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4.2 out of 5 stars
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neil gaiman joey harker michael reaves young adult science fiction gaiman and reaves main character high school character development american gods harry potter magic and science gaiman and michael sense of direction middle school bad guys parallel worlds quick read looking forward fails to deliver
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Steven Woodcock
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Premise
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2020
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I honestly didn't know that this was a Young Adult science fiction book when I got it, nor did I discover until later that this the first book of several. That doesn't really impact my thinking here though.

The book stars in a typically typical fashion when our young hero--Jay--accidentally steps into another dimension. Yes there are reasons for that which are eventually covered, but Jay is kept pretty busy for a bit and (of course) accidentally becomes the #1 target for a particularly nasty Bad Guy. Along the way he runs into other versions of himself from other timelines, and it all comes together for a satisfying enough conclusion which (I didn't realize at the time) leaves a couple of hooks for the next book.

Recommended with some caveats: that you like YA fiction and forgive the sometimes McGuffin to tie things together. I liked it myself; I'll round up the others as well to see how the series plays out.
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Matthew Bearup
2.0 out of 5 stars Strictly for kids
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2018
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Some YA material is fun for all ages. Sometimes it's full of overused tropes and unnecessary childish dialogue. This is the latter.
- Authors have a habit of tacking on unnecessary sentences at the end of each chapter to *really* emphasize that a character took that next step or jumped to certain doom. This felt like something an editor added on to make sure kids would understand what the previous sentences implied.
- I'm all for sci fi/fantasy mashup, but Magic vs Science seems lazy. This book treats them almost literally like decorative, swappable layers where anything "Magic" has its equivalent "science" counterpart.
- The fact that everyone is a derivation of the same kid with the same name makes it *really* feel like someone's fan fiction where they wrote themselves into the narrative. The fact that these other derivatives are all generic tropes (sci-fi Joe, strong Joe, Joe with wings, werewolf Joe, etc) makes it even worse.
- If I see one more cheesy simile (it was like one of those cool shiny disks surfers ride; it was like one of those neat toys from when I was a kid; I felt like one of those war heroes from those old movies; etc) I might give up on the genre entirely.
I enjoyed pretty much everything else Neil Gaiman has written or been associated with. But geez this was painful. I'm sure its my fault somehow.
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Ana GM
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, especially considering the author(s)
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2017
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When I saw Neil Gaiman's name attached to this book I expected a lot more than what I got. The concept and the story overall are good, but the writing is VERY lackluster. I felt as if I were reading a first novel, written by a teenager.
Of course if the main character is a teenager you expect that point of view, but the quality of the narration was awful, it made jumps which were too easy--- almost throw-away, like they didn't know how to introduce the new plot point or just wanted to skip right ahead to the rest of the story--- used clichéd lines, and overexplained things WITHIN dialogue, which not only took you out of the flow of the story by being so unnatural, but honestly in such a short book is unnecessary and makes the readers out to be dumber than they are. The story has a lot of potential, but the writing bothered me so much that I honestly won't bother buying the sequels.
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Mike Glenn
4.0 out of 5 stars ... read three other books by Neil Gaiman which I loved ( American Gods
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2017
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I have read three other books by Neil Gaiman which I loved ( American Gods, Norse mythology, Neverwhere) - Neverwhere was my favorite with American Gods a close favorite. I am a huge sci-fi/Quantum physics fan so I assumed I would love this series too. I grudgingly liked it and I say that because it is really written for young adults, really teenagers. Alot of Cheesiness, and cliche throughout the book and predictability but still fun. I liked the premise although the most current thoughts about multidimensionality is that String theory is incorrect. I will probably read the other two in the series when I am in the star wars mood.
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JTF
4.0 out of 5 stars Interworld: a fun romp through inter-space
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2013
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Interworld is a really fun sci-fi adventure. I read this with one of my sons and while it fits its Juvenile category, we both enjoyed it. It contains a really interesting backdrop of a multi-dimensional universes where the sliver that contains versions with alternate Earth's is the focus, the Altiverse. It plays out well with interesting, if not deep characters. This book is a lot like a good sci-fi summer film; it's a great, fun ride with quick moving narrative hitting all the right spots for what it's trying to do for its target audience (and beyond). No Oscars but a lot of fun.

Messrs. Gaiman and Reaves put out a delightful tale of a kid who is not "in" or cool who finds out why he's misfit - he fits better in the Altiverse than just the sliver of it that's our Earth. So taking the notion that our choices bring out a slew of Voltairian possible worlds, having a slice of these possible worlds contain alternate Earths and having a team work as a force that keeps balance been HEX (magical forces) and Binary (Science/Technology forces) who try to dominate the Altiverse and mixing in uncontrollable creatures who slip between all of the multidimensional universe (including those that don't contain Earths) provides the quest for the protagonist, Joey Harker.

There are not a lot of deep messages or delving into social issues. It does incorporate themes familiar to this genre for Juveniles - misfits have a place, the risky choices we make that are based on doing the right thing and listening to our gut are the right ones, even when they cost and our greatest help and allies come from unlikely sources.

A couple of criticisms I've seen in some reviews

- Gee, this is really different from many of Gaiman's books, he's really good, and so that's really bad.

- It's not deep or adult enough even though it's focused on the Juvenile age bracket.

Neil Gaiman is a really great writer. Interworld does not primarily exhibit his "voice" that's present in Coraline and other books. Does this make this book a major disappointment or bad book? That's a little like saying Catch Me if You Can or Raiders of the Lost Ark are bad because they are not Schindler's List. I love that deceptively simply voice of Mr. Gaiman and the surprising journey on which he takes you. I love ending up in places I would never anticipate. That's not, however, the only legitimate writing and this isn't Mr. Gaiman's book; it's his and Reaves. I think we would be doing Mr. Reaves a disservice if we didn't expect something a little different from their collaboration than pure Gaiman.

It terms of being adult enough, it's pure, pop-corn smacking fun that I can feel comfortable with my son reading.

**** Light Spoiler ****

Do I agree with all of their choices? No. So what? I would have preferred an ending where the Old Man acknowledged that they incorrectly drummed Joey out and should have believed him. Yes a little humility goes a long way, but that should also go both ways.

Given the theoretical processing power of the Binary (of whom we learn little), you would think they would search through Earths with variants of "Joe Harker" name and some algorithm to look for similar faces to known Harker-variants and hunt them down.

Mrs. Harker and Mr. Dismas are almost too amazing and cool. I really like them but are they too good?

These are all nits. The story is great, the world is fabulous, and the characters are cool (even though not deeply developed). In terms of story mechanics, it nails them all - enough evil without making it to personal or gruesome for the targeted age bracket, a clear opening to continue the series with a genuine ending of the current book and terrific pacing.

Note: I switched between the Kindle version of this and the Audible version read by Christopher Evan Welch. Mr. Welch does a fine job with the character's voice. I think it was a good choice to have him also read the sequel, The Silver Dream.

I highly recommend Interworld to anyone ready to have some fun with Sci-Fi on the lighter side.
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Top reviews from other countries

Allons-y-bookworm
3.0 out of 5 stars Very average
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2020
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An interesting concept that should have been so exciting to read about but it wasn't. The plot was sometimes convoluted and characters were a bit bland.
I'm not sure how much input Neil Gaiman had with the story - I suspect very little because it doesn't have the same style, feel and magic as his other books. I don't think I would have even considered picking this up if Michael Reaves was the only author listed.
The book description on here describes Joey as very average and that is exactly how I'd categorise this book. I understand it was initially intended to be a TV project and maybe it would have been better in that format. I won't be continuing with the trilogy
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Paul Traynor
5.0 out of 5 stars Interdimensional inspiration
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2015
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This book pushes a lot of buttons for me. I'm on a Neil Gaiman catch up streak at the moment and decided to try this after finishing The ocean at the end of the lane (which was great). It's a good plot, well thought through. Gaiman has a habit of throwing in the odd emotional hand grenade - things that slightly disrupt or upset the reader and divert the plot from something too cosy or saccharine. It feels like it's written with younger readers in mind but like many an excellent book, if the story is well written and narrated then it appeals across all ages. I liked it a lot and went straight to the second in the series (which is also great).
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Nigel Greenhill
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 22, 2017
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Review I really enjoyed this book to be honest. Joey was a walker, he had the ability to walk to different worlds similar to Earth but each one slightly different, each world had a version of Joey, when he started walking he suddenly made others aware of him, not all were good.

This is an interesting story, I liked it, if you enter this book with no preconcived ideas of what it will be like then you will enjoy it more.
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Heidi
3.0 out of 5 stars How great is that concept
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2017
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How great is that concept?

I love a good alternative universe story and I love Neil Gaiman so this was a must read for me. It’s not one I’ve heard anything about, so was intrigued to give it a go.

The result is a fun YA Sci fi story. It’s not the best science fiction ever written, but it’s enjoyable enough and I do plan to continue on with the series.
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Fjb
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2019
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I love the way that Noel Gaiman creates alternative universes that are completely different but are internally consistent and deal with fundamental human issues
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