Sure, after reading "Sent" I thought this series was going to be good, after all no one in the genre writes better than Margaret Haddix, but this book was so nothing like the writing I remembered from "Sent". Not in a bad way...it was far better! The characters that I thought I knew were introduced to me again in a totally different outlook and I had to remind myself a few times that it was only a book that I was reading. The history was also much more exciting and captivating than in "Sent" and I felt impressed at the amazing way Haddix had me guessing till the very end. The only thing that kind of made the plot obvious was when she said that "Pattrick" killed one of the sailors, I knew right away that "Patrick" was actually Second back in the game. One tiny thing that I was left a bit confused with was how Andrea and the main character's friends (who were in a different period) had aged so much while they were in time and why they didn't get back to their own time right away, but I guess that's just a part of time-travel. I must have also skipped something in my excitement for what would happen next and how the author would end "Torn". It was not like the confusing parts and the holes in the plot of "Sent" though. Surprisingly I found the ending quite satisfying. Here is my review:

Jonah and Katherine knew they were going back in time, but they didn't realize that their only way of communication with J.B. back in the twenty-first century would stop working or know that they'd find themselves in the middle of a ship... and an ugly mutiny. The sailors are worn out, sick, and a lot of them look as if they are near death. They have little food left and the captian, Henry Hudson, seems to think that they must go on and find the NorthWest Passage no matter what so that he will wash up in the glory. Jonah is disguised as John Hudson, the son of the captian and soon secrets are revealed to him that change their mission completely and Jonah starts to doubt if he will ever see any of his friends... and most importantly Andrea again. The faith of the world... and possibly all of time is in the hands of two thirteen-year olds and let me tell you they are the best hands that have ever touched it...

Have you ever known those books, that just by re-reading them, they leave you not able to imagine how you ever read anything else, as if they scrubbed some of their quality onto you and make you feel kind of like you were in the story? That's how I felt after I finished "Torn". Not many books can make you feel that, and certainly "Sent" didn't, but I must have not choosen the right book to read by Margaret before. This one will blow you away. I will surely be back for more...

I'd recommend...