Quirky in presentation & storylineBut a mixed bag.
This had larger format pages to accommodate maps, drawings, diagrams, doodles etc in the margins.
I really enjoyed the first half : A 12yo boy genius is awarded a Smithsonian prize and runs away and rides-the-rails to collect the honour.
So far, so good. Good premise, good characters.
On the train we get a mega-dose of exposition ~ narrative shoved at us to carry the plot along and to fill in gaps (of its own making). T.S. had taken his mother's diary when he left home and his reading of this gives us a great slab of family history. I found this awkward, way too contrived and just not interesting.
But then we go completely off the rails.
The book becomes a mish-mash of SciFi + Dan Brown with wormholes and secret societies at the Smithsonian.
There were many good ideas ... just not all needed to make this book interesting. Needed an edit.
