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The Sister Paradox
Liam Doesn't Have A Sister...And She's Weird!
Liam is his parents' only child, and that's just fine with him.
Until the day the sister-he-never-had shows up at school.
Just to make it worse, the sword-wielding Kari tells him they have an important quest to complete.
And that's how Liam finds himself dragged into another world, facing basilisks and unicorns, cursed objects, elves, and even a dragon, all magical and dangerous, but none more so than the sister he didn't have until that morning. A sister who turns out to be quite good with her sword, and ready to use it when faced with things like a dragon as long as her brother is at her side.
Liam begins to realize two things: it's going to be a very long day, and having a sister can be weird.
But most unsettling of all, he's not sure he minds…
Liam is his parents' only child, and that's just fine with him.
Until the day the sister-he-never-had shows up at school.
Just to make it worse, the sword-wielding Kari tells him they have an important quest to complete.
And that's how Liam finds himself dragged into another world, facing basilisks and unicorns, cursed objects, elves, and even a dragon, all magical and dangerous, but none more so than the sister he didn't have until that morning. A sister who turns out to be quite good with her sword, and ready to use it when faced with things like a dragon as long as her brother is at her side.
Liam begins to realize two things: it's going to be a very long day, and having a sister can be weird.
But most unsettling of all, he's not sure he minds…
- GenresFantasyYoung Adult
170 pages, Paperback
First published December 18, 2016
23 people are currently reading
309 people want to read
About the author
Jack Campbell
115 books3,030 followersJack Campbell is a pseudonym for American science fiction author John G. Hemry.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
John G. Hemry is an American author of military science fiction novels. Drawing on his experience as a retired United States Navy officer, he has written the Stark's War and Paul Sinclair series. Under the name Jack Campbell, he has written four volumes of the Lost Fleet series, and on his website names two more forthcoming volumes. He has also written over a dozen short stories, many published in Analog magazine, and a number of non-fiction works.
John G Hemry is a retired United States Navy officer. His father, Jack M. Hemry, also served in the navy and as John points out was a mustang. John grew up living in several places including Pensacola, San Diego, and Midway Island.
John graduated from Lyons High School in Lyons in 1974 then attended the US Naval Academy (Class of '78) where he was labeled 'the un-midshipman' by his roommates.
He lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids. His two eldest children are diagnosed as autistic and suffer from Neuro immune dysfunction syndrome (NIDS), an auto-immune ailment which causes their illness, but are progressing under treatment.
John is a member of the SFWA Musketeers whose motto reads: 'The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword, but the Wise Person Carries Both'.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
John G. Hemry is an American author of military science fiction novels. Drawing on his experience as a retired United States Navy officer, he has written the Stark's War and Paul Sinclair series. Under the name Jack Campbell, he has written four volumes of the Lost Fleet series, and on his website names two more forthcoming volumes. He has also written over a dozen short stories, many published in Analog magazine, and a number of non-fiction works.
John G Hemry is a retired United States Navy officer. His father, Jack M. Hemry, also served in the navy and as John points out was a mustang. John grew up living in several places including Pensacola, San Diego, and Midway Island.
John graduated from Lyons High School in Lyons in 1974 then attended the US Naval Academy (Class of '78) where he was labeled 'the un-midshipman' by his roommates.
He lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids. His two eldest children are diagnosed as autistic and suffer from Neuro immune dysfunction syndrome (NIDS), an auto-immune ailment which causes their illness, but are progressing under treatment.
John is a member of the SFWA Musketeers whose motto reads: 'The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword, but the Wise Person Carries Both'.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 8, 2017
This book fails to deliver on several fronts: there is no mystery to this alternative universe the characters enter - it was okay, but it wasn't as interesting and unusual as I expected it to be. There's lack of backstory, and there is no decent reaction from Liam as he discovers so much new things about himself and his past.
All of this influenced a mediocre impression. I feel like it could've been better.
All of this influenced a mediocre impression. I feel like it could've been better.
December 9, 2016
https://koeur.wordpress.com/2016/12/0...
Publisher: eSpec
Publishing Date: February 2017
ISBN: 9781942990406
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 2.0/5
Publishers Description: Liam is his parents’ only child, and that’s just fine with him. Until the day the sister-he-never-had shows up at school. Just to make it worse, the sword-wielding Kari tells him they have an important quest to complete. And that’s how Liam finds himself dragged into another world, facing basilisks and unicorns, cursed objects, elves, and even a dragon, all magical and dangerous, but none more so than the sister he didn’t have until that morning. A sister who turns out to be quite good with her sword, and ready to use it when faced with things like a dragon as long as her brother is at her side.
Review: I am not sure that teens would find this entertaining (especially with that cover art), as the characters embark on a quest to recover some scattered items from Liam’s universe. Throughout the quest there was never a sense that Liam was in any real danger as the storyline is built upon his ultimate success. What we get is a string of near misses and deuce ex events that render the storyline bland while hoping it gets interesting while on their way to winning the day. This lack of tension makes getting through the novel a bit of a slog. The backstory of Kari (Liam’s sister) is brief and lacks emotive content which fails to evoke any empathy. Liam’s patterned and glib responses are predictably redundant and detracts from the story line. What we get is a ho-hum journey through a magical land with a smart-ass and some mildly interesting stops.
Publisher: eSpec
Publishing Date: February 2017
ISBN: 9781942990406
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 2.0/5
Publishers Description: Liam is his parents’ only child, and that’s just fine with him. Until the day the sister-he-never-had shows up at school. Just to make it worse, the sword-wielding Kari tells him they have an important quest to complete. And that’s how Liam finds himself dragged into another world, facing basilisks and unicorns, cursed objects, elves, and even a dragon, all magical and dangerous, but none more so than the sister he didn’t have until that morning. A sister who turns out to be quite good with her sword, and ready to use it when faced with things like a dragon as long as her brother is at her side.
Review: I am not sure that teens would find this entertaining (especially with that cover art), as the characters embark on a quest to recover some scattered items from Liam’s universe. Throughout the quest there was never a sense that Liam was in any real danger as the storyline is built upon his ultimate success. What we get is a string of near misses and deuce ex events that render the storyline bland while hoping it gets interesting while on their way to winning the day. This lack of tension makes getting through the novel a bit of a slog. The backstory of Kari (Liam’s sister) is brief and lacks emotive content which fails to evoke any empathy. Liam’s patterned and glib responses are predictably redundant and detracts from the story line. What we get is a ho-hum journey through a magical land with a smart-ass and some mildly interesting stops.
April 28, 2018
This is a fun fantasy about an only child who thinks that the world revolves around him. Liam is naturally surprised--and annoyed--when his sister turns up at his school. She, on the other hand, is delighted to find her brother, though she is annoyed that the school principal confiscated her sword. She goes home with him--after retrieving her sword--and is happy to meet her mother, who is, understandably, a little confused. (It's complicated; Kari was raised by unicorns.) Kari persuades Liam to go with her on an important quest to save their worlds, but he is focused on ditching his sister and going back to his self-focused life, which includes taking over the second bedroom at home to add to his own bedroom. Yes, he has a lot to learn, and it's a dangerous journey, involving evil, magic, dragons--and elves. (Talk about self-centered; these are the nasty elves you find in Terry Pratchett's books.)
I enjoyed the story and the characters, especially the White Lady of Eveness, the unicorn who raised Kari and doesn't think much of her brother. The siblings have much to learn about each other and their different worlds; that is entertaining, along with the adventure, the danger, and a satisfying ending.
I enjoyed the story and the characters, especially the White Lady of Eveness, the unicorn who raised Kari and doesn't think much of her brother. The siblings have much to learn about each other and their different worlds; that is entertaining, along with the adventure, the danger, and a satisfying ending.
August 8, 2019
This was a fun coming-of-age novel about an only child who has a sister appear out of nowhere to enlist his help in a quest to save the universe(s). It's rather tongue-in-cheek and meta at points, and I liked the easy humor as Liam and Kari figure out how interact with a sibling they really don't know. It definitely is a YA--or even MG--novel, with lessons learned and character growth, and its length made for a quick read.
May 15, 2017
Liam is a typical high school student and an only child. Then one day, he's summoned to the principal's office to take his fourteen-year-old sister home, who has been suspended for bringing a sword to school. Somehow she really is his his sister and everyone who meets her knows it must be true. She leads him to the world where she was raised, a world of unicorns, basilisks, dragons and giant talking beavers, where they must go on a quest to prevent both worlds from being destroyed.
This was a light and breezy fantasy story that kept me turning pages. Having grown up with no sisters, I thought it was fun to think about what it would be like to have a strange, little sister suddenly turn up in my life. At times, especially early on, I felt like Liam was a little too much the stereotypical teenage boy. However, his growth through the novel helped redeem him as a character.
This was a light and breezy fantasy story that kept me turning pages. Having grown up with no sisters, I thought it was fun to think about what it would be like to have a strange, little sister suddenly turn up in my life. At times, especially early on, I felt like Liam was a little too much the stereotypical teenage boy. However, his growth through the novel helped redeem him as a character.
February 28, 2017
*3.5 stars!
This review was originally posted on The Common Shelf!
You can view it here.
Liam is a sixteen year boy who is the only child of his parents' until his sister shows up in school. He didn't have a sister, yet he seemed to know her and so did the people around him, including his mother.
This book gave me Percy Jackson vibes right at the beginning. With all the quests, monsters and unicorns, I found the book very interesting and engaging. I liked the whole concept and the backdrop of the story as well as the story line which made me want to keep reading the whole time. The relationship between Liam and Kari seemed very natural and relatable. It is an easy read and can definitely help you if you are in a reading slump.
However, I felt a major flaw in the writing where I did not feel the intensity of the situation which was the mere essence of the quest the characters were a part of. The need to understand the gravity of the situation and the danger the characters were in seemed missing. I also felt that the time with the basilisk could've developed into an interesting part of the quest which was barely included in the story.
I would've loved to read Kari's PoV to understand what was going on in her head and what she thought of Liam's world. Liam's view of Elsewhere was very natural and easy to understand; however Kari's feelings towards the 'normal' world would've been interesting to read.
Middlegraders would enjoy reading this book. And honestly, so did I!
RATING: 3.5/5 STARS :)
*Thank you eSpec Books for sending me an ARC for an honest review.*
This review was originally posted on The Common Shelf!
You can view it here.
Liam is a sixteen year boy who is the only child of his parents' until his sister shows up in school. He didn't have a sister, yet he seemed to know her and so did the people around him, including his mother.
This book gave me Percy Jackson vibes right at the beginning. With all the quests, monsters and unicorns, I found the book very interesting and engaging. I liked the whole concept and the backdrop of the story as well as the story line which made me want to keep reading the whole time. The relationship between Liam and Kari seemed very natural and relatable. It is an easy read and can definitely help you if you are in a reading slump.
However, I felt a major flaw in the writing where I did not feel the intensity of the situation which was the mere essence of the quest the characters were a part of. The need to understand the gravity of the situation and the danger the characters were in seemed missing. I also felt that the time with the basilisk could've developed into an interesting part of the quest which was barely included in the story.
I would've loved to read Kari's PoV to understand what was going on in her head and what she thought of Liam's world. Liam's view of Elsewhere was very natural and easy to understand; however Kari's feelings towards the 'normal' world would've been interesting to read.
Middlegraders would enjoy reading this book. And honestly, so did I!
RATING: 3.5/5 STARS :)
*Thank you eSpec Books for sending me an ARC for an honest review.*
April 4, 2018
Well, that was amusing. Kinda predictable humor, given the premise, but very funny nonetheless. If it weren't for the humor, it would really drag, but most of the point of this book is the humor.
No, it's not very deep. Formulaic fantasy, so much so that it even makes fun of itself and its genre (the protagonist realizes what he's supposed to do from his knowledge of fantasy literature, with some martial arts movies thrown in).
What depth the book does have is about growing out of being a self-absorbed teenager. (I grew out of being a teenager chronologically a long time ago, but still struggle with the self-absorbed part.) The moral lessons, hackneyed though they are, don't come across as preachy, even though they are pounded in, because of the humor. At least that's the way it felt to me.
A very quick read, and pretty cheap as an e-book, so why not? At $0.99, it's probably less than the amortized cost of your tablet and the electricity you used and the food your brain consumed while reading it.
This is not at all like anything else Jack Campbell wrote, at least that I've read. His other stories (The Lost Fleet, Pillars of Reality) have occasional moments of character-based humor, but here character-based humor is the only thing there is.
No, it's not very deep. Formulaic fantasy, so much so that it even makes fun of itself and its genre (the protagonist realizes what he's supposed to do from his knowledge of fantasy literature, with some martial arts movies thrown in).
What depth the book does have is about growing out of being a self-absorbed teenager. (I grew out of being a teenager chronologically a long time ago, but still struggle with the self-absorbed part.) The moral lessons, hackneyed though they are, don't come across as preachy, even though they are pounded in, because of the humor. At least that's the way it felt to me.
A very quick read, and pretty cheap as an e-book, so why not? At $0.99, it's probably less than the amortized cost of your tablet and the electricity you used and the food your brain consumed while reading it.
This is not at all like anything else Jack Campbell wrote, at least that I've read. His other stories (The Lost Fleet, Pillars of Reality) have occasional moments of character-based humor, but here character-based humor is the only thing there is.
May 7, 2018
Fast, fun, and well-written, this is a very teenage story of personal growth through adversity. I'd put it on high school curricula, as it's comparable to several of the stories I've seen today.
Jack Campbell writes a… self-interested, if not selfish young man, who learns to live for himself by being forced to help others — namely the paradoxical sister of the title. Her journey, while important, is actually a simple vehicle for his as the point of view and deuteragonist.
Everything else is straight monomyth, but it's not the inclusion of tropes, but the execution of them, and in this, The Sister Paradox does very well.
Recommended for all ages, highly recommended as a coming of age story to male adolescents, who will identify strongly.
Jack Campbell writes a… self-interested, if not selfish young man, who learns to live for himself by being forced to help others — namely the paradoxical sister of the title. Her journey, while important, is actually a simple vehicle for his as the point of view and deuteragonist.
Everything else is straight monomyth, but it's not the inclusion of tropes, but the execution of them, and in this, The Sister Paradox does very well.
Recommended for all ages, highly recommended as a coming of age story to male adolescents, who will identify strongly.
March 27, 2017
A fun straightforward YA read.
April 24, 2018
It has been a long time since I've said this... "You gotta read this book!"
February 7, 2017
My review is up at http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.p...
February 23, 2020
A coming of age analogy
This is a story of growth and maturity hidden in YA format. A very well written tale. Well worth reading.
This is a story of growth and maturity hidden in YA format. A very well written tale. Well worth reading.
November 13, 2024
The worst Jack Campbell (John Hemry) I've ever read.
The writing is hackneyed, the author has no ear for children's dialogue, the titular sister has the affected vocabulary blindness so beaten to death by Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, the plot is ridiculously compressed into a single day and yet so jam packed with events as to be utterly unbelievable, and, returning to the sister, she has the worst qualities of a girl boss and a Mary Sue while her brother merely tags along to admire everything she does.
Stick to Space Opera, Jack.
The writing is hackneyed, the author has no ear for children's dialogue, the titular sister has the affected vocabulary blindness so beaten to death by Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, the plot is ridiculously compressed into a single day and yet so jam packed with events as to be utterly unbelievable, and, returning to the sister, she has the worst qualities of a girl boss and a Mary Sue while her brother merely tags along to admire everything she does.
Stick to Space Opera, Jack.
June 18, 2022
There is hope for even the most spoiled game addicted teenager. This a fun quick read with lots of humor. Jack Campbell gets the modern slang and self oriented teen thinking right in a fun way. I teach teenagers and I have a principal that occasionally "suspends" students. I loved the school humor that was included in the book. Amelia Badelia would be proud of some of the jokes in this story. Enjoyable read without the heavy duty baggage!
September 2, 2017
Decent effort for Juveniles. Sweet, but not cloying.
October 25, 2017
Short but good
Nice short read from one of my favorite writers. He knows how to tell a interesting story. Filled with good characters.
Nice short read from one of my favorite writers. He knows how to tell a interesting story. Filled with good characters.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews