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scarebear47's review against another edition
3.0
A breezy and fun read but not a favorite from Koontz. His best books are ones where I’m deeply invested in the characters and I just wasn’t much invested in any of the Coltrane’s of ANY world.
Note: I won the kindle edition of this book via Goodreads Giveaways.
Note: I won the kindle edition of this book via Goodreads Giveaways.
rbtrudeau's review
3.0
There's no need to write a review because Goodreads user Phrynne already wrote what I wanted to. Ditto, Phrynne. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8655084-phrynne
ohnodk's review
4.0
Elsewhere is about a father, a daughter, and the daughter’s domesticated mouse who is just as adventurous as Despereux. Traveling through parallel worlds and trying to escape from a cruel villain, this story is a good page turner for new Dean Koontz fans. This was my first book of his I’ve read and I enjoyed it. I’ll definitely be looking for more books of his to read.
I was selected as a winner from a giveaway on Goodreads and would like to thank the Goodreads team and Dean Koontz for the chance to read it beforehand.
Elsewhere will be released on October 20th, 2020! I recommend it!
I was selected as a winner from a giveaway on Goodreads and would like to thank the Goodreads team and Dean Koontz for the chance to read it beforehand.
Elsewhere will be released on October 20th, 2020! I recommend it!
moonshaunted's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
tonya_with_an_o's review
4.0
Very reminiscent of the Koontz I read in my teens, (ages and ages ago haha) with a swift pace and plenty of thrills. I was so tempted to give this a big fat 5 star rating, but something is holding me back. I think perhaps the pieces tumbled together a tad too easily? Anyway.... the book was very enjoyable; there are some truly nasty adversaries you'll love to hate, and some plucky heroes you'll be rooting for right from the start. I think I will give Elsewhere 4.25 stars.
lmt01's review
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book.
WHAT I LIKED
—The concept was quite interesting, and Koontz wrote about it pretty well.
—There is a mention of how ghosts are actually “echoes” of people from alternate realities, which I really liked.
—The whole sequence taking place in Earth 1.77 is some of the best stuff that Koontz has ever done.
—I like any book where characters are smart enough when being attacked to kick their attacker in the balls. It’s really annoying how little that strategy is used in literature fight scenes (and movie fight scenes) when a kick to the male groin could end a fight almost instantly.
—The scenes of suspense (I) are pretty good. Koontz puts his characters in harrowing situations, and sometimes ends chapters so that you are left wondering what will happen.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
—Koontz doesn’t spend much time elaborating on the history of these alternate worlds, even the one where the right Michelle comes from.
—Amity is annoying. She thinks it’s wrong to panic in situations in which it would be perfectly fine to be panicking in. Koontz tries to make her look strong, but she comes across as an idiot.
—The characters have no grey areas. They’re either super good or über evil.
—The sugarcoated happy ending really pisses me off, especially when describing how the perfect world had not had a war after WWII.
—Just when you thought you were safe, Koontz manages to drag a ducking golden retriever into this. This guy has a fetish, only it’s not innocent because it’s so damn annoying.
—Plot holes!!!
—The meeting on the alley, where Duke recognises Michelle—from a seven-year-old photo even though she is wearing a cap—and Ed. This isn’t the worst part; the worst part is that their meeting was a coincidence.
—I can’t think of a Koontz novel where a villain hasn’t nearly or fully given-in to sexually assaulting his victims. He can’t just let you accept his evil; he just HAS to have a scene where a villain either almost rapes somebody but gives in or is interrupted (which happens in ELSEWHERE), or they just go ahead and rape them.
—The scenes of suspense (II) can be stupid at times. For example, when Amity is stupid enough to let go of Jeffy even though she KNOWS that the Key could teleport them back to Earth Prime at any given moment, my heart didn’t beat faster, because a) I knew she was going to be fine, because this is a Koontz novel, and b) SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN STUPID ENOUGH TO LET GO!!!
WHAT I LIKED
—The concept was quite interesting, and Koontz wrote about it pretty well.
—There is a mention of how ghosts are actually “echoes” of people from alternate realities, which I really liked.
—The whole sequence taking place in Earth 1.77 is some of the best stuff that Koontz has ever done.
—I like any book where characters are smart enough when being attacked to kick their attacker in the balls. It’s really annoying how little that strategy is used in literature fight scenes (and movie fight scenes) when a kick to the male groin could end a fight almost instantly.
—The scenes of suspense (I) are pretty good. Koontz puts his characters in harrowing situations, and sometimes ends chapters so that you are left wondering what will happen.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
—Koontz doesn’t spend much time elaborating on the history of these alternate worlds, even the one where the right Michelle comes from.
—Amity is annoying. She thinks it’s wrong to panic in situations in which it would be perfectly fine to be panicking in. Koontz tries to make her look strong, but she comes across as an idiot.
—The characters have no grey areas. They’re either super good or über evil.
—The sugarcoated happy ending really pisses me off, especially when describing how the perfect world had not had a war after WWII.
—Just when you thought you were safe, Koontz manages to drag a ducking golden retriever into this. This guy has a fetish, only it’s not innocent because it’s so damn annoying.
—Plot holes!!!
—The meeting on the alley, where Duke recognises Michelle—from a seven-year-old photo even though she is wearing a cap—and Ed. This isn’t the worst part; the worst part is that their meeting was a coincidence.
—I can’t think of a Koontz novel where a villain hasn’t nearly or fully given-in to sexually assaulting his victims. He can’t just let you accept his evil; he just HAS to have a scene where a villain either almost rapes somebody but gives in or is interrupted (which happens in ELSEWHERE), or they just go ahead and rape them.
—The scenes of suspense (II) can be stupid at times. For example, when Amity is stupid enough to let go of Jeffy even though she KNOWS that the Key could teleport them back to Earth Prime at any given moment, my heart didn’t beat faster, because a) I knew she was going to be fine, because this is a Koontz novel, and b) SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN STUPID ENOUGH TO LET GO!!!
uniqe_one's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
sillyslicker's review against another edition
3.0
Elsewhere is a decent read that has some intense and fun moments. Dealing with parallel universes allows for some fun what-ifs, and I enjoyed learning about the other places, each time someone jumped to a different version of our world. I would have liked if Koontz had dug much deeper by better exploring those ideas and by spending additional time in those places, but I think this story was intended to be focused more on the impact such a possibility has on the family that we follow, rather than on the invention and parallel universes.
Something I really disliked was how the bad guys were caricatures, instead of being complex human beings; I was waiting for the main adversary to start twirling his mustache, while laughing, maniacally. The portrayal of these characters greatly lowered my enjoyment of the story, but I thought that Jeffy and Amity were written well.
If the concept of Elsewhere intrigues you, and you're not looking for something too sci-fi, I'd recommend picking up a copy.
Something I really disliked was how the bad guys were caricatures, instead of being complex human beings; I was waiting for the main adversary to start twirling his mustache, while laughing, maniacally. The portrayal of these characters greatly lowered my enjoyment of the story, but I thought that Jeffy and Amity were written well.
If the concept of Elsewhere intrigues you, and you're not looking for something too sci-fi, I'd recommend picking up a copy.
gsteinbacher's review against another edition
3.0
I was disappointed in this story. It had so much potential to be filled with action and adventure but it fell far short. Instead it was filled with a large amount of what I call "describing the scene", describing what the scenery looked like and what was going on in the mind of the characters. I found this to be quite boring. Luckily it was filled with enough action that I completed the book.