‘Interworld’ by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves

This isn’t a bad book, but it could be better. I quite liked parts of it. I don’t think I’ll be able to write that much about it because there’s not much to it. So why did I pick it up? Because the book stands out, with its cool and outlandish name and great cover design. I picked this up off a shelf in my library because the spine of the book looked really cool, so I decided to read the blurb. It sounded pretty good so I gave it a try.

This book had huge potential. My problem with it is that in places there doesn’t seem enough book in the book, in others there’s too much. At some points, there just doesn’t seem to be enough detail to explain the story – to tell you what’s going on. I’d have liked more storyline and more detail on the characters. You keep thinking a bit is getting good and then it trails off. It’s a bit frustrating.

The story is about Joey Harker who lives a pretty average life; nothing is unusual in his life except for his crazy teacher – Mr Dimas. He gives Joey and his class weird assignments. For one of these weird assignments, as a test, the class is brought to a random place in their city. They go in groups of three. They have to try to get back to their school.

Joey, being somebody who can get lost in his own house (well, when his family built an extension, he didn’t recognise where he was!), did not fill his two team-mates with confidence. Turns out he knew where he was, but they laughed at him and didn’t take him seriously. They set off and Joey goes with them, though he knows it’s the wrong way. Havin gone the wrong way, they quickly get lost. Joey tells them he’ll scout ahead. He finds himself walking through a park as he looks for the right way. Then a sort of foggy mist descends around him. Joey walks through the mist and finds himself on the other side where he sees something incredible! (only kidding, it’s not that great, it’s a good surprise though). Read it to see what you think of the surprise.

Overall, this was a pretty average book which didn’t bore me, but didn’t keep me turning the pages either. I’ve written a fair bit about it in this review, but read it and see for yourself. This is a book for those who like sci-fi and action, maybe even fantasy. It’s a little bit of all these genres.

Thanks for reading this, Finn Buck, 12.