Review by Booklist Review
Even though he's grown up in New York City, 12-year-old Zak has lived a fairly sheltered life. He has a heart condition that has caused his parents, now in the middle of a contentious divorce, to keep tight tabs on him and they would only be tighter if Zak's parents knew he was hearing voices. But when Zak has a premonition of the subway filling with water and the mysterious voice he thinks of as his guardian angel warns him to run, Zak listens, only to find himself trapped in an alternate-universe New York with his two best friends, Moira and Khalid. Facing dangers from both this new world, which isn't kind to women, and the increasingly untrustworthy voices in Zak's head, the three struggle to find a way home that won't have cataclysmic consequences. Lyga (After the Red Rain, 2015) returns to middle grade with a darkly compelling, if occasionally complicated, look at family, morality, and the long-term effects even seemingly small choices can have. A thoughtful and thought-provoking piece of science fiction.--Reagan, Maggie Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When 12-year-old Zak Killian starts dreaming of boats and having visions of flooded Manhattan subways that no one else can see, he begins to think that the voice he keeps hearing in his head might not be his imagination. In a thrilling standalone adventure from Lyga (I Hunt Killers), Zak learns that his longstanding heart condition is the result of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome-he siphoned blood from an identical twin in the womb. Zak's twin brother, Tommy, died when the boys were two, and their parents kept Tommy's existence a secret. Now Zak is hearing Tommy, who tells Zak that he can save him if he and his best friends Khalid and Moira venture into a parallel universe. Lyga used the real-life mystery of a ship under Ground Zero as a spark for the story, and an endnote gives more information and context to the discovery. Readers will love the fast-paced action and terrifying details of the alternate timeline Zak and friends find themselves in, and the satisfying conclusion will leave them considering questions of identity and family. Ages 10-14. Agent: Kathleen Anderson, Anderson Literary Management. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Horn Book Review
A ghostly voice leads three friends to an underground portal to a parallel world. Zak, believing the voice is his long-dead twin, follows it unquestioningly toward destruction. Khalid learns about "wild science," a.k.a. magic. Meanwhile, Moira is horribly mistreated by the world's hyper-misogynistic populace. This dystopia-meets-ghost-story has a few too many plot elements and not enough nuance to be entirely satisfying. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
