Review: A Key to Worlds: A Parallel Worlds Novel

A Key to Worlds: A Parallel Worlds Novel by Mara Amberly
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Synopsis:

Pandora is a scientist confined to a barren, post-apocalyptic world. A mystical dream compels her to explore her family's history, as rumours swirl that there might be people living outside their planet's protected settlements. Once, outsiders tried to form free colonies of their own - Pandora's parents among them. They were said to have perished in the world's toxic environment, but Pandora doesn't know for sure. She's compelled to explore the planet for herself, but the laws of Alverron forbid it without the council's say-so.

Nessa's unique gift and her reckless nature have an unfortunate tendency to get her into trouble. When she opens a portal into another realm from the back of her aunt's garden, she doesn't expect to find an archaic world or herself imprisoned. A chain of perilous events and poor decisions force Nessa to test the limits of her gifts. Can she find the strength and ingenuity to set things right and help her new friend James find his way home?

A Key to Worlds: A Parallel Worlds Novel is an intriguing tale of fantasy adventure spanning multiple worlds.

My Thoughts:

Cover/Title: The title was intriguing and after reading the synopsis, I decided to give it a try.

Characters: Pandora kind of bored me most of the story. Towards the end, she became a bit more interesting. Nessa, on the other hand, was interesting. I enjoyed reading her parts of the story more.

Plot: Pandora lives in a post-apocalyptic world and longs to explore the area outside their settlement. Nessa lives in a different dimension and has the ability to travel to other dimensions.

If you plan to read the book, please don't read any further as there are spoilers.

Overall: The problem is that there isn't much to this book.

I can sum up Pandora's story in a couple sentences. She longs to explore outside the settlement. She finally goes outside, finds the box and learns the past. End of Pandora's story.

Nessa's story is a bit more in depth but not by much. She explores other dimensions. She accidentally brings a man home with her. She struggles to learn her powers so she can return him home. They find a couple other worlds first and escape back to her portal. She returns him home but he likes her so he brings his son and ex-wife back to her world. No build up of romance, it just is.

Nessa's story has a bit of a plot but Pandora's story lacks much substance at all. I think the book had potential. Nessa was interesting and if the romance had been weaved into the story more and it was longer, this could have been a good book. Pandora just belonged in a sequel or something, she just didn't fit. Unfortunately, this book fell short for me.

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