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octavia_cade 's review for:

The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman
3.0

Likeable YA time travel story, albeit one that borrows very heavily from Octavia Butler's far superior Kindred. Sophie, looking for an adventure, goes through a maze and ends up 100 years back in time, mistaken for a slave by her own relations. As is (realistically) always the case in these stories, she finds her situation both educational and unpleasant. The historical portions of the story are well-told and seem to be well-researched, as far as I can tell from my own admittedly ignorant perspective. Far less convincing is the 1960 frame story of a difficult mother and absent father, and in both 1860 and 1960 Sophie's relationship with her apparent and actual fathers is so very minimalistic it almost becomes a plot hole in itself.