elaborately detailed fantasy settings. Readers able to roll with the mise-en-scène's thoroughly arbitrary character will be rewarded with an uncomplicated adventure elevated by banter and always headed directly toward the next violent clash.--Peters, John Copyright 2017 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In this ambitious adventure set after the catastrophic Time Collision restructured Earth into a world where dinosaurs coexist alongside steam technology and giant robots, four children team up with pirates to rescue their loved ones from marauders bent on destroying society. Thirteen-year-old Diego Ribera, his best friend Petey, streetwise Paige, and Victorian-era Lucy join a last-ditch effort to thwart the forces of the Aeturnum to preserve the only world they've ever known, but first they have to learn to work as a group, mastering their respective skills and uncovering the secrets of the mysterious Vanguard. This epic tale from Baltazar, a former art director for Disney and Pixar, is not only wildly imaginative and attention-grabbing, it's downright beautiful: more than 150 full-color photorealistic art pieces bring the characters and setting to life in a manner suggestive of film storyboards. A series opener that conveys a true sense of wonder and excitement on every page, with a setting and premise that lend themselves to further exploration. Ages 8-12. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-8-More than 100 eye-catching full-color illustrations showcase this fantasy's diverse cast of characters and their world of seagoing dinosaurs, horse-drawn carriages, flying skateboards, and giant robots. Thirteen-year-old Diego Ribera lives in the coastal city of New Chicago on an Earth cataclysmically transformed by the Time Collision. Continents have moved, and the Vastlantic Ocean has overtaken the eastern third of the United States. The Collision brought several periods of time together, and the resulting mixture of animals, people, and technology from many eras has created a politically unstable world. A faction from ancient Rome kidnaps the protagonist's father as part of a violent plot to reverse the Collision, and in the ensuing chaos a pirate ship picks up Diego and three companions. The rest of this sprawling novel follows the newly dubbed Rangers of the Vastlantic as they attempt to rescue the teen's father and defeat the Romans. The writing is less polished than the illustrations, and a character list would have been helpful for readers trying to keep track of the massive cast. While the racial diversity of the main characters is welcome, it's disappointing that the only black female Ranger ends up as the pirate ship's cook while others become a navigator, pilot, and ship's engineer. VERDICT The stunning artwork is the real star here. Sure to be popular with middle school fantasy readers.-Beth Wright Redford, Richmond Elementary School Library, VT © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

In thirteen-year-old Diego's world, the past, present, and future co-exist and youth from all time periods peacefully attend his middle school. Diego and his friends join forces with pirates to rescue his engineer father from an ancient Roman alliance determined to restore time to its proper functioning and destroy their world. A wealth of cinematic, richly colored illustrations advance the intriguing story line. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

The great Time Collision ripped apart time and space and remade it: dinosaurs in the distance, spaceships in the skies, robots, and humans of all eras now inhabit this remixed world. Santiago Ribera is a Pinoy engineer whose inventions are aiding postwar stability in New Chicago, the home he shares with his wife, Siobhan, an Irish fighter pilot and war hero, and their son, Diego, whose otherworldly power begins to make itself known on his 13th birthday. Baltazar's story is a captivating adventure lavishly illustrated with beautiful full-color paintings worth lingering over. Diego is a likable kid who sometimes gets it wrong but makes it right. The women and girls avoid both one-dimensionality and overcompensatory badassery and have emotional depthfor the most part: one of two prominent black characters in the book, Paige, outruns her role as sassy best friend but not by far. None of this nuance is given to the other black main character, Ajax. Not only is he a humble but incredibly strong man over 7 feet tall, but he fought for the Union after escaping enslavement, and he's bought into the dominant American narrative that includes the misapprehension that Paige, a black girl in Chicago, is not fighting systemic racism and has the "freedom to choose a better way"that she is not "bound to [history]." His earnest articulation of this lesson makes it very hard to overlook the use of two common black character tropes and undermines what is otherwise an exciting new series. Expert illustration and imaginative worldbuilding with unfortunate stereotyping. (Steampunk. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.