Books Front Lines and Frontiers New Wrinkles in Time: A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle The further adventures of the Murry family as they work for greater peace in the universe. By Alan Brown | Published on March 31, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement. Today, I’m going to look at A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the first two sequels to Madeleine L’Engle’s best-selling children’s book A Wrinkle in Time. I reviewed that first book recently, and enjoyed revisiting it so much, I decided to pick up the sequels, books I’d never got around to reading. I had told my wife about a boxed set of L’Engle’s work that I saw online for a reasonable price, and she bought it for my recent birthday. So, for this review, instead of books from the library, I’ve got my very own copies to read. I had thought that A Wrinkle in Time was the first book of a trilogy, but it turns out this boxed set contains five books, labeled as the “Time Quintet”: A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. This edition was published in 2007 by Square Fish, a Macmillan imprint I’d never encountered before. The cover paintings are by Taeeun Yoo, although they are more illustrated borders than full paintings. About the Author Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007) was an American author who frequently wrote for children, with themes that featured science fiction and fantasy. She also wrote a play, short stories, poetry, books for adults, and works on Christian theology. She found success with A Wrinkle in Time, and many of her later works were set in the same universe as that original book. I reviewed A Wrinkle in Time in a previous column, and that review contains additional biographical information. The works of Madeleine L’Engle’s have been mentioned many times on Reactor, and I would especially draw your attention to essays by Mari Ness, who looked at a number of L’Engle’s books. Some Thoughts on Fantasy Tropes Folk and fantasy tales are often based on common tropes and share familiar themes—for example, the hero’s journey, as discussed by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces. There are three common tropes in particular that I personally do not care for, and since these tropes are central to A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, I’d like to discuss them before looking at the books themselves. The first trope is the idea of a protagonist being deliberately tested. In A Wind in the Door, Meg is told she will have to face three tests to heal damage both to the universe at large and to her younger brother. But it seems these tests are shaped by her evil opponents, which raises the question: are the forces of good and evil colluding to test her? It reminds me of the biblical tale of the trials faced by Job, where Satan seems to be acting as a subordinate of God, and not a rival. In A Wind in the Door, we never get an answer of why Meg specifically has been chosen for these tests. In A Wrinkle in Time, she is on a mission to rescue her father, and their family bonds are crucial to that rescue. But in A Wind in the Door, there is no such bond. The second trope I dislike is the idea of the intrinsically evil other, an opponent who is simply evil for evil’s sake. I much prefer tales with well developed protagonists and antagonists to those populated by cardboard heroes and villains. In A Wrinkle in Time, the forces of evil were never really defined or named, but in these two sequels, they are given a name: Echthroi (a Greek word that means “enemies”). And it is made clear that they are the architects of the evil that plagues our world. This attribution of evil acts to the influence of an outside force takes away the agency of the people performing those acts. Human anger, greed, and selfishness are quite sufficient to generate suffering in the world without any outside force. And branding opponents as agents of evil prevents us from understanding their own motivations, making it difficult to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. One of the strengths of A Wind in the Door is that, after engaging in the trope of the evil other throughout the book, in the end Meg moves beyond labels and works to understand her opponents. The third trope that tries my patience is that of special bloodlines. A Swiftly Tilting Planet shows the world at the brink of a nuclear holocaust, and sends young Charles Wallace through time to find a “Might Have Been,” a decision that could alter the course of history, and remove the threat of war. And it turns out that the branch in history came from who married who in the past. In the days of kings and nobility, bloodlines and breeding were seen as a force that gave people innate nobility or other special qualities, but this idea has largely been discarded in modern times. Despite being abandoned in the real world, however, the idea of certain bloodlines being special persists in fiction. While genetics shapes our biology, it is environment, upraising, and education that shapes a person, their ethics, and their behavior. It is a testimony to L’Engle’s storytelling ability that she was able to keep me engaged through both A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet despite the books being shaped by tropes I dislike. A Wind in the Door About a year after the events of A Wrinkle in Time, Meg Murry is still scrappy and impulsive, although she now is more self-assured and in a relationship with Calvin O’Keefe. Her youngest brother, Charles Wallace, tells her there is a dragon in the yard, but she initially doesn’t believe him. What concerns her are the bullies who are harassing Charles Wallace and beating him up at elementary school, where his discussions of issues beyond the comprehension of his fellow students, and even his teachers, are causing him to stand out from the crowd. She goes there to confront Mr. Jenkins, the principal of the school (and her old nemesis). He is not eager to listen to a youngster, but does not have his own viable solution to Charles Wallace’s problem with bullies. Later, in her own yard, Meg has an encounter with a creature who appears to be Mr. Jenkins, but disappears with a scream that leaves her terrified. Later, out at their favorite stargazing spot, Meg and Calvin see what Charles Wallace had told her was a flock of dragons, but is actually a single creature with a plethora of mismatched wings and eyes, who greets them with the statement, “Do not be afraid.” This creature is a cherubim, Proginoskes, who fits the biblical description of angels and cherubim (which is quite unlike the version embraced by most art and popular culture). Progo, as they nickname him, is quirky and abrasive, and turns out to be one of the best characters in the book. He is joined by a large dark man, Blajeny, who is a “Teacher,” and is there to teach Meg how to be a “Namer,” which will involve three tests. As a character, Blajeny is unfortunately a wasted opportunity, as he never becomes anything more than a mysterious presence. Progo takes Meg to another planet, and shows her how forces of evil, the Echthroi, are wreaking destruction across the universe, destroying or ‘X’ing things from the size of stars right down to tiny living cells. This explains why Mr. Murry is off doing scientific work for the government during this adventure, because astronomers have detected some of this destruction on the macro scale. It then turns out school bullying is the least of Charles Wallace’s problems. His health is deteriorating, and Mrs. Murry thinks it might be farandolae, invisible organelles within his mitochondria. Meg’s success with her tests may be the key to saving Charles Wallace’s life. At this point, one would think that Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace might recall their previous adventures and experiences in the previous book, but they don’t. Perhaps it was felt that writing a sequel without referring to the previous volume would make it more accessible to new readers. But the adventures of the characters in A Wrinkle in Time were so transformative that not mentioning them makes the story feel a bit disconnected and strange (and since Mr. Murry had become capable of teleporting to other worlds by using his mind, his new role of consulting with the government seems a vast underutilization of his abilities). Meg’s first challenge comes when she meets three versions of Mr. Jenkins, and must decide which is the original. Surprisingly, once Meg figures it out, she feels compelled to ask him to accompany them on their next adventure. Mr. Jenkins agrees, even though, after seeing the evil copies of himself and hearing about evil creatures who want to destroy the universe, he would be well within his rights to curl up in a ball, ignore her invitation, and cry a little. Progo then takes the trio to a far-off world where they can be transformed into something small enough to interact with the tiny farandolae. There, they meet a mysterious silver mousy/shrimpy creature named Sporos, who turns out to be a farandole himself. And then they are transported to a cell within Charles Wallace’s body. It turns out the Echthroi are there, encouraging Sporos and his fellow farandolae to selfishly not transform into the next stage of their existence, a process essential to Charles Wallace’s health. And it is up to Meg, Calvin, and Mr. Jenkins to encourage them to embrace their destiny. Meg learns to “kyth,” a way to link telepathically to other people and creatures. Learning Mr. Jenkins had once been kind and provided Calvin with new shoes when his own abusive family would not, Meg begins to appreciate him, and that generosity turns out to be a key to completing this second test. Meg’s final test, to interact with the Echthroi, involves her developing a rapport with them, and “naming” them, a process I didn’t really understand, but seems to be a way that love and understanding can overcome the forces of hate. And it will be no surprise that, in the end, everyone is reunited, Charles Wallace is healed, and Mr. Murry returns home just in time to hear what happened (reacting with a remarkable degree of acceptance). L’Engle is adept at rooting her tales in the details of ordinary life, and those are the parts of the book I enjoyed the best. I found the more fantastic parts of the narrative less than believable, even though they were wrapped in the trappings of science. A Swiftly Tilting Planet This book jumps forward ten years. Meg Murry is now married to Calvin and carrying her first child. He is overseas to present an academic paper at a conference, and it is Thanksgiving, so Meg is spending the holidays with her parents, and sleeping in her old attic room. Charles Wallace is now a teenager. Calvin’s mother, the abrasive Mrs. O’Keefe, has decided to accept an invitation to dinner, and her presence has unsettled the family. Of course, the family is even more unsettled by the looming possibility of a nuclear war, threatened by a South American dictator called Mad Dog Branzillo, who leads the fictional nation of Vespugia, located somewhere in the Patagonian region. Mr. Murry receives a request for advice from the President, which amazes Mrs. O’Keefe (in this, she reflects the viewpoint of readers who might feel the Murry family is a bit too intelligent and capable to be believable). Mrs. O’Keefe decided to come to dinner because she is convinced that Charles Wallace has something important to do, and teaches him a verse she says will protect him, a verse taught to her by an Irish grandmother, which resembles a prayer known as Saint Patrick’s Breastplate. Charles Wallace goes out to the stargazing rock and recites a portion of the verse, which summons a winged unicorn named Gaudior. The unicorn tells him he must travel through history and view it through the eyes of a series of other people (with most of those people being located near the Wallaces’ present-day home). Only by telepathically merging with these people scattered in time can Charles Wallace find the “Might-Have-Been,” a point where a person’s actions can be changed to prevent the impending nuclear war. Gaudior warns that during their travels they will face attacks from the Echthroi. As he moves through history, Charles Wallace will kyth with Meg, which will help anchor him to the present day. This at first seemed to be overly complex, with Meg linking telepathically to Charles Wallace who is linking with people from the past, but it did serve to keep Charles Wallace’s episodic adventures in the past a bit more grounded. Charles Wallace first observes a boy in the mythical past who rides a giant bird. Then, after he and Gaudior survive an Echthroi attack, he observes a boy who is an early Welsh immigrant to the New World, who also knows the verse Mrs. O’Keefe taught to Charles Wallace. We see the Welsh travelers intermarry with local inhabitants. And through this series of different characters from over history, we see the ancestors of the O’Keefe and Murry families face witch trials, survive the Civil War, and encounter other challenges. We also see how some family members emigrate to Vespugia, tying the families to the current-day dictator. Traveling through both time and space is dangerous, and Gaudior and Charles Wallace survive a gripping sequence that revolves around the perils posed by a wet rope after they lash themselves together (sometimes a threat posed by a common object is easier to imagine than monsters or existential threats). Throughout these adventures, Meg gathers information in the present to help guide Charles Wallace in his efforts. To be honest, I found some of these segments tedious, with the people from the past feeling like clichés instead of characters. And, as I mentioned above, I find narratives that involve promoting the specialness or superiority of certain bloodlines to be distasteful. The one historical episode I did find satisfying was learning about Mrs. O’Keefe’s past and seeing the traumas that had shaped her life, making her a more sympathetic character. Like the other books, the interactions between family members and the details of their ordinary lives were my favorite elements of the story. Final Thoughts Madeleine L’Engle’s work remains in print for good reason. She had a wonderful gift for telling stories through elegant prose, and grounding even the most fantastic elements with details that made them feel real and lived in. Her characters are compelling, and her stories are suffused with positive messages, without being heavy-handed. While the books sometimes rely on storytelling tropes and conventions I do not enjoy, L’Engle kept me engaged and turning the pages. And now I turn the floor over to you: If you’ve read A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, or other books by L’Engle, I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.[end-mark] The post New Wrinkles in Time: <i>A Wind in the Door</i> and <i>A Swiftly Tilting Planet</i> by Madeleine L’Engle appeared first on Reactor.