A Wind in the Door

the elthroi had me shivering. loved it

In the first of the "Kairos" books, "A Wrinkle in Time", Madeleine L'Engle took Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry, and Calvin O'Keefe on a quest through the macrocosm of time and space. In this second book, "A Wind in the Door", she adds an even deeper dimension to her fictional world--which she makes as real to us as our world, sometimes even more real--by sending them on a journey into the microcosm of the human body.How is it possible for a human being to enter a human body, you may ask, as did the still-irritable, yet still-lovable, Meg Murry. In a special class that teaches universal truths, rather than the imports and exports of Nicaragua, Meg, Calvin, Mr. Jenkins, and the also-human readers will meet a cherubim who has memorized the names of the stars . . . speak to a farandola inside one of Charles Wallace's cells . . . watch the birth of a star "small" enough to hold in a human hand . . . and ultimately learn that size, number, order, and anything that can be measured does not matter.What do matter are names, for "He knows them all by name" . . . even the little stars so far away from inhabited planets that only those who see without eyes know their names. The loss of a star is no more and no less tragic to the Universe than the death of a young boy. Everything we does matters. Everything we touch sends ripples into the cosmos--the cosmos within and the cosmos without. This time, the mission is to save Charles Wallace's life. Annihilators called the Echthroi want to X him, as they want to X everything else in the Universe. As the book's characters were bound to fight them in the story, we are bound to fight them in real life. This is adventure on a grand scale!Though the literary critic in me sees a lot of less-than-perfect elements in this novel, I still gave "A Wind in the Door" five stars because what matters most about it is its message. L'Engle's plot twists and fictional inventions make even me raise my eyebrows a few times, but her passion never fails to captivate me. Without fail, it draws me into a world too real to be imaginary and gives me faith in my own world.

L'Engle blows me away. She nevers dumbs down her language or ideas for a younger audience. She treats readers with respect and intelligence, so much so that I, as an adult, find her books incredibly fascinating and thought-provoking."The Wind in the Door" is as good as its predecessor "A Wrinkle in Time." Although connected, this book can be read alone. The people and creatures are both loveable and loathsome. Meg's character is great, and her family is just quirky enough that we fall in love with them. This time, it's her brother Charles Wallace who is in grave danger. Only as Meg and others enter his body as miniscule entities can they fight the enemies that threaten to kill him. We discover that Echthroi are fallen angels/demons, intent on destroying the universe, and we also find a cherubim named Proginoskes who is there to help Meg and her friend Calvin in the spiritual battle. Mixing elements of "The Fantastic Voyage" and "Innerspace" with elements of "This Present Darkness," L'Engle gives us a story that somehow has application in myriad ways. It's a story of spiritual deliverance, of math and time debates, of character maturity, even of a young girl learning to love her unloveable school principle. All this in 203 pages. This is one of the best bargains going. No wonder these books are still around after thirty years; "The Time Quartet" stands the test of time.

To be Xed means to be nothing. To be named means that you are. For you to be Xed, which you should not desire, you are unsure if who you really are, making yourself vulnerable enough to be shattered by the Echtroi, the evil forces that destroy. In A Wind in the Door, Meg Murry has gone through both. She is a namer and has named Mr. Jenkins, her shy yet strict principal of the high school she attends. She was almost Xed by the Echtroi-Jenkins, and was named by the cherubim companion, Proginoskes. Meg Murry was accompanied by more then the cherubim and Mr. Jenkins. Her youngest brother Charles Wallace, a young boy with the explicable gift of being able to read his mother's and sister's mind, develops a lethal disease. He and his mother, a noted biochemist, believe that it is his mitochondria, which is `the production center for the molecules (farandolae) that supply energy for the cell.' As Meg and Charles Wallace walk through the twins, their other two brothers Sandy and Dennys, vegetable garden Charles Wallace tells Meg that he has seen a drive of dragons. At first Meg does not believe him, but when she comes upon the teacher Blajeny she realizes that Charles Wallace, in a sense, was not wrong. His alleged drive of dragons was actually the cherubim Proginoskes, a single creature who looks like a group of many cherubs. And of course, Calvin O'Keefe, Meg's `good' (hm . . . more then good) friend from their and Charles Wallace's previous quests, naturally joins the expedition. Blajeny the teacher pair Proginoskes and Meg, and together they must complete three tasks to save Charles. As Charles fights to survive, Meg, Calvin and Proginoskes are shrunk down to size so much that they journey inside one of Charles' mitochondria. It is then that Calvin meets his partner Sporos, a fickle farandolae that refuses to work with Calvin and Deepen. For Sporos, deepening means the end of his fun, but in reality (the reality of the book) for him to deepen means that Deepened Sporos will reproduce more farandolae so the cell (which is where the mitochondria is located) will be able to produce more energy. Soon they, Meg, Proginoskes, Calvin, and Mr. Jenkins, the principal that Meg had earlier named, realize that an Echtroi has come into the mitochondria with them. The Echtroi had taken on Mr. Jenknins body - like they had in previous perils of the book - and are attempting to prevent Sporos and the other farandolae from deepening. The real Mr. Jenkins gives himself up to force Sporos to deepen. Sporos then realizes how important it is for him to deepen and he obeys. As her third task (for the other two were to name Mr. Jenkins and help or force Sporos to Deepen) Meg was to save Mr. Jenkins from the Ecthroi and luckily she succeeds. In completing their task's, Meg, Proginoskes, Mr. Jenkins and Calvin return to their world and are rewarded with the fact that they had saved Charles Wallace. Hey, its just another day in the lives of the Murry family.

This book was definitely one of L'Engle's best books. She combines fantasy and science fiction beautifully, and the result is a real page-turner. I read this book within two days, and the plot kept me excited and enthralled. The plot is complex, so some people may have a hard time following it. However, if you are a good reader and you enjoy fantasy and/or science fiction novels, you should definitely check this book out.