Really weak effort by Lyga, following his excellent trilogy. Lyga stiches together a news item about the discovery of an old ship at Ground Zero with a real medical condition, TTTS (twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome) to come up with a YA novel about three friends in Brooklyn, who manage to wander into an alternate universe where things are very different, especially for women. Occasionally interesting, but mostly preposterous and too much unexplained. Don't bother. ( )

Lots of multiverse science. Middle grade characters, and too many pages for my slower readers. While I was intrigued with this one, I don't think it will work for my high school.

This is that rare beast, the Middle Grade novel that has middle school-aged protagonists and is aimed at a middle-school audience. Lyga neither keeps his characters immature in order to appeal to a 9-to 11-year-old readership nor has them acting like high schoolers in order to satisfy some aspirational middle school fantasy. Zak, Moira, and Khalid are very firmly and clearly twelve or thirteen and their actions and decisions reflect that. Yes, they manage to get themselves out of tricky situations in really clever ways, but those escapes are never implausible given what we know of the characters of these characters. They also make a lot of mistakes and poor decisions because they let their emotions and impulses rule. This is especially true of Zak who almost makes a catastrophic mistake in pursuit of something he wants to be true.

Lyga also creates an alternate world which is both appealing and terrifying—it is technologically advanced (and has magic!), but is The Handmaid's Tale-level oppressive to women,. Lyga is clearly a feminist with a feminist agenda and gods bless him for it. While he never beats the reader over the head with the idea of equality, it is very clear and examined in ways that will, it is to be hoped, make kids take stock of their own attitudes and prejudices and maybe make some adjustments.

Several characters mention how they would be willing to give up the technology of this alternate world to live in a world where women weren't treated as property, but there was another question that was never addressed, and it's one that may be even more important and more difficult to answer. In the alternate Manhattan, the United States had abolished slavery more than a century before it happened here and there is true racial equality and harmony. So, if Dr. Bookman, for example, had to make a choice between his world with its racial harmony and advanced technology (and magic!) or our world with its striving for equality for all, but its large pockets of prejudice and intolerance, which would he choose?

Overall, this is a big, smart middle grade adventure novel that manages to thoroughly entertain its readers while also challenging them to think about bigger issues. ( )

This was a fun, easy read. Join an adventure in an alternate universe, where things are eerily similar while diametrically different. This is an enjoyable foray into a strange new world. Pick up a copy and immerse yourself into the unusual experiences of a few teenagers. ( )

When Zak was small, he had an imaginary friend called Tommy. But then, at age 12, he starts to hear Tommy again and to have visions. Suddenly, he and his two best friends find themselves in an alternate universe where some things are better, and others are much worse. Seeking to resolve the mystery, Zak makes a decision that may bring destruction to their world and strand his friends in the alternate. ( )