Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of Everness
Publisher: Jo Fletcher
Date of Publication: June 6, 2013 (ed.)
Mogsy's Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars - "When it comes to delivering excitement and adventure, Ian McDonald knows his stuff; take everything that made Planesrunner great, dial it all up and you get this book"
With its intriguing application of quantum physics and topic of
parallel earths, Planesrunner secured its spot as one of the most unique young adult novels I read last year. And of course, who could forget
the heart-pounding airship battles? When it comes delivering excitement
and adventure, Ian McDonald knows his stuff, and I could not wait to get
my hands on the next book. Seeing as the third installment of the
Everness series is already on the horizon, I thought it best to get
right on that post-haste.
But first, bear in
mind that this review may contain spoilers for book one, since Be My
Enemy immediately picks up where Planesrunner left off. Last time we saw
Everett Singh, he had managed to escape his enemies by transporting
himself and his new Airish friends to another parallel earth. His
computer device holding the Infundibulum and the key to the multiverse
is safe for now, but it's only a matter of time until their pursuers
catch up. Plus, Everett still needs to figure out a way to rescue his
father, a seemingly impossible task, seeing as Tejendra Singh is now
stranded somewhere on any one of the possible parallel worlds -- 10 to
the power of 80 of them, to be exact. Yep, it's a big multiverse.
Everett's
search for answers eventually leads him to E1, the first Earth to
develop a way to jump between parallel universes. It's also the only
world amongst the ten known Earths that is sealed off, quarantined,
nothing going in and nothing coming out. I won't deny it, I was thrilled
that the characters ended up here. The speculations drove me insane in the
first book, leaving me wondering and guessing what could have happened
to E1 to make everyone so afraid, and now thanks to this sequel, I
finally know why. And the reasons are hair-raising indeed! I doff my hat
to you, Mr. McDonald.
But wait, that's not
all. One thing about this book is that it simply does not stop with the
surprises, and not least of them is the lengths the bad guys will go to
in order to get what they want. Everett's enemies have some wily tricks
up their sleeves, stopping at nothing to gain control of the
Infundibulum. All I'll say is that in time, the perplexing introduction
to Be My Enemy, not to mention that curious title, will be explained. I
can't even begin to ponder the future implications of everything that
happened here. Take everything that made Planesrunner so great, dial it all up and you get this book:
Action? Check. In fact, this story has it in spades.
Cleverness?
Check. No doubt the book fudged a lot of the science, but it's done for
the sake of top-notch storytelling. In spite of that, this book does
not patronize the reader, which makes me think this series would appeal
to adults and young adults alike.
Interesting
characters? Check. This book gave me a more in-depth look into Everett's
personality, in the most unexpected and unique way possible. As for the
supporting cast, I feel like I finally have an idea of who they are. I
never gave much thought to Sen in the first book, but now I find her to
be a delight. I loved the brief glimpses of the story told from her
perspective, and couldn't help but think how awesome an entire novel in
her point of view would be. I can dream, can't I?
And what about the world building, you ask? Big check. Absolutely fantabulosa.
After
all, anything can happen when it comes to a story about parallel
earths. I was impressed with Ian McDonald's imagination at work in
Planesrunner, the way he brought the Airish culture to life and the
incredible way he described the world of E3. True to form, he does not
hold back for the sequel either, giving the same creative treatment to
settings like E1 or the frozen wasteland at the beginning of the novel,
despite these being much bleaker and darker worlds.
You
never know where the story might take you, or what amazing things
you'll see next, and that's one of the main reasons why I'm having so
much fun. Bring on the third book, I'm ready!
4.5 of 5 stars
A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Your word is Infundibulum.
ReplyDeleteCould you use it in a sentence?
Country of origin?
The funny thing about your comment is that the main character in the book actually went on a funny spiel/musing about how weird that word sounded :P
Delete=) As he should have.
DeleteFreak yea! I'm so excited these three books just arrived in the mail and you are loving them oh yes yes yes.
ReplyDeleteWoot! Hope you'll like the first book as much as I did. It's totally awesome how McDonald deals with the multiverse and parallel worlds.
Delete