Crash My Book Party

Thank you to Goodreads and the publishers for sending me this book in exchange for honest review. This did not alter my review in any way.

Multiversum is the exciting, fast-paced story of teenagers Alex and Jenny, who live on opposite sides of the world and share a telepathic communication which has grown stronger over time. But when, after four years, they finally manage to arrange a meeting, they find that they exist in different dimensions, parallel universes. As Earth’s end looms closer and all existences threaten to cease, the two of them need to work out how to control their gifts and save themselves. When it seems like everything and everyone is working against them, except for Alex’s brilliant friend Marco, they have only each other – and the future of Earth is at stake.

Can I just say, before I begin, that this translation is just fantastic. The original novel was written in Italian, and I prepared myself for awkward phrases and things that just don’t make sense in English when translated from Italian. Considering the complexity of this novel, the translation could have been a trainwreck. But it wasn’t. It was clear and concise and not hard to follow, although the plot got increasingly more complex as the book went on. I think the translator, Antony Shugaar, needs a shout-out for his excellent work.

As for the novel itself, I really enjoyed it. The plot was fascinating and exciting. The concept of multiple universes is really interesting and it kinds of niggles at your mind, could it be true? The story moves quickly but I never felt left behind. We are dropped into the middle of Alex and Jenny’s lives after they’ve been connecting with their minds for four years. They are finally able to communicate with each other, and it’s been a long wait for both of them. At first I thought their relationship was moving quickly, then I thought to myself, this is no ordinary situation. It’s not like they just met one day and fell in love. There’s a lot more to it than that, and imagine how confusing it would be for both of them.

However, I felt the characters themselves were lacking in … something. I can’t name it, but something was missing. I felt no connection to either of the main characters. In fact, I felt more in tune to Alex’s computer genius friend Marco, who works out the Multiverse theorem, than to Alex or Jenny. Marco I wanted to read more of, wanted to know what was going to happen to him. He was interesting. And despite the existing across multiple dimensions and speaking through their minds, Alex and Jenny themselves were not as interesting. What should have been emotionally charged scenes felt glossed over and wrapped up blandly. It made the novel fall short for me, and what could have been a 4 star read or higher becomes only a 3.5.

Nonetheless, I will be following this series as the subsequent books are translated into English, I want to see where this goes!

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