The Goodfellow Chronicles, Book 3: The Book of the Sage

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

This final book in the Goodfellow Chronicles trilogy takes place 75
years after the conclusion of Book 2. Sam is now 86 years old and
married to India, his childhood playmate. Their granddaughter, Alice,
has inherited Sam’s unique ability to see and communicate with the
Sage, tiny creatures some hundreds of years old whose mission it is to
provide inspiration to gifted humans. Keeper of the last lighthouse on
the coast of Maine, Sam is still guarding the sacred Martian scrolls
entrusted to his care. Sadly, his best friend and brother-in-law, famed
astronaut Fletcher Jaffrey, four years into a top-secret space mission,
has just been officially declared lost.

A final communiqué from Fletcher directs Sam to an artifact retrieved
on one of Fletcher’s early voyages to Mars. The mysterious object is
the mythical Book of the Sage. Startling revelations about the history
of the Sage and the link between them and their arch-enemies, the Fen,
are contained in the book along with information that could lead to
disaster for the Sage and ultimately jeopardize the fate of the whole
world. The Sage are not the only ones privy to this plan—the Fen have
managed to intercept this information and, for a time, it seems as if
evil will prevail. But the Sage, aided by Sam and Alice, are victorious
and, with hope for the future centred on rescued Fen-baby Grakul, the
story comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Though a substantial portion of the book is devoted to providing
background information, those who have read the first two volumes of the
trilogy will clearly have an advantage when it comes to understanding
and appreciating the story. In this volume, the Sage are less involved
in their role as advisors to human figures, and we learn much more about
their family and daily lives. Sci-fi fans will be intrigued with
references to such things as “holospan” movies, “smellovision,”
and electro-magnet-powered supertrains and boats, as well as space
travel between Earth and Mars as a common occurrence. Recommended.