Rating: I was given this book by our Teen Librarian, who knows I like fantasy. I took a pause from my library books to give this one a go. It’s definitely one of the more original stories I’ve read of late. It feels odd to say that. But then, if I were Irish, maybe I wouldn’t be saying it. Funnily enough, Aengus and the Dagda made an appearance…I found that an interesting coincidence, so close to my taking a leap out of my norm and reading Dream Angus.

So. J.J. Liddy comes from a musical family with a somewhat tarnished past, which involves his grandfather, a flute, and a priest. The flute and priest disappeared, and the family was never able to live it down. But upon learning the full story from his mother, J.J. finds a renewed pride in who he is and his music.

Which leaves only the problem of time. Which there is never enough of.

Busses are always late. Chores barely get finished, homework is never done. J.J. takes it upon himself to find a way to buy his mother time for her birthday, which she can’t believe is already approaching again. While off delivering cheese to a neighbor, he is taken to a souterrain and shown a secret. An entrance into a mythical land. A land which once had no time, but now does.

Time there moves much slower than in his world, though, so J.J. has a hard time truly worrying about it, even though there’s something nagging constantly at the back of his mind. He picks up a stray dog, meets so natives, learns some new tunes.

Back home, his parents are frantic. Eventually he’s gone so long, the woman who sent him on his way comes to retrieve him, only to be misdirected. J.J. is busy helping Aengus Og to seek out the time leak. The “fairies” want their ways back. The “ploddies” want their time.

After running out of ideas, Aengus takes J.J. to see his father, the Dagda, who admits to knowing the leak is close by. This in turn, through a set of somewhat surprising circumstances, leads J.J. to the answer to the riddle. More than one riddle, even.

As someone who knows how it can be to blink away spans of time as large as 6 months, I found the whole time leak idea really fascinating. As a musician, I really liked the heavy musical influences as well. These people were all about it. And dancing.

Between each chapter is a little tune, which some might skip over, but which I read as part of the story. Had I read more of it at home, I might have taken out my own flute or clarinet to give them a go. It was definitely something that set it a bit apart.

I’d recommend it to any fantasy fiend, or music lover. And to anyone who wants something a little bit different.