Travel Glasses

The Call to Search Everywhen

By: Chess Desalls

Narrated by: Natalie Winters

Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Calla Winston’s mobile devices sit in a corner of her room, covered in dust. Weeks ago, she shared photos and laughs with her best online friend. Now, after having felt the sting of betrayal, she prefers being hidden and friendless. She equates privacy with security and technology with pain.

Then she meets Valcas, an otherworldly time traveler who traverses time and space with a pair of altered sunglasses. When an ethereal being knocks Calla to the ground near her family’s lakeside cottage, Valcas uses the Travel Glasses to help her escape. He offers his further protection in exchange for a promise. Intrigued by Valcas and the possibility of time travel, Calla accepts. That is until she learns that his search for her was no mere coincidence.

Calla sets off on her own, taking the Travel Glasses with her. Torn between searching for her estranged father and reuniting with the rest of her family, she tracks down the inventor of the Travel Glasses in hopes of discovering more about Valcas’ past and motivations. The Travel Glasses take Calla’s mistrust of technology to all new levels. But without them, she’ll never make it back home. With Valcas hot on her trail, Calla hopes to find what she’s looking for before he catches up.

The Call to Search Everywhen is a serial series of novel-length installments.

©2014 Czidor Lore, LLC (P)2014 Czidor Lore, LLC

Critic reviews

"The concept is very imaginative and well-defined.... In spite of the sci-fi fantasy theme, the notion of love and trust in Travel Glasses made quite an impression on me." ( Readers' Favorite)

"This was a refreshing deviation from the plug any date into a time travel machine and push a button approach of time travel seen in so many other novels." ( YA Love Magazine)

Fantastic YA Fantasy/time travel

Valcas shows Calla how to use the travel glasses to help her escape. she is intrigued. however it soon becomes apparent that Valcas has his own reasons for helping her. can she trust him? is he what he seems?

I loved this book. I honestly got it because of the awesome cover and because I love time travel. this book is special because at it's core there are fascinating characters. It is amazing because of the clever way that time travel is used. I will not go in to great detail as everyone should experience it for themselves. there are many different layers in this book.

The narrator does a great job in bringing this book to life. some stories are made to be told out loud, and this is one of them. when you are done with this one, the second one continues the journey and will not let you down.

Great YA fiction.

A hit debut novel!

I received an audio version of this book in exchange for a review.

I really did enjoy this book. I thought it was imagnative and extremely descriptive. It took me a long while to get through because I didn't have my usual time to listen. The narrator did a good job being distinct with her voice to know when she was reading dialogue from other characters. The author did a great job describing all of the jumping although it did get a little confusing towards the end. I was glad to find out that there are more books in this series because I am anxious to find out what happens next. I found the female lead to be decisive and self aware. There were times when she would jump to a conclusion and I wanted to scream at her to think this through. It was properly paced with little down time. It was my first time travel book and I really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Review: Travel Glasses, by Chess Desalls

Overall, I enjoyed what I read in Chess Desalls first The Call to Search Everywhen novel, Travel Glasses. It wasn’t the easiest book to follow, but it shows potential for future books, and that’s a good indicator for the start of a series.

As with all books dealing with time travel, it’s not always easy to keep the story straight, whether you’re the writer or the reader. In this case, I think it the traveling aspect of the story was a bit confusing. At the same time, the main character was just as confused as the reader. This may or may not have aided in being a little forgiving on how much the story jumped around without trying to build a world around the “where” and “when” was taking place. I’m hoping that with the second book, things will be a little easier to follow and to enjoy because the characters have revealed more toward the latter end of this book.

The characters in this book also suffered a bit. While I was able to sympathize with many of them, and grew to like some, there were times when they felt a bit flat. And if not flat, they felt breezed over at times. I would have liked a little more attention given to them to help ground me in the story that was all over the place (literally, since there’s a lot of traveling taking place). Still, by the end, I think I got a better understanding of the main characters and also a clear direction to where the series will go. It just took longer that expected to get to that attitude toward the book.

As I stated before, I did enjoy this book. I feel that I could end up enjoying book two, Insight Kindling , much more and in turn reading further into the series as they’re released.

A twisty ride through time and space travel

Would you try another book from Chess Desalls and/or Natalie Winters?

I would enjoy another book by Chess Desalls. The first few chapters happen fast and left me with lots of questions. All good as I wanted to know all the answers! What's after Calla? Why? What's knocking her over? He say's it's 1812? Why does Valcas have sunglasses on in the dark? Things change fast and I'm curious as to why and how, jet ski to row boat. I have to keep going to see what's going on!The neat thing of this story that I enjoyed when thinking back through the story is my thinking process of how or why things are the way they are changes. Each trip to the past or another place brings something to mind that could be an explanation of why. I do like that you can't change the past. Well, there are the written personals you can leave, but there are rules against such things that are monitored by the TSTA, Time and Space Travel Agency. So the changing the past is not an easy answer to everything. I have changed my mind on Valcas's motives about three times with what I learned. lol.

Would you recommend Travel Glasses to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes. Chess Desalls has created a story that is clean and well written but also keeps you thinking as you learn pieces of information about the process and rules to time traveling.

What three words best describe Natalie Winters’s performance?

Calm & Clear

Any additional comments?

This is a Young Adult read. It's done with no violence or overly intimate scenes. Good clean story with a young girl learning her way in the world and getting to experience friendships she never had.I grew attached to Calla and green eyed Valcas. I'm looking forward to seeing them in the future books. I ended this book surprised that it ended. I want to know what comes of what she learns of her mother's job and her hearing with TSTA. Then what Valcas will say and if there is a connection here with him in the current time. I'm still wondering on what was after Calla too. And her missing father...

potential

What disappointed you about Travel Glasses?

I was given this audio book in exchange for a review. The concept is great. Love the time travel and the beginning of the characters as well as the intrigue, but the dialogue is stilted and uncomfortable. When the main character is talking to herself/narrating the book moves very smoothly, but when she or anyone of the other characters have a conversation is goes no where fast. Good potential, but not there yet.