The casket of time

Andri Snær Magnason, 1973-

Book - 2019

Teenage Sigrun is sick of all the apocalyptic news about the "situation" and, worse, her parents' obsession with it. Sigrun's family--along with everyone else--decides to hibernate in their TimeBoxes, hoping for someone else to fix the world's problems . But when Sigrun's TimeBox opens too early, she discovers an abandoned city overrun by wilderness and joins a band of kids who are helping a researcher named Grace solve the "situation." The world, according to Grace, is under an ancient curse. There once was a princess named Obsidiana, who was trapped in time by the greedy king of Pangea. To protect Obsidiana from dark and gloomy days, the king put her in a crystal casket made of spider silk woven so ...tightly that time itself couldn't penetrate. The king's greed for power doomed his kingdom and the trapped princess. Sigrun sees eerie parallels between the tale of Obsidiana and the present-day crisis, and realizes it's up to her and her friends to break the ancient curse and fix the world.

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Subjects
Genres
Science fiction
Fantasy fiction
Published
New York : Yonder Restless Books for Young Readers 2019.
Language
English
Icelandic
Main Author
Andri Snær Magnason, 1973- (author)
Other Authors
Björg Árnadóttir, 1947- (translator), Andrew Cauthery
Edition
First Restless Books hardcover edition
Item Description
Translated from the Icelandic.
Physical Description
259 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9781632062055
Contents unavailable.
Review by New York Times Review

If you could stop time, would you? A novel from Iceland puts a dark spin on the age-old question. Human beings have a funny relationship to time. We race against it, we waste it, we borrow it. We expect time to heal us, bury us and redeem us. But what happens when we try to master time? Is time our enemy? Andri Snaer Magnason's the casket of TIME (Restless Books, 259 pp., $17.99; ages 10 and up), translated from the Icelandic by Bjorg Arnadottir and Andrew Cauthery, weaves together two distinctly different stories about the existential dangers posed by our attempts to conquer time. The novel begins with a story about a girl named Sigurn whose parents, faced with the discomfort of worldwide economic collapse (everyone calls it "the Situation"), make a rash decision based on a TV commercial. They buy three "Time Boxes," one for each member of the family, and seal themselves inside. The Time Box seals up so tight that time itself can't penetrate it - groceries inside won't spoil, and people won't age - so they can simply wait until the Situation rights itself, then return to their lives. Sigurn's parents set the boxes to reopen when the stock market recovers. Instead, only Sigurn's box opens, unexpectedly, and she wakes to find a world in utter collapse. Trees have sprouted inside homes and animals are everywhere. It turns out that everyone bought Time Boxes, hoping that someone else would fix the Situation. A group of children, themselves released from Time Boxes, find Sigurn and bring her to an old woman named Grace, who tells them that what has happened to the world has strange parallels to an ancient fairy tale about a princess named Obsidiana. In the fairy tale, a king driven mad by grief over the loss of his wife becomes fixated on his daughter. Not only is he obsessed with preserving her happiness at all costs, but he also rages against the passage of time and its ultimate effects on his beloved child. Time, after all, is the only enemy he can't defeat, the only country he can't conquer. To protect her from the fate of being subject to time, he takes some dwarfs up on their offer of a crystal casket made of the finest spider silk, with a seal so tight time can't penetrate it. The princess is placed in the casket, allowed to come out only for brief moments. The king's desire for power and control eventually dooms the kingdom, as all manner of sins are used to justify the preservation of one girl's endless, perfect youth. As Sigurn and her friends try to understand the connection between the story of Obsidiana and their own situation, they start to see an entire world cursed by the sin of greed. Only if they work with others in the spirit of generosity and cooperation, they learn, will the world right itself. I loved this book so much - it is a cerebral tale, well told and unabashedly philosophical. It is dark, funny and grim. So grim that I fear it will not be for everyone. Mad kings, after all, have a tendency not only to wage endless wars, but also to heap untold sorrows and horrors and pain on their subjects. So it goes in "The Casket of Time." But despite the beheadings, the graverobbing, the people casually thrown to the lions, the central message of the book is clear, and it's welcome. Greed hurts us; power ruins us; and time has never been our enemy. Indeed, Mágnáson reminds us, as long as our tendency toward self-destruction doesn't get in the way, time is the earth's, and humanity's, greatest healer. KELLY BARNHILLS books for young readers include "The Girl Who Drank the Moon," the winner ofaNewbery Medal.

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 4, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review

Sigrun and her family opt to escape the apocalyptic ""situation"" by hibernating in TimeBoxes, preset to open when the world is righted. But Sigrun's box opens unexpectedly, and, together with other children whose boxes malfunctioned, Sigrun listens to an elderly woman who believes they are suffering from an ancient curse. The woman recounts to them the story of a princess named Obsidiana, whose father placed her in a casket impenetrable to time while he conquered the world. It is Obsidiana's story that lies at the heart of this novel, while Sigrun's is more of a frame for the beautiful and haunting Snow White-inspired tale that unfolds. The eventual connection between the tale and Sigrun's reality is slow to evolve and wraps up quickly, with an on-the-nose message about greed, responsibility, and the preciousness of time. Magnason, a celebrated writer and the second runner-up in Iceland's 2016 presidential election, has woven a literary fantasy with environmentalist themes that will find fans among thoughtful young readers.--Eleanor Roth Copyright 2019 Booklist

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

In this science fiction/fairy tale hybrid first published in Iceland in 2013, the intertwined fates of humankind and the environment hinge upon the mythicized events of a magical, prehistoric era. In the near future, as the economy collapses, "the nation" retreats into TimeBox® stasis chambers to wait out the crisis. When teenage Sigrun is unexpectedly released from her chamber, she finds that nature has overrun the world while humanity has been asleep. She joins up with Grace, a mysterious researcher who is working with a band of children to address the situation. From Grace, Sigrun learns about the fantastic tale of Princess Obsidiana, who was once condemned by her overprotective father, the King of Pangea, to spend eternity in a time-suspending casket. During this time, Obsidiana becomes an object of worship to the people of Pangea, even as her father's world-spanning empire rises and falls. Sigrun must learn from Obsidiana's example if she hopes to rebuild civilization in her present day. While the novel is framed as Grace's story, the bulk of the narrative focuses upon Obsidiana's adventures, which are presented as a "Snow White"-esque fairy tale. With a heavily stylized, dreamlike quality, the volume invokes familiar tropes and patterns to deliver a cautionary story about responsibility and long-term consequences for society and the environment. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Review by Kirkus Book Review

Themes of interdependence, respect for the environment, and personal initiative permeate this imaginative fantasy from Iceland. Concerned about an economic crisis, adults are tempted by a new technology to abdicate responsibility, leaving the mess for others to solve. Shut yourself in a TimeBox and emerge not a day older once the unpleasantness has passed! Sigrun awakens unexpectedly to a world reclaimed by nature, while her parents remain in limbo, their boxes sealed shut. She meets a boy who leads her to a house where other children have gathered as an elderly woman relates an ancient saga of a princess whose devoted father violated the guiding principle behind the powers of animal communication entrusted to him, using animals to conquer human nations. The miserably overprotected princess, trapped in a casket of spiders' silk so fine that it shuts out time, ultimately pays the price for his hubristhe rest of the world does not go unscathed, either. Within this story within the story lies both a lesson for the children and the opportunity to undo the present-day damage wrought by their negligent elders. Readers will enjoy spotting references to familiar fairy tales and puzzling out the connections between the two storylines. At times magical and romantic but often tragic and brutal (sometimes graphically so and also reflected in occasional coarse language), this book will reward thoughtful readers. Limited physical descriptions indicate a white default. The power of story animates a tale that communicatesbut is not overpowered byurgent messages. (Fantasy. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.