The Seventh Dimension series has an interesting premise, but in my opinion, it failed to live up to its potential. I read book 1, The Door, and found myself disappointed by the quality of writing and research, and book 2 is much the same.
Our protagonist Daniel finds himself suddenly thrust back in time 1000 years, and he's... surprisingly chill about it. He doesn't seem overly worried about getting back home or why he's here or how it's possible. He just accepts it and moves on. This was a very strange characterization, I thought, and this bland acceptance of anything that happens to him continues throughout the story. Emotionally, he comes across as flat, and I couldn't bring myself to care much about him.
The world was also littered with anachronisms. Having Daniel use modern language is a great touch and totally acceptable. But when 1st-century characters start using modern turns of phrase, or when buildings in ancient cities suddenly come with house numbers, it becomes distracting and unrealistic. While some topics seem to be very well researched and accurate, other things come across as sloppy and ruin the whole experience. Daniel himself had some of this problem as well, when sometimes he's very knowledgeable about Jewish history and religion and other times he knows nothing.
Overall, with some work this could be an interesting tale from a fantasy and a religious perspective. As it stands now, however, the story and writing are just too inconsistent to be very enjoyable.
[I received this book for free through First Reads and was not required to write a positive or any other type of review. All opinions stated herein are solely my own.]