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Q-16 and the Eye to All Worlds
Headstrong, tomboyish Annetta Severio and her cynical, sharp-tongued friend Jason Kinsman are two teenagers from Toronto, making the most of their mundane existence.
Their world is forever changed when they discover that their fathers were once the protectors of a castle called The Eye to All Worlds located where the fabric of the universe is weakest, creating gateways to other worlds, hidden within the bowels of an underwater base known only as Q-16.
Learning of the threat of a warlord bent on conquering the multiverse, Annetta, Jason and their companions, Puc Thanestorm a cold, sarcastic Water Elf mage, Brakkus, a monstrous but kind hearted creature called a Hurtz, Puc’s apprentice Darius Silver, and a shape-changing young warrior named Lincerious Heallaws race to reassemble Annetta’s grandfather’s army, known as The Four Forces before it is too late.
Their world is forever changed when they discover that their fathers were once the protectors of a castle called The Eye to All Worlds located where the fabric of the universe is weakest, creating gateways to other worlds, hidden within the bowels of an underwater base known only as Q-16.
Learning of the threat of a warlord bent on conquering the multiverse, Annetta, Jason and their companions, Puc Thanestorm a cold, sarcastic Water Elf mage, Brakkus, a monstrous but kind hearted creature called a Hurtz, Puc’s apprentice Darius Silver, and a shape-changing young warrior named Lincerious Heallaws race to reassemble Annetta’s grandfather’s army, known as The Four Forces before it is too late.
491 pages, Hardcover
First published February 11, 2015
4 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
A.A. Jankiewicz
11 books28 followersA.A. Jankiewicz (known to most as Agnes) hails from the city of Pickering, Ontario. Her debut novel ‘Q-16 and the Eye to All Worlds’ was published as part of her thesis project at Durham College as part of the Contemporary Media Production Program. Prior to that, she graduated from York University with a BFA in Film Theory, Historiography and Criticism. When she’s not busy plotting the next great adventure, writing, doodling, tinkering in the Adobe suite programs or mellowing out with her friends, she enjoys walks with her four-legged companion Meesha. She is currently working on the next instalment in the Q-16 series.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 21, 2016
This is a fantasy/sci-fi hybrid that is a portal story, blending and interweaving two different worlds/times/realities. It reminded me of the Starz TV series Outlander, which I’m rather partial to. But other stories of this kind some to mind, such as Michael Crichton’s Timeline. In the case of Q-16, we’re alternating between our modern day world, set in Ontario, Canada, and a world of epic fantasy, of castles and sword and sorcery battles, and prophecies. Our heroes are human teens (this is also YA lit) and a rag tag team of other humanoid species. The idea of moderns hooking up with ancients to battle a mad tyrant hell-bent on taking over the multiverse is both unique and fun, and a powerful premise to construct a series upon.
The foreshadowing in the early part of the story is both humorous and ironic. Our heroes in the modern day world have a penchant for fantasy films with castles and swords and horses and dragons; they just bemoan the fact that the modern day world works nothing like that. Walking home after the movie they find out how wrong they are when the sky bursts open, and they are accosted by a talking Phoenix and a Thunderbird. The emissaries from another realm invite the teens on a mission to save the world. “But we’re just teens!” “Yes, but you have the ability to believe.” The teens, after showing no short amount of skepticism, agree to the challenge. But then are left with little more than the cryptic engraving left by the birds: “Q-16.” Shortly after that, following up on the clue, our heroes are being introduced to the teleporter that connects their worlds, and the legacy they’ve inherited by way of their birthright to guard over that portal, and our heroes are off. The book wastes no time dallying; the pace is relentless from the onset. The fun and energy and effective teen dialogue and psychology are reminiscent of the recent spate of Narnia films.
Long before our heroes are even aware of it, the reader finds out what they’re up against, a most formidable psychic assassin. We see him demonstrating his abilities, and then being recruited by his king to go after the three teens whose job it is to guard the eye to all worlds. This guy was convincingly scary in a Darth Vader sort of way, and I definitely wouldn’t want him coming after me. As with all compelling bad guys, he has dimension and character. The author ably sidesteps any one-note depiction of an evil nemesis which is the chief mistake that serves as a death knell for many books where action and adventure feature heavily. To make matters even more forbidding for our heroes, the psychic assassin is on his way long before the kids’ training and indoctrination is complete; in fact, it’s barely started. So they are ill-prepared for the epic dangers they’re facing.
But once the kids start their training in learning how to use their psychic powers, the book of course, becomes that much more fun. They must discipline themselves to avoid the temptation to use their powers back in the current day, where they can risk revealing themselves. And those temptations are not easily overcome, considering the trials and taunts the typical teen faces in high school.
I found the author’s command of medieval times authoritative and compelling; no small feat considering how much they stood on ceremony in those days. The romantic story thread is dialed up to the max, which should appease the teenage crowd.
This is a big book that demands a fair chunk of your time. All the more true since it’s not one that’s easily speed-read. But I imagine it would qualify as good holiday reading, or for those vacations when you have a larger chunk of time to devote.
My one nitpick is actually with the opening. The hook chapter, which included an epic battle scene, kept that battle scene off-camera for the most part, and instead cuts straight to the festivities in its aftermath by the celebrating victors, and jumps straight into a romantic story thread during the party. I think both the battle’s aftermath and the pining over the beloved would have been much better treated as a relief from an exciting battle which we actually got to experience, especially when you consider that this is supposed to be a hook chapter. The prologue is also relatively brief and I would like to have spent a little more time getting a feel for this world before cutting away to present day. But despite a soft open, the author ultimately treats the reader to the full monty over the ensuing nearly 500 pages. So there’s no reason to ultimately feel cheated.
The foreshadowing in the early part of the story is both humorous and ironic. Our heroes in the modern day world have a penchant for fantasy films with castles and swords and horses and dragons; they just bemoan the fact that the modern day world works nothing like that. Walking home after the movie they find out how wrong they are when the sky bursts open, and they are accosted by a talking Phoenix and a Thunderbird. The emissaries from another realm invite the teens on a mission to save the world. “But we’re just teens!” “Yes, but you have the ability to believe.” The teens, after showing no short amount of skepticism, agree to the challenge. But then are left with little more than the cryptic engraving left by the birds: “Q-16.” Shortly after that, following up on the clue, our heroes are being introduced to the teleporter that connects their worlds, and the legacy they’ve inherited by way of their birthright to guard over that portal, and our heroes are off. The book wastes no time dallying; the pace is relentless from the onset. The fun and energy and effective teen dialogue and psychology are reminiscent of the recent spate of Narnia films.
Long before our heroes are even aware of it, the reader finds out what they’re up against, a most formidable psychic assassin. We see him demonstrating his abilities, and then being recruited by his king to go after the three teens whose job it is to guard the eye to all worlds. This guy was convincingly scary in a Darth Vader sort of way, and I definitely wouldn’t want him coming after me. As with all compelling bad guys, he has dimension and character. The author ably sidesteps any one-note depiction of an evil nemesis which is the chief mistake that serves as a death knell for many books where action and adventure feature heavily. To make matters even more forbidding for our heroes, the psychic assassin is on his way long before the kids’ training and indoctrination is complete; in fact, it’s barely started. So they are ill-prepared for the epic dangers they’re facing.
But once the kids start their training in learning how to use their psychic powers, the book of course, becomes that much more fun. They must discipline themselves to avoid the temptation to use their powers back in the current day, where they can risk revealing themselves. And those temptations are not easily overcome, considering the trials and taunts the typical teen faces in high school.
I found the author’s command of medieval times authoritative and compelling; no small feat considering how much they stood on ceremony in those days. The romantic story thread is dialed up to the max, which should appease the teenage crowd.
This is a big book that demands a fair chunk of your time. All the more true since it’s not one that’s easily speed-read. But I imagine it would qualify as good holiday reading, or for those vacations when you have a larger chunk of time to devote.
My one nitpick is actually with the opening. The hook chapter, which included an epic battle scene, kept that battle scene off-camera for the most part, and instead cuts straight to the festivities in its aftermath by the celebrating victors, and jumps straight into a romantic story thread during the party. I think both the battle’s aftermath and the pining over the beloved would have been much better treated as a relief from an exciting battle which we actually got to experience, especially when you consider that this is supposed to be a hook chapter. The prologue is also relatively brief and I would like to have spent a little more time getting a feel for this world before cutting away to present day. But despite a soft open, the author ultimately treats the reader to the full monty over the ensuing nearly 500 pages. So there’s no reason to ultimately feel cheated.
December 15, 2018
As I was reading this I was hit with a glut of all my past reading influences, thinking, most of the time, "Hey, this reminds me of..."
But this list in my head of old titles from Guy Gavriel Kay to Roger Zelazny to C.S. Lewis, all great classic Fantasy authors, doesn't quite EXPLAIN what this book is.
I could bring up Kay's fish-out-of-water epic fantasy style but make sure it is firmly on YA territory. Or I could bring up C.S. Lewis for his Narnia in almost the same way, with Q-16 being a bit darker and faster-paced.
But no, I'm going to focus on Zelazny. His amber books have a LOT in common with Q-16 in the same way that King's Dark Tower does, but this is not as crazy. :)
This novel has multiple worlds and these kids who travel between them must deal with spaceships in some, and a full gamut of telekinetic powers and magicians in others. Add a huge, huge training regimen to get good at all kinds of magic, throw in many discoveries and reveals galore, and then still force these kids to go back to school. In Canada.
Jeeze. No rest for the wicked.
Suffice to say, training leads to building an army and fighting off a really big bad that wants to rule over all realities, so there's no lack of plot here. :) However, be forewarned: it is a long, long book for a YA title, but at no point was it hard. We spend a lot of time in our reality, a high-tech space-opera reality, and more in a fantasy realm. I'm rather impressed with all the hats it takes on, AND it's a fully-fleshed epic to boot. :)
But this list in my head of old titles from Guy Gavriel Kay to Roger Zelazny to C.S. Lewis, all great classic Fantasy authors, doesn't quite EXPLAIN what this book is.
I could bring up Kay's fish-out-of-water epic fantasy style but make sure it is firmly on YA territory. Or I could bring up C.S. Lewis for his Narnia in almost the same way, with Q-16 being a bit darker and faster-paced.
But no, I'm going to focus on Zelazny. His amber books have a LOT in common with Q-16 in the same way that King's Dark Tower does, but this is not as crazy. :)
This novel has multiple worlds and these kids who travel between them must deal with spaceships in some, and a full gamut of telekinetic powers and magicians in others. Add a huge, huge training regimen to get good at all kinds of magic, throw in many discoveries and reveals galore, and then still force these kids to go back to school. In Canada.
Jeeze. No rest for the wicked.
Suffice to say, training leads to building an army and fighting off a really big bad that wants to rule over all realities, so there's no lack of plot here. :) However, be forewarned: it is a long, long book for a YA title, but at no point was it hard. We spend a lot of time in our reality, a high-tech space-opera reality, and more in a fantasy realm. I'm rather impressed with all the hats it takes on, AND it's a fully-fleshed epic to boot. :)
May 29, 2017
Pretty remarkable this is the author's first book, actually. Starts off a bit slow, but Jankiewicz pulls off a style that reminds me of C.S. Lewis crossed with one of the old final fantasy video games. A good balance between a plot that makes sense and a few surprises to keep the reader off balance. Characters are unique enough that I grew to like them individually. Pretty interested to read her next one, I already have it in my 'to read' stack.
March 18, 2015
Here’s why you should care about this book: Firstly, this is the type of story where the cast knows about fantasy tropes, and talk about how real life compares to them. Secondly, its star, Annetta Severio is a far better female protagonist than Bella, Katniss and Tris, in that she has no time for her character arc to be derailed by romance when there’s a multiverse to save. There’s bigger fish to fry. Thirdly, there’s no “chosen ones,” and nothing comes easy to our heroes. This is a Sue-unfriendly zone. Lastly, this story has a heavy theme of strong platonic friendship between the sexes, something I rarely ever see any fiction talk about. Oh, and for what it’s worth, you’re supporting Canadian fiction by reading it.
April 25, 2016
I took a bit of a punt with this one as I am not a fantasy fan and discovered a rather enjoyable tale despite my reservations. From a plot perspective this is really well planned and produced with excellent narrative throughout. The dialogue let me down however but I suspect this comes with my general problem with fantasy rather than this particular story, I might need to read more fantasy to become comfortable with it. This criticism might be harsh from a non-fantasy fan, but I think books work best with the broadest appeal and the stilted nature of some of the dialogue slowed my interest at times. That aside, the story was engaging and evolved at a really nice pace to counteract my reservations. It is inventive, complex and enjoyable. Fantasy fans will I suspect love this and I can happily recommend this to lovers of this genre in particular with a smiling three stars.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews