World-Walker

by Melisa Michaels

Melisa Michaels' newest novel, World-Walker , is a tale of alternate realities, love, and the possible destruction of the universe. The creation of Central, with its corps of trained world-walkers, signaled the beginning of the end of the Ages of Chaos, but it took generations to restore peace, order, and the integrity of the worlds. It is common wisdom that unregulated travel between the countless parallel worlds that make up our universe weakens their boundaries and in the long term threatens them all. But common wisdom is not always accurate. Suli Grail is a world-walker whose sworn duty is to uphold the integrity of worlds. Jesse Farrell, known to Central as the Other, was Suli's lover . . . until he stole her gatestone so he could walk where he pleased, searching for the one perfect world that would bring him peace. In his travels, the Other enters the world of another Jesse Farrell, thus knocking him out of it. Now Suli must capture or kill her lover. Jesse Farrell must find his way back to his world without losing the woman he has come to love in his new world, and the Other must face his past to learn the secret of the gates between worlds . . . or die trying. Melisa Michaels lives in North Dakota.

Genres: Science Fiction

360 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2004

About the author

Her SF books are published under the name Melisa C. Michaels.

Reviews

[M.A. Kropp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This urban fantasy was originally released in 2004. World-Walkers are able to use Gatestones to travel between alternate reality worlds. Central, the guiding organization behind the Walkers, tasks them with keeping the worlds separate and to prevent unauthorized walking which Central feels will result in chaos and destruction. A group of others, known as New Worlders, think the opposite is true: that the worlds must be kept connected to keep all of them viable. Suli Grail is World-Walker. She is assigned to track, stop, or kill the Other, a natural Walker who doesn't require a stone to walk between Worlds. The Other is jumping worlds that contain his dopplegangers, known as Jesse Farrell. All are musicians and all share an abusive childhood. Some have dealt with it better than others, and the Other is trying to find and reconcile his past by becoming one of the Jesse's. Complicating Suli's pursuit of the Other is their past relationship- one she's not sure she wants to destroy.

This is a bit of a complicated story. There are time and space jumps between worlds, at least three Jesse Farrells to deal with, and a complex, twisting plot that crosses and recrosses the lives of the characters. Those characters are interesting and complicated and very human. The story is mostly told from the viewpoint of Suli Grail, the World-Walker, and the Jesse Farrell that is the object of the Other's pursuit. Jesse is confused and off-balance at first, knowing but not quite understanding what is happening. His viewpoint is done quite well and left me feeling lost and confused for a good portion of the story. But it was lost and confused in a good way because it made Jesse's search for answers compelling and pulls you into the story, wanting to know what's going to happen. Suli's part is the grounding. It's where we learn the mechanics of world-walking and much of the background of the main story.

Stories that involve time and reality travels can be hard to keep straight, but the time jumps that criss-cross past and present here are handled well and don't get so complicated they become all wibbly-wobbly. Secondary characters are nicely written and a few stand out as memorable, notably Dr. Zelig and Ariel.

This is a nice alternate reality urban fantasy that fans of time travel, modern day fantasy settings, and alternate reality tales would enjoy.