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The Girl Who Saved the World #1
Eclipse: The Girl Who Saved the World
Meet Eclipse.
She's twelve. She’s hardworking, bright, self-reliant, good with tools, vigorously physically fit, tough as nails, still young enough to disguise herself as a boy. She’s also a persona: She flies, reads minds, and is not afraid of necessary violence.
She had a bit of a problem with her mom. Her mom threw her out of the house. Then Mom blew up the house and disappeared.
Now she’s procured the Holy Namestone, the Key to Paradise. And everyone in the world will be happy to kill her to get their hands on it.
Meet Trisha.
She’s not quite a year older than Eclipse. She’s friendly, considerate, really good in school, athletic, does more than her share around the house. She’s also a persona. She has superspeed…an hour of housework in a minute. She flies, including from here to the next galaxy in an hour.
She also has a bit of a problem with her parents. They always treat her with complete contempt, totally grounded her, and won’t say why.
Her brother and sister are personas, too. Year-younger sister Janie is a budding world chess and go champion. She also reads minds, sees distant events, and can kill with a glance. Her twin brother Brian is incredibly good with tools, builds fantastic models from scratch, has a nearly unbreakable force field, and summons plasma beams that cut battleships in half.
Eclipse is Volume 1 of the This Shining Sea series. Volume 2, Airy Castles All Ablaze, will be a major rewrite of my much older novel This Shining Sea. There will be a Volume 3, Of Breaking Waves, because Eclipse still needs to save Spindrift from having died.
She's twelve. She’s hardworking, bright, self-reliant, good with tools, vigorously physically fit, tough as nails, still young enough to disguise herself as a boy. She’s also a persona: She flies, reads minds, and is not afraid of necessary violence.
She had a bit of a problem with her mom. Her mom threw her out of the house. Then Mom blew up the house and disappeared.
Now she’s procured the Holy Namestone, the Key to Paradise. And everyone in the world will be happy to kill her to get their hands on it.
Meet Trisha.
She’s not quite a year older than Eclipse. She’s friendly, considerate, really good in school, athletic, does more than her share around the house. She’s also a persona. She has superspeed…an hour of housework in a minute. She flies, including from here to the next galaxy in an hour.
She also has a bit of a problem with her parents. They always treat her with complete contempt, totally grounded her, and won’t say why.
Her brother and sister are personas, too. Year-younger sister Janie is a budding world chess and go champion. She also reads minds, sees distant events, and can kill with a glance. Her twin brother Brian is incredibly good with tools, builds fantastic models from scratch, has a nearly unbreakable force field, and summons plasma beams that cut battleships in half.
Eclipse is Volume 1 of the This Shining Sea series. Volume 2, Airy Castles All Ablaze, will be a major rewrite of my much older novel This Shining Sea. There will be a Volume 3, Of Breaking Waves, because Eclipse still needs to save Spindrift from having died.
435 pages, Paperback
Published December 31, 2018
7 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 24, 2021
This is a different sort of superhero novel -- and alternate history, too.
A normal alternate history would have points of divergence to explain why this world features a vaguely post-WWI situation, with a League Nations that the American Republic belongs to, albeit with an Incaztecan Empire, and the Celestial Republic, among others. This one has a work -- read by the title heroine -- explaining how alternate universes can converge, and this one started out much different. From the ancient civilizations evolved from the maiasaurs to its many successors, leading to the American Republic founded in year 17 -- what happened in 1774 was an attempt by King George the Mad to subjugate them. (They once had an ambassador from the United States of America appear out of nowhere and vanish too, after discombobulating everyone with his inability to see superheroes -- excuse me, personas -- using their powers -- excuse me, gifts -- in front of him and remembering a trip to the Moon by chemical rocket.)
Into this converging world, the title character throws some chaos. She (at the age of twelve) attempted the Maze containing the marvel of the Namestone, which, everyone knows, can bring about Utopia, and succeeded. She is, in the opening, confronted with League forces demanding it, and refuses.
Fortunately for her, though her efforts were broadcast world-wide by the Maze, the broadcasts obscured her appearance and language. She goes off to recuperate, the Legion of Nations has much posturing about her duty to hand over the Namestone and the necessity of execution for her disobedience, and the nations that will regard any attempt to send forces to catch in her their territory as an act of war. The Lords of Eternity make their plans, which do not give humanity much consideration. Three minors, a girl and her younger twin brother and sister, live in Massachusetts and have complications with their powers.
It includes buying books, an invasion of the American Republic, Incaztecans trying to pretend to be Prussian, the Divine Wind, the Wizard of Mars sending letters, creatures who live in the sun, a character from another world, and more.
It's the first book of a trilogy, and there are many threads that are started but not finished here.
A normal alternate history would have points of divergence to explain why this world features a vaguely post-WWI situation, with a League Nations that the American Republic belongs to, albeit with an Incaztecan Empire, and the Celestial Republic, among others. This one has a work -- read by the title heroine -- explaining how alternate universes can converge, and this one started out much different. From the ancient civilizations evolved from the maiasaurs to its many successors, leading to the American Republic founded in year 17 -- what happened in 1774 was an attempt by King George the Mad to subjugate them. (They once had an ambassador from the United States of America appear out of nowhere and vanish too, after discombobulating everyone with his inability to see superheroes -- excuse me, personas -- using their powers -- excuse me, gifts -- in front of him and remembering a trip to the Moon by chemical rocket.)
Into this converging world, the title character throws some chaos. She (at the age of twelve) attempted the Maze containing the marvel of the Namestone, which, everyone knows, can bring about Utopia, and succeeded. She is, in the opening, confronted with League forces demanding it, and refuses.
Fortunately for her, though her efforts were broadcast world-wide by the Maze, the broadcasts obscured her appearance and language. She goes off to recuperate, the Legion of Nations has much posturing about her duty to hand over the Namestone and the necessity of execution for her disobedience, and the nations that will regard any attempt to send forces to catch in her their territory as an act of war. The Lords of Eternity make their plans, which do not give humanity much consideration. Three minors, a girl and her younger twin brother and sister, live in Massachusetts and have complications with their powers.
It includes buying books, an invasion of the American Republic, Incaztecans trying to pretend to be Prussian, the Divine Wind, the Wizard of Mars sending letters, creatures who live in the sun, a character from another world, and more.
It's the first book of a trilogy, and there are many threads that are started but not finished here.
February 9, 2019
This is an ambitious book, whose author has set out to tell a large story. The protagonist is Eclipse - a twelve-year-old super-powered girl who is saving the world from itself, and getting no thanks for doing so. (A number of governments have decided to be serious about "Hanging's too good for her.") The star of the book, however, is Eclipse's world.
(Books with super heroes tend towards superficial world-building. Heroes and villains fight and destroy half of Tokyo, but somehow it has no effect on everyday life. Secret organizations have flying cars equipped with death rays, but civilians are still driving cars. There are labs that can create monsters to spec, but nobody knows how to cure the common cold. It's a pleasure when an author thinks this through.)
"The Girl who Saved the World" is illuminated by intelligent world building. It is a world that has had thousands of years to accommodate to the existence of super powers and advanced technologies. It is also a world with a several major mysteries. Those thousands of years don't make sense, and no intelligent person takes history seriously. The ways in which this world is *similar* to ours doesn't make sense, and many of the similarities fit awkwardly.
The book's best strength also leads to a weakness: There are so many things that the author wants the reader to know that they crowd out the story somewhat. The author is good about showing, rather than telling, but he has a lot to show.
The book has four main viewpoints - Eclipse, the Wells family, the League of Nations executive committee, and the Lords of Eternity. This is primarily Eclipse's book. (Gripe: Did I mention that she is twelve? The cover art portrays someone older and curvier. Why not just put a space ship on the cover and be done?) She has obtained the Namestone - an extremely dangerous artifact that can make the world a paradise - and she did not foresee how unpopular that could be.
The League of Nations Executive Committee for Peace (think Security Council) has representatives from nations with highly incompatible opinions about what making the world a paradise should mean. Through their interactions we see those disagreements turning into a slide towards a world war. We don't see as much of the Lords of Eternity, but what we see will become important: They appear to be planning to destroy the world in order to save it. The Wells family includes three more high-powered children of about Eclipse's age, and their stories have intersected. In this book, they provide another window into a culture that looks a lot like ours - and really isn't. It appears that the second book of the trilogy will be primarily theirs.
It was worth reading - and it repaid rereading.
(Books with super heroes tend towards superficial world-building. Heroes and villains fight and destroy half of Tokyo, but somehow it has no effect on everyday life. Secret organizations have flying cars equipped with death rays, but civilians are still driving cars. There are labs that can create monsters to spec, but nobody knows how to cure the common cold. It's a pleasure when an author thinks this through.)
"The Girl who Saved the World" is illuminated by intelligent world building. It is a world that has had thousands of years to accommodate to the existence of super powers and advanced technologies. It is also a world with a several major mysteries. Those thousands of years don't make sense, and no intelligent person takes history seriously. The ways in which this world is *similar* to ours doesn't make sense, and many of the similarities fit awkwardly.
The book's best strength also leads to a weakness: There are so many things that the author wants the reader to know that they crowd out the story somewhat. The author is good about showing, rather than telling, but he has a lot to show.
The book has four main viewpoints - Eclipse, the Wells family, the League of Nations executive committee, and the Lords of Eternity. This is primarily Eclipse's book. (Gripe: Did I mention that she is twelve? The cover art portrays someone older and curvier. Why not just put a space ship on the cover and be done?) She has obtained the Namestone - an extremely dangerous artifact that can make the world a paradise - and she did not foresee how unpopular that could be.
The League of Nations Executive Committee for Peace (think Security Council) has representatives from nations with highly incompatible opinions about what making the world a paradise should mean. Through their interactions we see those disagreements turning into a slide towards a world war. We don't see as much of the Lords of Eternity, but what we see will become important: They appear to be planning to destroy the world in order to save it. The Wells family includes three more high-powered children of about Eclipse's age, and their stories have intersected. In this book, they provide another window into a culture that looks a lot like ours - and really isn't. It appears that the second book of the trilogy will be primarily theirs.
It was worth reading - and it repaid rereading.
July 10, 2021
When I picked this book, I was expecting some urban fantasy, magical teens with superpowers.
Instead, the book is a gateway to a fascinating universe, a parallel world where people gifted with magic-like superpowers are not uncommon. Some powerful heroes happen to be tween kids that go to school yet have bouts of fighting against powerful enemies. It could have devolved into Hogwarts with superheroes, but Phillies is careful to avoid that pitfall. The prevalence of futuristic technology gives the book a strong SF flavor, and sometimes it reads a bit like a Heinlein juvenile.
Phillies is an adept of the impressionist world building that was popularized by Jack Vance. The world is depicted with minimal details, letting our imagination fill in the rest, and some startling differences are introduced in passing, only for them to come in focus later when a better description is really needed. The author goes into techno-mumbo-jumbo mode only once or twice, and amateurs of cohesive worlds will appreciate his efforts. The rest of us will forgive him.
World building, precisely, is one of the author's strong suits. He depicts a world that went through dramatically different historical events, where many different civilizations coexisted. But a hidden hand is subtly twisting minds and altering events. Some beliefs of this world, some behaviors of its inhabitants make no sense, and their is a strong hint that they are due to some widespread yet subtle mental influence. Similarly, some civilizations died without explanation, which lays an undertone of threat to the history of this world.
The impressionist depictions and the world building create a delightful atmosphere, as if we were living a saga through the eyes of their heroes. At the same time, we see very down-to-Earth scenes of domestic life or political conflict that ring familiar, until some detail jar us into the realization that these are not ordinary people in our ordinary world. This keeps the book very readable, with the right mix of familiarity and surprises.
I have read this book with delight and I read the next two books of the series when they came out. If you like SF, deep world building, and coming-of-age stories, you will like the series.
Instead, the book is a gateway to a fascinating universe, a parallel world where people gifted with magic-like superpowers are not uncommon. Some powerful heroes happen to be tween kids that go to school yet have bouts of fighting against powerful enemies. It could have devolved into Hogwarts with superheroes, but Phillies is careful to avoid that pitfall. The prevalence of futuristic technology gives the book a strong SF flavor, and sometimes it reads a bit like a Heinlein juvenile.
Phillies is an adept of the impressionist world building that was popularized by Jack Vance. The world is depicted with minimal details, letting our imagination fill in the rest, and some startling differences are introduced in passing, only for them to come in focus later when a better description is really needed. The author goes into techno-mumbo-jumbo mode only once or twice, and amateurs of cohesive worlds will appreciate his efforts. The rest of us will forgive him.
World building, precisely, is one of the author's strong suits. He depicts a world that went through dramatically different historical events, where many different civilizations coexisted. But a hidden hand is subtly twisting minds and altering events. Some beliefs of this world, some behaviors of its inhabitants make no sense, and their is a strong hint that they are due to some widespread yet subtle mental influence. Similarly, some civilizations died without explanation, which lays an undertone of threat to the history of this world.
The impressionist depictions and the world building create a delightful atmosphere, as if we were living a saga through the eyes of their heroes. At the same time, we see very down-to-Earth scenes of domestic life or political conflict that ring familiar, until some detail jar us into the realization that these are not ordinary people in our ordinary world. This keeps the book very readable, with the right mix of familiarity and surprises.
I have read this book with delight and I read the next two books of the series when they came out. If you like SF, deep world building, and coming-of-age stories, you will like the series.
December 2, 2025
Eclipse may center around tween superheroes with galaxy-spanning abilities, but what makes this book truly compelling is how deeply human it feels. George Phillies doesn’t just write about powers he writes about trauma, resilience, loneliness, and the complicated ways young people try to survive a world that is far bigger and harsher than most adults ever realize.
Eclipse herself is unforgettable. Yes, she can fly and read minds, and yes, she’s terrifying when pushed but beneath all that power is a twelve-year-old girl desperately trying to make sense of being abandoned, hunted, and forced to grow up too fast. Her toughness is believable because it comes from pain, not invincibility. Her decisions often feel like the kind a real kid would make: smart, impulsive, emotional, and sometimes heartbreaking.
Trisha and her siblings add another layer of realism. Despite their cosmic abilities, their family dynamic is painfully grounded coldness from parents, pressure, confusion, and a constant feeling of being “other.” Phillies captures perfectly how children internalize rejection, even when they’re capable of crossing galaxies.
What stands out most is how the story blends superhuman action with raw human emotion. These kids may be powerful, but they’re still children navigating trauma, identity, and the instinctual need for belonging. The stakes feel personal even when the plot zooms out into world-level danger.
The result is a superhero story that isn’t just flashy it’s thoughtful, emotional, and surprisingly real. A gripping start to a series that clearly has huge scope, but never forgets the vulnerable kids at its center.
Eclipse herself is unforgettable. Yes, she can fly and read minds, and yes, she’s terrifying when pushed but beneath all that power is a twelve-year-old girl desperately trying to make sense of being abandoned, hunted, and forced to grow up too fast. Her toughness is believable because it comes from pain, not invincibility. Her decisions often feel like the kind a real kid would make: smart, impulsive, emotional, and sometimes heartbreaking.
Trisha and her siblings add another layer of realism. Despite their cosmic abilities, their family dynamic is painfully grounded coldness from parents, pressure, confusion, and a constant feeling of being “other.” Phillies captures perfectly how children internalize rejection, even when they’re capable of crossing galaxies.
What stands out most is how the story blends superhuman action with raw human emotion. These kids may be powerful, but they’re still children navigating trauma, identity, and the instinctual need for belonging. The stakes feel personal even when the plot zooms out into world-level danger.
The result is a superhero story that isn’t just flashy it’s thoughtful, emotional, and surprisingly real. A gripping start to a series that clearly has huge scope, but never forgets the vulnerable kids at its center.
April 28, 2020
Eclipse: The Girl Who Saved the World
An interknit woven story that drops hints like candied morsels to the reader. The author George Phillies has created a world, unlike anything this reader has ever been shown. From the start, I knew that a review would be difficult to write without substantial plot spoilers. With this in mind, pardon my attempt at keeping it simple.
Eclipse could be Joss Whedon's dream girl. The young superheroine and can kick some serious ass. The world takes place shy of 2000 years within our perceived future and is full of people with special powers known as gifts. A future where the fall of the great civilizations of our history never happened and now co-exist with each other across the globe. I find this book to be groundbreaking in its depth, multi-layered storyline, socioeconomics, and a light sprinkle of religious conflict. Beneath the surface of the narrative is a dark plan to destroy the world. The question is can a few teens stop the pending disaster?
Know that I do wholeheartedly recommend this book. Three times have I read it this week to find the subtle hints I missed during my previous indulgences. If you are looking for a series that is more meat than fluff, then this is it.
An interknit woven story that drops hints like candied morsels to the reader. The author George Phillies has created a world, unlike anything this reader has ever been shown. From the start, I knew that a review would be difficult to write without substantial plot spoilers. With this in mind, pardon my attempt at keeping it simple.
Eclipse could be Joss Whedon's dream girl. The young superheroine and can kick some serious ass. The world takes place shy of 2000 years within our perceived future and is full of people with special powers known as gifts. A future where the fall of the great civilizations of our history never happened and now co-exist with each other across the globe. I find this book to be groundbreaking in its depth, multi-layered storyline, socioeconomics, and a light sprinkle of religious conflict. Beneath the surface of the narrative is a dark plan to destroy the world. The question is can a few teens stop the pending disaster?
Know that I do wholeheartedly recommend this book. Three times have I read it this week to find the subtle hints I missed during my previous indulgences. If you are looking for a series that is more meat than fluff, then this is it.
January 5, 2025
Volume 1 of The Shining Sea tetralogy. Oddball mishmash of tween angst, superhero action, mystical philosophy, and alternate history. The narrator is a twelve-year-old with amazing powers who takes upon herself world-saving tasks while maintaining a secret identity as a boy. Half the fun of these sorts of world-building exercises is the reader having to figure out the rules in media res, and there are layers within layers of history, politics, psychology, and ethics in a world distorted by the presence of beings with the power to level continents. Seemingly inexplicable character behaviors are clues to world-spanning mind-control machinations by sinister beings. Add some time-travel paradoxes, and you've got a wild ride. It grew on me.
September 15, 2019
That's a story I'd like to see as a Super-Hero movie. Convincing Heroes and Villains, interesting and colorful action ... I wait eagerly for the promised volumes 2 and 3.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews