The Jumper Chronicles by W.C. Peever

The fathers of Charlie Burrows, age twelve, and his best friend, Bailey Relling, had both disappeared mysteriously when their children were just toddlers. They were brave men, members of the British Secret Service, who had died in service to the Queen, and the men who had killed them would now like to kill Charlie and Bailey. The young friends live in the beautiful seaside town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, just about ten miles north of Boston as the seagull flies. This is the setup to William Peever’s captivating young adult fantasy novel, The Quest for Merlin’s Map, the first in his Jumper Chronicles series, which in the author’s words, “blends in equal amounts of history, mythology, science fiction, and a splash of astro-physics.”

The Jumper Chronicles: The Quest for Merlin’s Map is brilliantly conceived and executed, combining elements of Harry Potter, Arthurian legend, Druidic lore, Norse mythology, and a slight flavoring of X-Men. It isn’t until a mysterious stranger named Lord Grayson appears and spirits away Charlie and Bailey for their own protection to a castle in Scotland do they discover that they each possess extraordinary powers. Charlie has the power to travel through the dimensions of time and space: he is a “jumper”; and Bailey has the power of telekinesis: she can move objects with her mind.

At the castle, which is actually a school for children with paranormal abilities called Thornfield, they discover that Lord Grayson is the headmaster, and they meet up with other young people with similar extraordinary talents. We are introduced to Mick from Australia, a pretty and brainy blond named Tilly, and a werecat named Joelle that can talk and change from a Siamese house cat into a ferocious tiger at will.  We also learn about shape-shifting Manserians, Guardians, Elementalists, Time-shifters, Telecons, Influencearians, and Seers. And of course we realize that the most exhaulted of those with super powers is the Jumper. In addition we are told that within this supernatural world two powerful secret societies exist that are in constant conflict: the Order—the force of good that runs Thornfield—and the Vision—the force of evil that attempts to thwart the Order’s good deeds at every turn.

Charlie must learn to deal with his remarkable abilities, which can be traced back through Norse gods and Druids, to his great ancestor, Merlinus Caledonensis—yes, that Merlin—and both societies want to use Charlie’s powers to travel back in time and between dimensions. Merlin had hidden powerful objects in parallel worlds during the fall of Rome and finding these objects could change the balance between good and evil in the world.

Charlie and his friends face mortal dangers and the most diabolical villains in order to unravel the mysteries of magic rings, power crystals, and Merlin’s map to save the world. And, perhaps, Charlie can even make contact with his long-lost father. The Jumper Chronicles: The Quest for Merlin’s Map is one of the best young adult fantasy novels we’ve read in a long time, and author William Peever has made an excellent start in setting the foundation for the next book in what is going to be an extraordinarily compelling series.