The Young City (The Unwritten Books #3)

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Author(s)

James Bow

Publisher

The Dundurn Group

Genre(s)

Fantasy

Age Range

14+

Release Date

November 21, 2008

ISBN

1550028464

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Rosemary Watson and Peter McAllister think their future is clear: they're finally heading off for university. They're thinking about finding apartments, picking courses, living like adults.

But what happens when the future becomes the past? While helping Rosemary's brother move into an apartment in Toronto, Peter and Rosemary fall into an underground river and are swept back in time, to Toronto in 1884. It's a struggle to survive and adapt to the alien culture of the late nineteenth century. Peter and Rosemary are forced to work together, to live together, and to become the adults they've only been pretending to be.

As the days stranded turn to weeks, then months, Rosemary and Peter begin to wonder if they're really ready for a future together - and what they will do if they can't get back.

Then someone brings them a watch, powered by a battery, made in Taiwan.

Rosemary Watson and Peter McAllister think their future is clear: they're finally heading off for university. They're thinking about finding apartments, picking courses, living like adults.

As the days stranded turn to weeks, then months, Rosemary and Peter begin to wonder if they're really ready for a future together - and what they will do if they can't get back.

Then someone brings them a watch, powered by a battery, made in Taiwan.

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The Young City by James Bow

July 26, 2009 (Updated: July 04, 2026)

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Reader reviewed by *Samantha*

I dont know about most people, but I for one find reading a series out of order to be completely frustrating and I usually cant do it. But this time, I could and I am really glad I did. The Young City is one of those stories that once you start, its hard to stop. Its the third book in a series, The Unwritten Books, but it completely holds its own as a standalone novel.

Rosemary Watson and Peter McAllister are eighteen, in love, and finally beginning their lives outside of their parents and are starting college, but something else has a different plan for them. While helping Rosemarys brother, Theo, move into an apartment, the floor falls in and the couple is swept away into the storm sewer of underground Toronto. When they finally get out of the water and get out of the river, they find that they arent in 2008 Toronto anymore; they seem to have gone back in time 124 years, and are now in 1884 Toronto. WOW! Twilight Zone, here I come!

But this isnt quite like that at all; this is a much simpler, much harder way to live. Could you imagine going from cell phones, computers, and television to a time where there is no hot running water, no such thing as a battery, and women are just being allowed to become doctors? I sure couldnt, but thats what Peter and Rosemary fall into. Its hard for them to even survive in such a different time, even from the first minute, but they soon meet Faith and Edmund, a brother and sister who have a pawn shop and who eagerly take the couple in, and help them adjust, no matter how odd they appear to be.

Working together, Peter and Rosemary have to come to terms with where they are and how it seems they can never get back to their tie, their home. Days become weeks, and weeks become months, and the couple begins to doubt whether they are ready for a life together, especially if that life is being stuck in 1884. Faith and Edmund help, but its still not enough for the young couple; that is until there is not only something fishy going on with Edmund, but also something going on at the construction site Peter is working on, and then someone brings a watch into the pawn shop, a watch with a battery, which isnt even possible yet, and a stamp that reads Made in Taiwan!

Rosemary and Peter work even harder to not only find out what could possibly be going on, but also where the watch came from, and who else knows about the portals and their home. All they do know is, someone else knows, and that someone is taking advantage of these portals and not using them for good things; someone is smuggling trinkets between 1884 and 2008. Its the who, why, and how that are still the problem; but its a problem Rosemary and Peter have to solve themselves.

If I could describe this book in three words, it would be: Captivating, adventurous, and must-readable! I found it so easy to get attached to these characters and their story that I was really sad to see it end. I want so badly to go back and read the first two books in this series, and I will. Theres tons of action, and twists and turns that I really never saw coming, and I was blown away.

The writing is exciting, and beautiful, and imaginative and I cant believe I had never heard of these books before now! If you havent read this book, I highly recommend you do so, its definitely a story that is worth the time and is worth hunting down (its from Canada).

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