Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Reviews

Book Review: Between

By Sandy Amazeen Mar 6, 2013, 3:16 GMT

As an ER doctor, Vivian Maylor has spent her life believing in the value of hard facts and sound scientific principles yet despite this, she sees things, unexplainable things. Vivian is a Dreamshifter and as a result, is capable of navigating a complex, magical alternative world populated by knights, an evil queen, dragons and more. In addition to the mythical creatures, Vivian’s on again/off again love interest Zee also travels the Dreamworld as well as her ex and an entity who looks like Zee, known as Warlord. As she works to understand this strange world by unraveling the clues left by her deceased grandfather, Vivian begins to realize her potiential may be much greater then a Dreamshifter.

While this first installment of a new series is suitably imaginative, it lacks the punch readers have come to expect from an urban fantasy. Vivian is a nice enough character, easy to relate to but remarkably lackluster. Aside from continually misplacing assorted garments, Vivian seems content to simply drift from one situation to another without seriously questioning her poor choices. Poe, Vivian’s penguin sidekick is a hoot as he continues to get them both into awkward positions and goes a long way towards saving the story.