NetGalley Description

Alex is a graphic genius who can create a superhero but does he have the courage to become one? Apple is the warrior princess who will fight to the death, but can she learn to listen to her heart?

They live in different worlds but are thrust together on the same quest. A quest to undo the Apocalypse. If they fail, life on Earth as we know it will end.

When Moon, a mysterious stranger gives Alex extraordinary powers, then drags him into her post-Apocalyptic world, he doesn’t know whether he’s dreaming or drugged. But, by the time he falls back into his own world, only he knows about the terror attack that’s about to trigger a global nuclear war. And in spite of the clock ticking down, no-one he turns to believes a word he says…

If you like epic adventure, featuring time-travel, action and romance, then you’ll love this new book by Trevor Morris.

My Review

***Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of the book. The following review is composed of my honest thoughts and reactions to this book.***

NOTE: This review does contain some vague, minor spoilers.

I thought this book would be a great fit for me. The description included adventure, time-travel, action, and romance, which are all things I love to read. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a dud.

The premise of the book is very intriguing. I liked the idea of using art to travel through time, and the plot of needing to stop the apocalypse before it occurs was interesting enough. However, the book was not executed well. The story was confusing and almost nothing was explained. I really wanted to learn more about how the time travel was possible, but the explanations in the book were weak and vague and made it seem as though the author never really thought out the mechanisms for how it was supposed to work. The plot was also confusing and somewhat nonsensical. I had a difficult time following what was happening at many points in the book, and there were alternate plans and other plot points that seemed important but ended up going nowhere.

The pacing of the book was also a large problem, which I think contributed to the confusing nature of the story. The book is constantly jumping between different perspectives at a very frenetic pace. It seemed there was a different POV every couple of paragraphs. The story also often jumped abruptly in time and location, as well, and gave very few details to fill in the gaps. The pace and writing style contributed to a tense atmosphere within the novel, which I expected given the story is about rushing to save the world, but I think this could have been accomplished without the jumpiness and confusion it created.

The characters were not well-developed. I honestly felt that I knew just as much about the characters after the book as I did before I started reading it. Due to the book’s short length and quick pace, there was little room for delving into any of the characters with any depth. The focus was largely on the plot, which was the driving factor in this novel despite how confusing it was. I really wanted to see more internal reactions of the characters to get to know them more intimately. It didn’t help that many of them died shortly after they were introduced. I think I was supposed to care about their deaths, but I really didn’t care at all. By the end, I felt as though I wouldn’t have cared if they all died because I just did not feel connected to any of the characters. Also, as a side note, the romance in the book was sparse and extremely shallow and wooden, which is probably also a side effect of not feeling anything about the characters involved.

Despite the flaws of the book, there were parts that stood out to me as being pretty great. The author was very good at writing descriptive deaths. His description of someone being eaten alive by a pack of dogs left me with chills because of the imagery it had evoked in my head. I also really enjoyed the flight battle sequence and found it to be really engaging.

Overall, I didn’t really enjoy this book. It was confusing, jumpy, and lacking in compelling characters. However, people who enjoy a quick read filled with fast-paced action and can overlook the flaws and lack of explanations may enjoy it more than I did. Therefore, I rate the book 2 out of 5 stars.