A Wind in the Door (Time, #2)

Meh, this is a much weaker book than A Wrinkle in Time. It starts out okay, set 2 years after the previous book and focusing on Charles Wallace and his troubles with being bullied at school for being smart. After about the first third of the book though it just gets weird. Whereas A Wrinkle in Time seemed to be about large concepts and the immensity of the universe, A Wind in the Door goes microscopic.

Meg and Charles Wallace meet Blajeny, supposedly a Teacher, but he doesn't actually appear to teach much of anything or be any help at all. Charles Wallace is sick, and Meg then has to literally travel inside her brother in miniature form, along with a cherubim and Mr Jenkins, a school teacher who dislikes her and her brother. Teacher Blajeny continues to teach nothing at all but tells Meg & co they have to undergo three trials, which he can't help with in the slightest. The plot is confusing and reminded me of 70s psychedelic imagery, but mainly centers around Meg & co confronting the evil nothingness of Echthroi inside the mitochondria of her brother which also contain imaginary things called farandolae they have to save from the Echthroi. The overall message, similar to A Wrinkle in Time, is that love is the answer to everything.

I'm sure I read the whole trilogy as a child, but while I had vague memories of A Wrinkle in Time, I didn't remember anything about the second book. And now I understand why, because it made so little sense that in another year I doubt I'll remember anything about it either.