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mnyberg's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the interplay between the father and daughter characters and the first half of the book was really good. Problem for me became the lack of visits to the multiverse. The discovery and creativeness of those worlds in the beginning was cool. The end of the book became predictable and the additional characters just blah.
nickmasters's review against another edition
4.0
I’ll be honest, I battle with books about time travel and multiple realities, but at the same time I am ironically drawn to them and generally tend to enjoy them if the author can do a good enough job of drawing me into the impossible. In Dean Koontz’s ‘Elsewhere’ I can attest to enjoying his portrayal of parallel universes. The narrative is simple, fast paced, and entertaining.
Let’s face it, the plot is a little absurd, with the characters actually continually compare their unfolding reality to fantasy novels (and perhaps these tongue in cheek references become a little too frequent). But it is well written, the characters are great, and the pages practically turn themselves.
“People in stories were always preparing themselves for the worst, which rarely happened”
The relationship between Jeffy and Amity is really amazing. And in particular the portrayal of Amity’s wise for her age character is fun, tough, but most of all endearing (Duke’s use of kickass is pretty fitting).
“Our burdens made our spirits stronger and therefore were blessings”
At its core, this is fun enjoyable read. Maybe not quite enough for die hard Dean Koontz fans, but it does the trick.
Thanks NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a Review Copy.
Let’s face it, the plot is a little absurd, with the characters actually continually compare their unfolding reality to fantasy novels (and perhaps these tongue in cheek references become a little too frequent). But it is well written, the characters are great, and the pages practically turn themselves.
“People in stories were always preparing themselves for the worst, which rarely happened”
The relationship between Jeffy and Amity is really amazing. And in particular the portrayal of Amity’s wise for her age character is fun, tough, but most of all endearing (Duke’s use of kickass is pretty fitting).
“Our burdens made our spirits stronger and therefore were blessings”
At its core, this is fun enjoyable read. Maybe not quite enough for die hard Dean Koontz fans, but it does the trick.
Thanks NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a Review Copy.
erinremen's review against another edition
5.0
A fantastical read
A fantastical new read by Dean Koontz that dazzled me and took me on a journey through horrifying and magical worlds, full of wonder and awe as well as terror and evil. Mind blowing as always!
A fantastical new read by Dean Koontz that dazzled me and took me on a journey through horrifying and magical worlds, full of wonder and awe as well as terror and evil. Mind blowing as always!
zu_reviews's review against another edition
2.0
I have previously enjoyed Koontz novels but unfortunately this one fell flat. The premise was amazing, but the execution was full of lengthy exposition and drawn-out conflict that felt exaggerated and inflated.
For a novel about traveling to other parallel dimensions, I felt like we didn't see a lot of other worlds and that overall not much really happened in the novel. The bad guy was comically bad and way too long-winded. All of the companions of the main characters were conveniently super-competent in a way that felt forced. I felt like this had good bones but needed to be expanded on and trimmed in other places as to not be so repetitive.
For a novel about traveling to other parallel dimensions, I felt like we didn't see a lot of other worlds and that overall not much really happened in the novel. The bad guy was comically bad and way too long-winded. All of the companions of the main characters were conveniently super-competent in a way that felt forced. I felt like this had good bones but needed to be expanded on and trimmed in other places as to not be so repetitive.
becsbookshelf's review
4.0
Definitely my favourite Koontz novel so far.
Amity and her father Jeffery are just living life together because Amity’s mother left seven years ago and has never been seen again leaving Jeffery to play the role of both parents.
Ed trusted Jeffery and Amity with hiding one of his projects “the key to everything” and makes them promise they can never ever used it. One day the FBI knock on their door to “ask some questions” resulting in them accidentally activating the device and travelling to a parallel universe.
Everything is the same yet so very different. They duo travel though 7 different dimensions, running from the bad guy and trying to find the right timeline before it’s too late. There’s fighting and action but my favourite part was the relationship between the two of them.
Amity and her father Jeffery are just living life together because Amity’s mother left seven years ago and has never been seen again leaving Jeffery to play the role of both parents.
Ed trusted Jeffery and Amity with hiding one of his projects “the key to everything” and makes them promise they can never ever used it. One day the FBI knock on their door to “ask some questions” resulting in them accidentally activating the device and travelling to a parallel universe.
Everything is the same yet so very different. They duo travel though 7 different dimensions, running from the bad guy and trying to find the right timeline before it’s too late. There’s fighting and action but my favourite part was the relationship between the two of them.
ashley_crookham's review against another edition
"in an overpopulated world, nothing was noble about nursing back to health and saving the lives of people who were not essential to the function of the state, which were maybe 90 percent of them"
jeff_schanz's review against another edition
3.0
Was somewhat enjoyable though it felt like he sleepwalked through the plot points. I've been a Koontz fan for a while and this didn't match my expectations, though it's better than his Nameless series (really didn't like that one). I know it's not sci-fi, but I'd like a bit more explanation/excuse/something for the invention that's central to the plot. It's sorta just given to us as "It exists, don't question it." That bothers me quite a bit. The characters felt a little retreaded and the ending was a little sugary. Not Koontz's best or worst.
gbdill's review against another edition
4.0
It's been awhile since I've read a good Dean Koontz book. But, this one doesn't disappoint. A great read and quite creative in typical Koontz fashion. Basically a story of a father and daughter who come upon a way to travel to parallel universes. But each universe is different from their own reality, some are slightly better while others are quite horrific. But, maybe there is a chance to meet a lost loved one in one of these universes, or maybe not? Sadly, their primary mission is to outwit a sadist who is after them for the device that allows them to traverse these parallel universes. Will he succeed in capturing them? You may be quite surprised by the ending. A terrific book well written with beautiful prose at times. Highly recommend Elsewhere by Dean Koontz.
sohare1981's review against another edition
2.0
I went into this story not knowing anything about it. It's been in my to-be-read pile for a while, and when I saw it at my local library, I decided it was time to try. The story is told from several points of view but it mainly revolves around the characters, the 11-year-old Aminty and her father, Jeffy.
They're living their simple lives years after their wife/mother walk out on them and seem to be content in their quiet little world when an eccentric man thought to be homeless leaves Jeffy with "the key to everything" and asked him to keep it for him, but not use it. When accidentally activated, they're thrown into a dangerous life-risking life hiding from the shadow state and thrown into parallel worlds where evil things have taken place that their timeline hasn't.
I was a little put off by the many different narrators. Yes, Jeffy and Aminty were featured more, but then the author likes to what I call head-hop. A few scenes from Jeffy, one or two from Aminty, then throws you into the main antagonist of the story Fallack, then occasionally into an ed-point, and a different timeline Michelle, to some Fallack's teammates, to a random hotel security guide. It seems like every time Koontz introduced a character; he then put a scene in that character's point of view. A bit unnecessary, and I think limiting it to two, maybe three points of view would have been sufficient.
Not only that, because it is a "parallel world" story, you have to keep track of what world they're in though Koontz tends to call these timelines, which I think is a whole different concept. But I may just be nit-picking at that terminology. So you really have to pay attention to who and where they are. The head-hops got to be a little too much for me, but overall the story was good. There were surprises, and I would like maybe one or two worlds or more interaction with the worlds. This is my first read of Dean Koontz, and I feel intrigued enough to consider reading some of his other works.
They're living their simple lives years after their wife/mother walk out on them and seem to be content in their quiet little world when an eccentric man thought to be homeless leaves Jeffy with "the key to everything" and asked him to keep it for him, but not use it. When accidentally activated, they're thrown into a dangerous life-risking life hiding from the shadow state and thrown into parallel worlds where evil things have taken place that their timeline hasn't.
I was a little put off by the many different narrators. Yes, Jeffy and Aminty were featured more, but then the author likes to what I call head-hop. A few scenes from Jeffy, one or two from Aminty, then throws you into the main antagonist of the story Fallack, then occasionally into an ed-point, and a different timeline Michelle, to some Fallack's teammates, to a random hotel security guide. It seems like every time Koontz introduced a character; he then put a scene in that character's point of view. A bit unnecessary, and I think limiting it to two, maybe three points of view would have been sufficient.
Not only that, because it is a "parallel world" story, you have to keep track of what world they're in though Koontz tends to call these timelines, which I think is a whole different concept. But I may just be nit-picking at that terminology. So you really have to pay attention to who and where they are. The head-hops got to be a little too much for me, but overall the story was good. There were surprises, and I would like maybe one or two worlds or more interaction with the worlds. This is my first read of Dean Koontz, and I feel intrigued enough to consider reading some of his other works.
crashmore's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable but not my favorite Koontz read. This one was kind of a slow burn and didn't have the same level of action and conflict I generally like in his books. Still fun and worth the time I just usually enjoy Koontz books more.