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Book Review of InterWorld (InterWorld, Bk 1)

InterWorld (InterWorld, Bk 1)
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Ever wish you could travel on different planes? And I'm not talking about airplanes.

Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves make multi-dimensional plane-traveling possible for one boy named Joey Harker, a kid that's gotten lost in his own parents' home at one (or several) point(s). Not a comforting thought that this kid may have to save a few million worlds or so. What if he can't find them?

In the midst of a social studies project involving finding his way through his town of Greenville, Joey Walks (capital intended) into another dimension that looks just like Earth. The differences? His home isn't his home (though the people residing there look an awful lot like him) and a silver-coated guy named Jay rips a hole in the plane and finds him. Not your common-day town-dwelling stuff.

His far-out adventure ensues with the discovery of Hue (a big, colorful soap bubble), a whole new school curriculum (quantam differentiation, gnosis explication, other stuff that would make my skin crawl), and otherworld Walkers all with names that start with J (Jai, J/O, Jo, and a favorite of mine, J'r'ohoho, are just a few). But it's no fun and games floating in varying levels of gravity - a division called HEX is out for Walker souls to power their ship fleets, and they'll stop at nothing to Walk off with Joey.

A series of twists and turns leads Joey back to Earth with (temporary) amnesia, back to the In-Between (where Hue was discovered), and on crazy, dangerous missions that can sometimes strain one's imagination...but in a good way. Despite the strange plot, the reader catches on to the complex terms and settings rather quickly, forming vivid and strange ideas about what the In-Between might look like. Joey's story is inspirational in a comic-book way, and his separation from his parents shows a bravery not often found in homesick youngsters.

Want to see what it's like on other worlds? Pick up InterWorld and Walk with Joey's gang. And while you're there, find out what Hue is made of. Surely, it can't be Mr. Bubbles bubble bath.