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frakalot's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The blurb calls our protagonist "the orphan," so The Orphan it is. The blurb also describes that by mind linking with her mutated lion, (named Wyala), The Orphan can jump across worlds through a fourth dimension.
We meet our new friends The Orphan and Wyala while they are being hunted by some Kriff who chase the pair through a dimension jump (referred to as a "skip") and the action is immediately cranked up to ten. The story is consistently fast paced and action packed, although the stakes vary from trouble at school to saving Earth.
"In spite of my good intentions I didn’t remain a good little orphan for long. Perhaps if the weather had been decent; I don’t know"
The Orphan is a feisty type. She's short, smart and has a biting attitude. We find out that she lives in an orphanage/boarding school arrangement and that skipping through the dimension pipes has been causing attendance issues among other things.
"It also dawned on me that Battersby intended to keep me locked up forever. Or until I was eighteen. Same thing."
We meet one of her teachers who is your classic image of an angry nun, with an active grudge against The Orphan. Her roommate, Twilly, doesn't like her very much either and asks, "why can't you be more feminine?" Sheesh, our Orphan has it tough for sure.
"I remained frightened until I grew angry. Then I felt more normal."
We learn that the Kriff, natives of one of the 100 worlds, are herbivores with serious anger issues. It turns out the Kriff also have other issues, they desperately need more space and are terrorising other worlds to obtain it. The Orphan gets involved to help defeat the Kriff so that they'll leave Earth alone in the future. Unfortunately the problem reaches home and The Orphan must save the day.
"All I knew was that I had made a mistake. I was in a universe that didn’t appear to have any exits."
I shall try to explain the fourth dimension in this story as best I understood it. There are 100 planets arranged in a ring so that they are nearly touching. The worlds are connected by a web of tributaries (tribs), and a massive pipe that runs a circumference of the ring through the centre of each planet.
The inhabitants on the different planets don't see or affect each other except through use of the dimensional barriers which can only be seen and accessed by gifted individuals. The Orphan can visit these planets and their inhabitants via the tribs. So yeah, it's pretty serious stuff, major world building in such a quick story.
For a super slim book this is an impressive tale and for a Young Adult novel it deals with many themes traditionally labelled mature. As well as the Kriff we meet many other strange new aliens. As well as saving Earth, The Orphan must navigate the some new challenges in her personal life.
I've one more quote to share and I'll finish by recommending this high fun adventure to all classic scifi fans.
"For all I knew we would end up as a most unattractive foursome all stuck together in a wailing mass of flesh and abominable suffering."
We meet our new friends The Orphan and Wyala while they are being hunted by some Kriff who chase the pair through a dimension jump (referred to as a "skip") and the action is immediately cranked up to ten. The story is consistently fast paced and action packed, although the stakes vary from trouble at school to saving Earth.
"In spite of my good intentions I didn’t remain a good little orphan for long. Perhaps if the weather had been decent; I don’t know"
The Orphan is a feisty type. She's short, smart and has a biting attitude. We find out that she lives in an orphanage/boarding school arrangement and that skipping through the dimension pipes has been causing attendance issues among other things.
"It also dawned on me that Battersby intended to keep me locked up forever. Or until I was eighteen. Same thing."
We meet one of her teachers who is your classic image of an angry nun, with an active grudge against The Orphan. Her roommate, Twilly, doesn't like her very much either and asks, "why can't you be more feminine?" Sheesh, our Orphan has it tough for sure.
"I remained frightened until I grew angry. Then I felt more normal."
We learn that the Kriff, natives of one of the 100 worlds, are herbivores with serious anger issues. It turns out the Kriff also have other issues, they desperately need more space and are terrorising other worlds to obtain it. The Orphan gets involved to help defeat the Kriff so that they'll leave Earth alone in the future. Unfortunately the problem reaches home and The Orphan must save the day.
"All I knew was that I had made a mistake. I was in a universe that didn’t appear to have any exits."
I shall try to explain the fourth dimension in this story as best I understood it. There are 100 planets arranged in a ring so that they are nearly touching. The worlds are connected by a web of tributaries (tribs), and a massive pipe that runs a circumference of the ring through the centre of each planet.
The inhabitants on the different planets don't see or affect each other except through use of the dimensional barriers which can only be seen and accessed by gifted individuals. The Orphan can visit these planets and their inhabitants via the tribs. So yeah, it's pretty serious stuff, major world building in such a quick story.
For a super slim book this is an impressive tale and for a Young Adult novel it deals with many themes traditionally labelled mature. As well as the Kriff we meet many other strange new aliens. As well as saving Earth, The Orphan must navigate the some new challenges in her personal life.
I've one more quote to share and I'll finish by recommending this high fun adventure to all classic scifi fans.
"For all I knew we would end up as a most unattractive foursome all stuck together in a wailing mass of flesh and abominable suffering."
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