InterWorld

By: Neil Gaiman, Michael Reaves

Narrated by: Christopher Evan Welch

Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

Joey Harker isn't a hero.

In fact, he's the kind of guy who gets lost in his own house. And one day Joey gets really lost. He walks straight out of his world and into another dimension.

Joey's walk between the worlds makes him prey to two terrible forces: armies of magic and science who will do anything to harness his power to travel between dimensions. When he sees the evil those forces are capable of, Joey makes the only possible choice. He joins an army of his own, an army of versions of himself from different dimensions who all share his amazing power and who are all determined to fight to save the worlds.

Master storyteller Neil Gaiman and Emmy Award-winning science-fiction writer Michael Reaves team up to create a dazzling tale of magic, science, honor, and the destiny of one very special boy and all the others like him.

©2007 Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers

A good listen

I enjoyed this story. The plot and characters were interesting, and it shows a very interesting new take on the idea of multiple universes.

In some places the writing was a little bit awkward, not as polished as I've come to expect from Neil Gaiman. I don't know anything about the writing style of Michael Reaves, but I don't think he deserves the blame.

I think what's likely is that it's a result of this story not being intended to be distributed as a book. It was originally a pitch for a television show, I'm guessing they had to make a lot of hurried modifications when there was a demand for it in book form.

There's not much character development. I think that's also a result of the story being written for television where the development happens over multiple episodes.

One thing I wonder: If every important decision splits off a new universe, what happens when you make an important decision when you're outside of them?

Interworld is a nice, light read. I recommend it.

A pleasant kid's book

We are being set up here for a sequel, I can feel it in my multidimensional bones. Well written, well read, there is a clean line between good and evil that makes this pleasant fiction, but not up to Gaiman's usual level of ingenuity. It would make a great animated movie. Would I listen to the sequel? Probably not. But keeping the attention of a 52 year old woman with this type of story is worth some kind of kudos.
Kudos to youdos Mr. Gaiman, Mr. Reaves

Not insane or gross!

You know how you never know what you are going to get when you pick up a Neil Gaiman book? Well, it always worries me. Gems or garbage every time, no in between. This book is very unlike his usual style, no obscure references that made no sense whatsoever (to most of us, anyway) and nothing to really gross you out - this time. Very entertaining, worth getting!

Multi-Dimensional Travel Adventure

Sliders meets Harry Potter. It's cool. It's light fare, but I enjoyed it even as an adult Sci-Fi Reader. The Narration is nicely done and well paced.

great entertainment

This book was an easy listen, catching me quite early and letting me listen trough in almost one single setting. The plot is quite straightforward but builds good momentum, and the end is quite fast paced. It is not the usual Gaiman writing, this is not so dark and more young-reader oriented, but very enjoyable anyhow.

Recommended.

InterWorld: a fun romp through inter-space.

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 multidimensional universes where the sliver that contains versions with alternate Earth’s is the focus, the Alternative. 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.

I switched between the Kindle version of this and the Audible version read by Christopher Evan Welch (I do wish the Audible team would get Whispersync for Voice working on their Windows Phone 8 app). 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.

The spirit of Heinlein

Gaiman and Reeves channel early Heinlein and AE Van Vogt in this updated pulp sci-fi adolescent fantasy. There is everything from the kid learning about special powers, steam punk scenes, a reluctant team turned loyal followers...you name it. Great for my 10 year old and it left us eagerly wanting the next book.

Absolutely Superb

Fantastic book with and immersive world. Had me hooked from the first chapter and continued to reel me with each chapter afterward. Great read finished in a day because I couldn't stop.

Catching

Not bad in the end. It took several chapters to really get my attention, but bith the story and the characters grew as the book progressed and by the end I was hooked. A good book for teen fantasy fans.

Enjoyable adventure in space-time & elsewhere

Joey Harker has no sense of direction. He has even managed to get lost in his own house.

But one day, on a social studies assignment, he outdoes himself. He wanders out of his own world into a neighboring dimension where he doesn't exist.

Beings from assorted other neighboring worlds and dimensions are now after him for his worldwalking ability. There are the people from Hex, who want to boil him down to his essence, and use him to power their ships. There's also another empire among these alternate worlds, ruled by science. Earth itself is somewhere in the middle, leaning science, not yet irrevocably committed--or conquered by either side. There is also InterWorld, an organization, backed by whom we don't know, committed to keeping balance between the opposing forces.

Joey's main adventures in this first book in the series are with Hex and InterWorld. He's believed to be the most gifted new Walker in many years, and Hex wants to, as noted above, cook him down to his essence and use that to help power their fleet of conquest.

This is obviously not a good career choice, and Joey is recruited by Jay, an InterWorld agent who is in fact an older version of Joey himself, to be an InterWorld agent.

He's got a lot to learn in a short time, and the first training mission he and his team are sent on goes very, very wrong.

This is not high literature. It does not reach the heights one might expect of a Neil Gaiman book. It's a young adult adventure in space-time and related dimensions. It's fun. It won't be for everyone, especially if you're expecting some of the really fine work Gaiman often produces, but I enjoyed it.

Recommended with the caveat noted above.

I bought this audiobook.

Not as much fun as you'd hope

I once had Neil Gaiman sign a copy of Temps for me he signed it 'Neil Not the Author of this book Gaiman' as he'd had little invovement in it but they'd used his name rather than his work. I suspect if I gave him a copy of this to sign he'd sign it the same way.

There are ideas and themes in this that seem like Neils (in fact many of them already appeared in Wheel of the Worlds which also used his name but he didn't actually write) but overall this doesn't feel or act like a Neil Gaiman Book.

On a good day these collaberation with Neils ideas and other authors give us gems like Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett) here though we have a weird lackluster tale about a perpetually 'lost boy' who can find his way between realities more easily than across his street.

It very much feels like the start of a series (possibly meant as a tv or radio script that went nowhere) this doesn't even match Neils childrens stories (the Wolves in the Walls or The day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish both available as talking books please request Audible to stock them).

This has it's moments and it's I don't want to say it's without merit but as an adventure tale there's better out there and for someone who enjoys Neil Gaiman I'd recommend Fragile Things instead

All the Josephs, give me a break

I do not know whether it is the reader or the content, but I did not enjoy this book too much. I am an enormous fan of Neil Gaiman, so I am not sure what his contribution to this story was. I feel it just does not compare to Coraline which did not feel like I needed to be juvenile to appreciate it.

Great childrens story, Awful editing

What did you like best about this story?

The story is quite very easy to settle into - its an excellent intro to sci-fi for kids.

Any additional comments?

There are randomly placed sound effects that sound like they are downloaded from a awful stock sound effects site as a free sample.
The same sound effect is repeated repeated in several places - adding nothing to the story, makes NO SENSE in relation to what is happening AND it replaces the narration audio so you miss one or two words to hear a very annoying "beep beep wiz" sound effect.

Instantly Forgettable!

Any additional comments?

I didn't think that this book was to the author's usual standard. I find Niel Gaiman's books gripping, to the point where I resent having to put them down to do something else and then my mind is straying back to the book. This, however, didn't grip me at all. I found that I wasn't bothered about what happened and only finished it out of principle. Very disappointing! I am writing this review after a month or so of reading it and can only vaguely remember what it was about!