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When Vasilisa's long-absent father shows up, she is unceremoniously whisked off to another world. Despite her hopes of a normal family life, her new family happens to be from a race of people who have the magical ability to manipulate time and space. Vasilisa quickly discovers that everyone seems to want something from her, but will tell her little of what is really going on. Especially her father, the head of a powerful family, and his disturbingly evil accomplice, Elena �� both rumoured to be plotting to put him into the highest ruling position possible. Along with a few new friends, Vasilisa embarks on an adventure to get back home to Earth. On the way, she discovers who she truly is and what it means to be a time wizard, and becomes embroiled in a plot to find the seven time keys that could stop two worlds from colliding.

I found the story fun and the world to be rich and original. I loved how many different people were involved and all the secret plots they cooked up. Vasilisa, however, was incredibly annoying. Even for a twelve-year-old I find it extremely difficult to believe that someone could be so gullible and naive, especially after everything that happens to her in the book. Time and again she does exactly as her enemies want her to do, without even realizing. She never thinks her actions through, or tries to think of other people's actions. Most of all, she has no curiousity about the world. Every time she asks questions it is out of frustration. And when people don't answer her questions she just says "Oh, well. I gotta get out of here. Not my problem." I find that extremely unrealistic. If anything, as a protagonist you would want to listen in on people or go where you are not supposed to and get as much information for yourself as possible to at least give yourself a good chance of making it out alive. Multiple people threaten her with death and Vasilisa takes all of their threats for granted. She is led along like a sheep by her friends and her enemies. She also undoes all her friendships by being weirdly suspicious of everybody, but she readily believes everything her enemies tell her. How, I ask you?! Ridiculous and frustrating to read. I hope in book 2 she gets a grip.

Anyway, I was entertained enough by everyone else and the world-building to find this story enjoyable. I have high hopes that Vasilisa gets over herself and becomes a worthy fantasy heroine.

If you love middle grade fiction, or even YA, this will be a fun read. Yuliya Yablonska is also an excellent narrator of the audiobook (LitRes) and I recommend it to those who have the ability to listen to this book in Russian. Kids will for sure enjoy it.