An enthralling read from the first page to the last; full of hopes, dreams, nightmares and, above all, love. This book has its antecedents in so many others starting with “Roadmarks” by Roger Zelazny. And there’s more than a whiff of Stephen King. Although, contrary to one of the blurbs on the back, I don’t feel or hear Gaiman or his “American Gods.”
The story opens with Zelda. Traveling the backroads of America, going to NYC on an annual pilgrimage…no, that’s not quite it…more like a trip of penance. Long ago, Zelda and her four college friends discovered something. They discovered how to trip to alternate realities and each of them had a knack or skill that helped the group navigate post-apocalyptic landscapes, cannibals, dinosaurs and a Princess. But everywhere they went was worse than before; nowhere did they find a reality better than their own. And their own was getting worse all the time; hatred was everywhere, little kindness or tolerance still existed. Rot was everywhere.
In the proud, self-righteous manner of young people, they were sure they would be the world’s saviors. Someone must’ve said so. They alone had the knowledge and the mad skills. They honestly had no idea what they were doing but that didn’t stop them. Someone had to step up; someone had to save the universe. So while it shouldn’t have been a surprise; losing one of their own was too much of a shock. The group disintegrated. Sarah went on to become a doctor and have a family. Her knack seemed to work on probabilities; events are avoided by something improbable. Ish made ungodly mounds of money with some sort of predictive analytics program that the government and big corporations used. He used his knack for being able to see what was coming. Ramon also did well for himself going into consulting and finance; and never lost his knack for being in the right place at the right time. Zelda…well, she spent the ten years after their break-up just traveling the alts, trying to fix the cracks where the rot broke through; her knack of choosing chance or options made it easy to navigate the alts. And Sal she never left their memories although it was only Zelda who believed she could be found again and rescued. Cannot recall how her knack was explained.
Zelda’s made a trip of penance every year to NYC to tell Sal’s mother what happened to Sal; and Ma Tempest never ever answered the door. But on this last trip, Sal’s little cousin all-grown-up June answered the door. She’s spent the last ten years thinking of her cousin and missing her. June wants answers; she wants to help. Zelda tries her hardest to shake the girl; she knew she had no right to expose the seventeen-year-old to the risks of the alts. But whether it was June’s own native persistence and strength or a strange knack, she ended up with her. It was then that Zelda knew she needed to bring everyone back together; one last effort to find Sal and save the universe.
Sarah was the first to answer Zelda’s summons and she was the first to meet the cowboy in the white hat. When he ate the state trooper. Ramon and Ish saw him next and nearly died in that bar. But it was Zelda who believed she was the only one strong enough to keep him away from the group; and she almost killed herself trying to prove it. In some ways, none of them were any wiser; the only plan they could come up with was returning to the last place they saw the Princess. The Princess had maps, and charts, and graphs explaining the alts and the rot. None of which stopped Sal from disappearing or what came after. But they had to start somewhere. It would be unfortunate if they ended there, as well.
This was riveting stuff. The author focused on the people; who they were both to themselves and others. Who and what they were is what drove both them and the story. And, as I said at the beginning, it was really about love. Everything they did was for love of each other.
The worldbuilding was just about constructing the group and their connections to one another. The rest of the descriptions were just…local color. Some brief descriptions left me wanting another story; I truly wanted to know what happened in the Green Glass City or who the Princess really was her hopes and dreams. Their hopes and dreams were beautifully woven into a story that just made sense. Things happened because of who each of them was. The cowboy was a bit vague; he definitely seemed to be inspired by the bad guy in Stephen King’s “The Stand”. It was suggested that he was the universe trying to stop them; although, there was also a suggestion that they caused the rot just by their travels. I get the ending; at least, I think I do. But, in the style of Gladstone’s storytelling, much is left to interpretation. They might have saved the world; or maybe the world just looked better after all they’d survived. ~~ Catherine Book
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