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elijahnotprophet's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Let me preface by saying, I’m a big fan of Neal Shunsterman’s books, but this book just isn’t that good. The story focuses on football player Ash, as a football tackle sends him across parallel universes. Along the way, he learns empathy for different marginalized groups. The book has the same problem that almost every Neal Shunsterman book has: It is not subtle. Almost every other line is Ash just telling us what Neal wants us to get from the book. Unsubtle storytelling isn’t the worse thing in the world(just look at Barbie) but unlike Barbie, it has no effect on any characters and no point to the plot. This kicks into high gear in the third act when Ash is transported to a parallel universe where he is a girl. It’s very obvious that Neal wanted to make the whole book around the third act, but didn’t think he could fit a whole book around it. Interestingly, even though Ash goes to three parallel universes, he only changes into a minority twice. He becomes gay, and he becomes a women. What’s the exception? The first parallel he goes to is one where segregation was never abolished. However, Ash is still white. This leads to either a, Neal thinks that the problems black people face are not as bad as the ones facing gay people and women, so he makes up new problems or B, Neal doesn’t think he doesn’t knows what being Black is like (probably true as he is white) but does think he knows what it’s like to be gay and a woman. This leads to the book being very condescending, expect for the first act which doesn’t really say anything but that racism is bad. Finally, Ash seems to have not made any meaningful changes in his life, but hey at least black people aren’t segregated against anymore! Also, Paul deserves better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Domestic abuse
morag's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
I don't even know where to begin. The one good thing I can say about this book is that it was well-intentioned. Shusterman clearly wanted to teach his audience about sexism, racism, abuse, and homophobia. In that regard, this road to hell is shining like the sun, because it is one of the most poorly paced, shallow, ham-fisted attempts at a social justice novel I have ever read.
The real problem is that he wants to do it all. He's trying to talk about four highly complex topics in one novel, and as a result, none of them are explored to the extent they deserve. Not only that, but because of the way the dimension hopping powers work, everything layers on top of one another. So he ends up in a world where segregation never ended, and then on top of that he becomes gay, and then on top of that he becomes a woman and an abuse victim all at once.
Every time he changes, he ends up switching focus onto the new thing, and then the other problems are relegated to the background. He spends almost the entire book in a world where segregation never ended, but then they barely touch it for half that time because he has to talk about homophobia/feminism/abuse. As a result, every exploration into these topics is extremely shallow.
Again, I appreciate the good intentions, but Shusterman should have picked one topic and stuck with it.
The real problem is that he wants to do it all. He's trying to talk about four highly complex topics in one novel, and as a result, none of them are explored to the extent they deserve. Not only that, but because of the way the dimension hopping powers work, everything layers on top of one another. So he ends up in a world where segregation never ended, and then on top of that he becomes gay, and then on top of that he becomes a woman and an abuse victim all at once.
Every time he changes, he ends up switching focus onto the new thing, and then the other problems are relegated to the background. He spends almost the entire book in a world where segregation never ended, but then they barely touch it for half that time because he has to talk about homophobia/feminism/abuse. As a result, every exploration into these topics is extremely shallow.
Again, I appreciate the good intentions, but Shusterman should have picked one topic and stuck with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Misogyny
emmaopaline's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
littletiramisu's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
kbergsten's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Excellent definitely recommend!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexism, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Medical content
betweentheshelves's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
As a Neal Shusterman fan, I was really excited to read this. Neal Shusterman and alternate universes? Sounds like a match made in heaven, honestly.
Unfortunately, I think this book has a bit of a bumpy start. It took me a few chapters to get used to the voice, and the beginning is a little slow moving. Ash is changing worlds and it's a bit difficult at first to keep track of some of the events in his original world. For example, COVID was mentioned at one point, but I'm not sure how it factored in.
Nonetheless, despite the rocky start, my interest was peaked when the Edwards came in. When more and more changes start happening to Ash, the plot really starts to pick up. The last half of the book reads really quickly as the stakes become higher and higher. Though at times, the message seems a little heavy handed, the side characters make up for it. By the end of the book, I was rooting for Ash to make everything right.
By the end of the book, I'd say this felt a little like Every Day by David Levithan. Ash's identity changes a few times throughout, and it's unclear exactly where he ends up at the end. Given the pacing of the second half of this book, I think I would definitely read a second book set in this world.
Overall, despite the bumpy start, Shusterman leaves readers thinking by the end of this alternate universe adventure.
This had a bit of a bumpy start for me, but it picked up about halfway through. More to come in a full review tomorrow!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Hate crime
Minor: Drug use
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