Mike Albo

Another Dimension of Us

thank you to penguin young readers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

a queer sci-fi, that’s usually right up my alley. however, and it truly pains me to say this, but it was 

it started off so strong, following tommy and rené, writing their poems, silently pining after each other, and seemingly falling their way into a supernatural/magical situation. based on what i knew, from the blurbs and how it was marketed, i was mostly expecting to be following these two boys as they went searching for each other. interacting with the second timeline much more indirectly than they actually did.

but okay, for the first 1/3 or so, we did have this much more focused story. tommy, rené, and dara, each trying to figure out themselves in high school. trying to figure out what’s going on with rené and his obsession with astral projection. that was all alright. it really did unfortunately start going downhill a bit more for me when we were introduced to pris and jayde.

it’s from here that you could tell that this book was most probably written at the height of covid lockdowns. their timeline has a deadly virus that’s impacted their lives for 20+ years aka literally covid. and i, for one, do 

love even the fictional idea that that many years into the future we’ll still be grappling with a pandemic. one that looks to be even more deadlier. no thank you! our currently reality is already anxiety-inducing and impactful enough.

but okay, aside from that. it’s once these characters timelines cross over that it really starts to go off the rails for me, personally. the characters spend a good portion of the book in this astral world, and while that’d be fine and dandy. it truly felt like the author was trying to think of any “whimsical” thing they could and literally throw it at the characters. the middle portion was wasted with them doing every random challenge possible. you could take that out and the book’s progression would be exactly the same. so this was definitely the most difficult part for me to get through.

after that, it definitely moves fairly quickly, but i really did just struggle to connect with the characters. and not only that but the “final battle” of sorts felt almost… too easy? idk, it just all wrapped so quickly. things happened. and then they wrapped everything up. eventually the author connected these characters back in the “earthly world”, which i did appreciate.

but beyond the big picture, there were so many little things that just added up. mainly, with when tommy and pris interacted in the astral plane at the beginning. there were so many things that tommy would ask that pris just 

answer. like, important things to their respective timelines. just so many little things…

overall, this was quite a struggle to get through. the stakes were never really that high. the idea, while it had so much potential, definitely fell so flat for me. i know this will find an audience, but that audience isn’t me this time.

ash (smokedshelves)

thank you to penguin young readers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

a queer sci-fi, that’s usually right up my alley. however, and it truly pains me to say this, but it was really not for me.

it started off so strong, following tommy and rené, writing their poems, silently pining after each other, and seemingly falling their way into a supernatural/magical situation. based on what i knew, from the blurbs and how it was marketed, i was mostly expecting to be following these two boys as they went searching for each other. interacting with the second timeline much more indirectly than they actually did.

but okay, for the first 1/3 or so, we did have this much more focused story. tommy, rené, and dara, each trying to figure out themselves in high school. trying to figure out what’s going on with rené and his obsession with astral projection. that was all alright. it really did unfortunately start going downhill a bit more for me when we were introduced to pris and jayde.

it’s from here that you could tell that this book was most probably written at the height of covid lockdowns. their timeline has a deadly virus that’s impacted their lives for 20+ years aka literally covid. and i, for one, do not love even the fictional idea that that many years into the future we’ll still be grappling with a pandemic. one that looks to be even more deadlier. no thank you! our currently reality is already anxiety-inducing and impactful enough.

but okay, aside from that. it’s once these characters timelines cross over that it really starts to go off the rails for me, personally. the characters spend a good portion of the book in this astral world, and while that’d be fine and dandy. it truly felt like the author was trying to think of any “whimsical” thing they could and literally throw it at the characters. the middle portion was wasted with them doing every random challenge possible. you could take that out and the book’s progression would be exactly the same. so this was definitely the most difficult part for me to get through.

after that, it definitely moves fairly quickly, but i really did just struggle to connect with the characters. and not only that but the “final battle” of sorts felt almost… too easy? idk, it just all wrapped so quickly. things happened. and then they wrapped everything up. eventually the author connected these characters back in the “earthly world”, which i did appreciate.

but beyond the big picture, there were so many little things that just added up. mainly, with when tommy and pris interacted in the astral plane at the beginning. there were so many things that tommy would ask that pris just wouldn’t answer. like, important things to their respective timelines. just so many little things…

overall, this was quite a struggle to get through. the stakes were never really that high. the idea, while it had so much potential, definitely fell so flat for me. i know this will find an audience, but that audience isn’t me this time.

Another Dimension of Us

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