Like A Wrinkle in Time but more cynical, I think? Precocious siblings have to solve puzzles and rescue mom from a parallel universe. I disliked how judgmental characters were, lots of implications of what good parents vs subpar parents do in a given situation. Felt like the author had some kind of moral agenda and was writing the story for her own sake and not the sake of the child readers. ( )

If I'm judging this purely as an entertaining genre mystery for kids, this is great. Classic Haddix, which is to say: it's a page-turner that leaves you craving the next in the series.

If I'm judging this as literature, I'm a little disappointed with the characters. I thought Finn seemed more like five years old (he's meant to be eight). Maybe this was due to the audiobook narrator's performance. Either way, he's meant to be the baby of the family and it didn't always feel believable. Chess, Emma and Natalie also fell a little flat -- all were somewhat reduced to one memorable characteristic (Emma = logic, Chess = responsible, Natalie = alpha).

As science fiction, I'm left scratching my head as to how some of the alternate dimension stuff works. For example, Why would the siblings in the alternate world have the same birthdays if they have a different father? That makes no sense to me. But the confusing bits might be explained in later books. ( )

I was super duper extremely pleasantly surprised with how much I totally loved this story!! Books 2 & 3 are currently on the way from Amazon---can I wait that long??

The story has a sort of A Wrinkle in Time feel to it, without all the over-kids'-heads sciencey trippyness that I didn't even understand when I tried to reread it at 40. There's just enough science and sci-fi to make it fun---and I'm so glad it didn't contain the supernatural/magic elements that are so prevalent in almost every. single. book. one picks up these days.

Like most books written for kids by someone who hasn't had kids at home on a daily basis, at least for quite awhile, the characters suffer from shifts in intellectual and vocabulary maturity---but most of these were still somewhat believable for all but the youngest character. With no "he's a weird genius like Charles Wallace" explanations to cover for this, I had to just pretend he was really 12 instead of eight.

One element that really surprised me and argued against my normal bias against today's literature offers for children and young adults, was the stance the author took relating to the government. This story is fantastic in that it shows kids the possibility and consequences of a government that lies to its citizens with technology and fake news. It's quite the opposite of the indoctrination prevalent today. Genius---and I hope it was done on purpose.

One of my favorite pieces of dialogue is this (paraphrased):

Joe: "We've had to operate in such secrecy---it's hasn't been safe for anyone to know more than one or two contacts."

Finn: "So there could be lots of people here who are secretly on our side! They just need to know it's safe to unite!"

This is literally what I've been saying about all of the crazy that's gone on in our world the last few years. It's the loudest voices that seem to be the majority---but what if they just have the ability (in this case, technology) to drown out the real majority?

Great book! Can't wait to get the next ones. While I have three children in the recommended age range of 8-12, I decided it was only my 13 year old and older that I felt comfortable with reading this right now. I felt like the emotions the children showed about being without their mother would really upset my younger kids---and the sci-fi towards the end would be over their heads. I've loaned this to my 13 year old daughter to enjoy. I hope she loves it! ( )

3.5 stars

Overall, a cute book that will engage middle-grade readers. The mystery part of it was exciting, and the twists in the middle and end of the book add a new element of fun.

Writing-wise, the characters weren't super distinct and behaved unnaturally for their ages, in my opinion. One is a "math genius" and I'm so tired of the kid-genius trope.

Also, I found it disconcerting that Haddix brought in references to cheating husbands, as a friend's parent is a private investigator, of sorts. Though some kids may not understand and simply overlook this bit, most of the kids I know are curious and would ask questions. ("Mom spies on men who are....let's just say they're not very good husbands. Mom gives the wives proof, so they have the upper hand in the divorce." pp 112-113)

I am excited to continue the series, but I find that with most of Haddix's series, the first book is the best and it's all downhill after that. ( )

The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix is a fun middle grade novel about alternate worlds, family, and solving mysteries. This start to a new series follows the Greystone siblings as they attempt to find their missing mother. The relationship between Chess, Emma, and Finn was incredible. I really enjoyed following their adventure which includes clues, danger, and codes.

Things I loved: sibling relationship, codes, mystery, descriptions, alternate world angle

Things I didn't love: not enough clues and puzzles, I wanted more worldbuilding in the alternate world

If the next book contains improved worldbuilding, I am sure that I will also really enjoy it. ( )