Eternity's Wheel

InterWorld #3

by Neil Gaiman, Reaves

The conclusion to the bestselling InterWorld series, from Neil Gaiman, Michael Reaves, and Mallory Reaves!

Joey Harker never wanted to be a leader. But he’s the one everyone is looking to now that FrostNight looms, and he’ll have to step up if he has any hope of saving InterWorld, the Multiverse, and everything in between.

Eternity’s Wheel is the heart-pounding conclusion to the InterWorld series, full of time and space travel, magic, science, and the bravery of a young boy who must now face his destiny as a young man.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Audiobook, Time Travel, Adventure

288 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2015

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B) 74% | More than Satisfactory
Notes: I'd like to think it's ironic: a story with a fourth-dimensional plot where virtually every character is two-dimensional.

[Miranda Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

"A small part of me wondered exactly what psychological implications it had that I never seemed to particularly like myself."

I can emphasize. I did not particularly like him either.

Joey Harker is one of the Walkers (each walker is an alternate dimension version of himself). Joey Harker is out to save the world (again). Like the previous two books, there feels like Gaiman and Reaves have to fit X amount of plot under Y amount of words. Everything is rushed and nothing is explained.

Joey has only been at this job for two years yet, he has become this all powerful commanding officer. He knows everything there is - from quantum mechanics, to theoretical mathematics to fighting.

"There were maybe four or five of them. I was trained in thirteen different styles of martial arts and immediately recognized six nearby objects that could be used as improvised weapons."

We're supposed to believe that all of this is just due to studying? It just feels so unrealistic. At least throw me a line about downloading information into his brain or something.

And those names.

Every version of Joey has a J-name. There's too many of them. J’r’ohoho the centaur, Josephine the human, Joeb the commander, Jari and Jarl the twins, Jay the dead one, J/O the robot, Josef the big one, Joaquim the evil one...Jaya, Jakon, Jai, Jo the winged one, Jirho, Jijoo, Jenna, Jai, Jerem, Josie, Josetta, Jorily, Jianae. If someone dies, I am relieved that there's one less person to remember.

I have no words other than my unenthusiastic apathy to the characters and their world.

The 2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge - A book by two authors

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[Karl]

This is a copy of the Limited Edition of "Eternity's Wheel" signed by Neil Gaiman and Mallory Reeves.
This copy is marked as P/C of 500 copies.

[Jeraviz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Qué mal final para una idea tan buena.
Como en el anterior libro, ponen el nombre de Neil Gaiman bien grande en la portada para atraer a los incautos, pero una vez que empiezas a leer no tiene ni el ritmo ni calidad de Gaiman ya que no está escrito por él.
Trama aburrida y nada que ver con el primer libro, que sí que fue creación de Gaiman.

[سیما تقوی · Rating 4 out of 5]

چقدر لذت‌بخش بود و چه پایان زیبایی داشت...از کلمه به کلمه کتاب لذت بردم و از تجربه کردن سفرهای میان بعدی از دید واکرها لذت بردم، چه نثر روان و جذابی و با اینکه کتاب برای گروه سنی نوجوانان است، اما هر سه جلد برای من بزرگسال همانقدر لذت‌بخش و هیجان‌انگیز بود که برای یک نوجوان خواهد بود - جادوی گیمن! - و تمام وقایع، مبارزات و هر رخدادی که در داستان روی می‌دهد با وجود قدری پیچیده بودن اما بسیار قابل فهم و لمس است...سه‌گانه زیبایی بود که خواندنش را به علاقمندان ژانر علمی-تخیلی/فانتزی/جادویی توصیه می‌کنم!

[Димитър Цолов · Rating 4 out of 5]

Не мога да кажа, че беше кой знае какъв финал, но все пак видяхме цялата серия преведена, а това съвсем не е малко. Оценка, като и при предната книжка - 3,5/5.

[Rebecca (whymermaids) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final installment of the InterWorld trilogy sees the dreaded FrostNight wiping out all the universes and Joe(y) Harker doing his best to try and stop it.

The end of the second book left the reader on a cliffhanger, with Joe captured by HEX and Binary, the two evil groups working together to ensure the success of FrostNight. Eternity’s Wheel picks up with Joe deposited on his home planet, where he was abandoned to die as it was erased.

With the Harkers split up and the former InterWorld on the run, Joe and his small band of friends/recruits must figure out a way to stop FrostNight and rescue their friends. Throughout the course of the novel, Joe starts to gain more respect than he had in the previous installments, and he slowly takes over as a leader, which was nice to see.

Being the third book in the series (and a middle-grade one at that), it has the unfortunate task of summarizing the previous two books for readers, but I thought the way it was handled was creative and effective. It didn’t feel like I was being weighted down with information I already knew, it was very need-to-know and a helpful reminder of where we left off, but for young or new readers, it gave them enough to be able to understand the circumstances.

The story is still very serial-like, with Joe escaping one situation only to be trapped in another, but it’s entertaining and a fun read, even if some of the escapes are a bit too convenient. I mean, how many times is Joe going to be trapped only to escape at the last minute? The series isn’t afraid to kill characters, however, and this installment is no exception.

The characters are still one of the strongest assets of this series; I love all the different versions of Joe, though I did miss a lot of those familiar characters in this installment.

Minor Spoiler:
Throughout reading, I kept predicting that Joe was a younger version of the Old Man (as in, the same person, just in different timelines), and this book puts a lot more details in place of how that could be true, but also tries to explain it away at the same time. Could this be some sort of time looping thing, but the timeline is now changed because of FrostNight? Why else would the Old Man end out his days on Joe’s world? The book leaves this open ended, but for the younger reader this was intended for, it’s not clear enough.

The ending suggests that life goes on for the Harkers of InterWorld, with new villains to defeat and more Walkers to recruit. Not a bad series for tween/teen fans of sci-fi.

[Lyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoiler ahead:

I read all three books in the series within a week. The concept is great and the first book was so fresh and interesting. The second book seemed to keep up with the pace of the first, but there were a couple things missing from the final installment.

The relationship between the old man and Joey was obvious from the beginning of the second book when he started trying to change his name to Joe and time travel came into play. We had so many other clues like the photograph in the Captain's desk and then the way that he trained his recruits in the 3rd book so that when it was finally revealed, it was anti-climatic and disappointing.

The authors should have revealed the relationship at the end of the second book instead of dragging it out. Joe discovered that the Old Man was literally him a generation ago and the old man's fate was going to be his. But we don't see any conflict. I would be devastated to find out that I don't get to be with my SO and that my sacrifices when I was younger were meaningless since Frostnight will rise again. The story is called Eternity's Wheel but the whole wheel drama was ignored.

Also it would be nice to see him struggling to be a leader like the Old Man and train his recruits. The Joe Harker Alpha had his whole life to learn how to be a leader and our Joe Harker Beta had just begun. But instead, the authors were trying to drive home the idea that he is the version 2.0 so they made him this perfect leader.

I think I would have preferred the realization that all this had happened before in the middle of the 3rd book. He realizes that he survives the final battle by restarting the multiverse and giving Interworld, Hex and Binary a generation to rebuild and do it all again. And Joe makes the ultimate sacrifice of entering Frostbite He is given the choice of killing Hex/Binary or restarting the universe and unlike his previous versions, Timewatch has given him the knowledge that he is in an eternal loop so he sacrifices his life as a Captain with Acacia and the chance to have his world back to destroy H/B and Frostbite. Or maybe he got the special knowledge that allows him to break free of the loop from Jay in the world he died on, via the Old Man, who was trying to change things for good.

Either way, there were so many missed opportunities that I am giving the book 2 stars. The concept was incredible and the authors totally wasted it.

[S.A Reidman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book one was the best from the series - book three made up for the utter letdown of book 2. So I guess the sum of it's parts makes Interworld satisfactory in the end.

I noticed the "voice change" in Book 2 and I have a feeling Gaiman wrote less of that than would have us believe. It's pretty obvious in Book 3 but I don't feel "hoodwinked" because it's right there on the front page: Husband and Wife Reeves wrote this. With that in mind, I did have a good time and was rooting for the Joeys, the Harkers, the Jays and the iterations all the way

Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Thank You Mr Dimas for asking all the questions so Joey could remind us what had happened in book one. I had almost forgotten. Great refresher. So book 3 is about, well, saving the world from FrostNight and taking down Binary-Hex once and for all. Oh and there a loose end in Acacia that needs to be resolved.

Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Best Joey: Josephine The Ship soul. And of Course - our Joey boy! Usually I don't care for the hero but he is sufficiently flawed and comes back stronger from his mistakes.
Adorable Joey: J’r’ohoho the centaur
Magnificent Joey: Jo, Jakkon, Josef, Jarl and Jari
Hilarious Joey: Jai and his vocabulary
Tragic Joey: J/O. I miss him.
Worst Joey: Joaquim or FauxJoey, a Fauxoey

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene: :
Reunited in a cave in a mountain in Interworlds Past in prehistoric Earth. It was soo sweet!

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “I was used to not knowing where I was, but I’d never really had to question when I was. Not until my recent association with a Time Agent, anyway.” (Joey on Time in Interworld)
🖤 “Hue was like the universe’s best looking glass, like the missing element that made everything fall into place. That made everything make sense. Walking was no longer about finding the door, it was about suddenly realizing you were surrounded by doors and you knew exactly where every single one of them went.” (The best thing about Interworld. Hue)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Hue
■Soliton Array Engines
■Interworld Beta
■Kinesthetic telepathy
■Advanced dimensional tracker

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Science Fiction Books by 2025

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read all by Neil Gaiman. This is not written by him and is less creative. Furthermore, this appears to be written for teens. 2 of 10 stars

[Royer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The touching story of a multidimensional soap bubble and its struggle to get a bunch of apes to save the universe/altiverse/all of time from a magical clone powered by teenage angst.

[Tamarix · Rating 3 out of 5]

İkinci kitabı okuyalı baya olduğu için bazı ayrıntıları unutmuşum. Tam açıklayıcı olmayan bir sonla bitti. Yaşlı Adam’ın Joey’nin, Acacia da kendi teyzesinin gelecekteki versiyonu olduğunu, bu yüzden adının Sonsuzluk Çarkı olduğunu çıkardım.

İlk kitabın heyecanı yoktu. Tam her şey düzelecek derken Joey tekrar tekrar tekrar tuzağa düştü ve her seferinde bir dostunu kaybetti. Kitap daha genç kesim için yazılmasına rağmen karakterleri öldürmede hiç sıkıntı çekmemişler.

Çerezlik bir seriydi, rahat okunuyor. Kallavi kitapların arasında okunabilir.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is rather dark for a middle grade book. It started off as a fun story of a kid who can travel through parallel Earths and then we came to a point where multiple worlds were ending, lots of people was dying. And you know what? I really liked it because the ending isn’t perfect. Things aren’t ok. There’s still wars to fight and things to do. Life keeps going on and that was great. I really enjoyed these series.

[Darceylaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note- this is not a book by Neil Gaiman, it's a Neil Gaiman BRAND book written by 2 other authors. It's a pretty typical YA novel, following some of the rhythms and conventions of series like Riordan's books. That being said it's a decent entry in YA scifi/fantasy.

Not really for adults in the way Coraline or the Graveyard Book were serious literary efforts with YA leading characters.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good wrap-up to this series. I don't think Gaiman contributed much to the book, though. It is not up to his brilliance. His co-writers probably wrote this book.

[Gwynn_Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an easy read book. I give four stars because I loved that created universe! It is a wonderful dream, imagination, opportunity and story. I liked the characters and the story's all secrets which gives some kind of cliff hangers in the end. These makes it more awesome.
I recommend it to everyone who would like to take a step - out - from the general days and would like to have a fluent and creative universe.

[Karen ⊰✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started with an interesting premise with the multiverse and the war between HEX and Binary. It was originally written as a TV script and the first book really read like that. The second two books didn't really seem to have enough substance, though. Perhaps this is a series best enjoyed by the target audience, rather than being a YA book that can be read by all ages.
It is really unlike any other Gaiman books and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to his fans.

[Mohit · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first introduction to SciFi novel. It was a good novel. It was good but a little straight forward for me. Not too much excitement or any intricate plot.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting ending. I can’t decide if I understood it all or not. Some of the math speak might have been over my head. I think there were one too many anomalies. Great narration. I might have bailed if the narrators had not made it so enjoyable to listen to.

I might be in wrong target age group but I can still enjoy a good YA story.

[Sarah Larasati · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this series. And I liked Eternity's Wheel, it's indeed a thrilling conclusion and an entertaining read, and I've devoured it in a day. However...I can't help but feel the nagging feeling that something is missing, and that there are one too many cliches floating around. Of course, I suppose the entire plot was built around cliches, the first two books dealt with cliches too, and it's basically told us the story of Joey's own Hero's Journey, from the scared boy to the official leader of the new InterWorld, a young man weathered by experiences. I can't really explain it, but the abundance of cliches in the third book has started to bother me. The Silver Dream played with them deftly enough. InterWorld kickstarts the series, so the presence of cliches are entirely forgivable. But Eternity's Wheel...I kept expecting trope subversions to happen, only for them not to happen. In another words, it's a thrilling ride, but it's pretty predictable.

Of course, this is YA, but that doesn't mean you can play with tropes / cliches and make them your own or at least twist them - it's probably like comparing apples & oranges, but Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone series was also built on cliches & classic YA tropes...and she made them her own. Maybe it's just personal preference, but I do love trope subversions or at least being surprised by where the story takes me. Or maybe I was expecting a Gaiman-y twist somewhere, even if he doesn't actually write this book. The Silver Dream was actually pretty amazing because I think it's saved by the entire Joaquim gambit - I knew there's going to be a traitor or two in IW's midst, and how HEX and Binary unite to give birth to him is a Trope As Old As Time (tm), but I suppose it's the execution, because it had been interesting. And the appearance of Acacia & TimeWatch, although also cliched (hell, we can't escape cliches, what's new anyway, every idea is a reflection of a reflection of a reflection), was also executed interestingly and is actually a pretty refreshing turn of the plot.

To be fair, though, the writing flows gracefully, and it's easy to read, so I think the mistakes of this series are quite forgiveable. As I said, it's an entertaining read, though it's not one of those books that'll give you bad case of the feels, so InterWorld is suitable for light reading. All the sciencey-wiencey & timey wimey babbling are actually great, too. The characters are decent, even if Joey is so painfully Typical Hero at times (he's predictable, actually), but they're likeable and distinctive and quite developed enough that they're not carbon copies or cardboard cutouts. I love how, in IW, although they're all versions of Joey, they have different personalities and upbringing and this difference, while at the same time they were jarringly similar, is explored. I wish we had more time to get to know them. The concept of InterWorld is in itself interesting, not to mention TimeWatch, which may be the biggest mystery in the series...and it'll leave you with a bunch of questions.

The ending's fair, and I do love Joey's uncompromising morality / stance on death - one death is one too many, even if your cause is justified and right. Since this is a book aimed at young adults & tweens, primarily, I think it's a good message.

Well, bottom line, I'm a sucker for interdimensional hijinks, and alternate / parallel universes, so I do love this series, to some degree.

[Craig Turnbull · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope. Nope. Nope.

Heads up: Michael and Mallory Reeves wrote this book. I have no idea why Gaiman's name is on the cover apart from the additional generation of sales.

The InterWorld saga has closed out with a sad finale. [Think that slowly deflating balloon from your kids birthday party three weeks ago.]

The writing is tedious, and the story-line borders on the ridiculously juvenile. Granted the genre is for tweens, but there's been some serious dumbing down here into tiring cliches.

How to write a cliched Tween novel:

1. Make all parental or adult characters completely negligent of childcare skills. Watch as they continually give up or threaten the lives of children around them either by their actions or inaction.
2. Create a central character who is not understood by anyone - except of course by you, the reader. "Yeah, me too!"
3. Have kids die all over the place. Some even bordering on suicide.
4. Place an evil dog-faced character who looks like the Egyptian god Anubis into the story-line with magical powers and who literally says the phrase, "Insolent child!" to the main character.
5. Have main character save the world.

Okay so #4 is unique, but in a bad way. Other than that, Eternity's Wheel is just another cookie cut from the same mold and inflated to 300 pages.

Too bad. I would have loved to have seen where Gaiman would have taken the series.

[Aelvana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joey Harker has seen the end of the Altiverse. FrostNight is coming. He---inadvertently---helped get it started. But he refuses to give up. Armed with a tenuous plan that's more luck and hope than a real chance, he starts to gather Walkers to himself. Because what else can they do but fight, even against an unstoppable wave that's rewriting reality?

I liked this book immensely, and I also had some pretty big problems with it. The first InterWorld book took a bunch of awesomely bizarre concepts and melded them together in amazing ways. And in that respect, the third one still holds up decently. The wave, the time paradoxes, Hue (who will always be a favorite), and even the way Joey resolves the whole mess I enjoyed a lot. There's still some good humor and some great action scenes.

What was less fun was watching the plot trip over itself in a few key areas. Like the second book, the third appears to be going for shock value at having various characters die---only since those characters are STILL, by and large, only defined by what happened in the first book (one notable exception) it's hard to really care. I was in fact quite angry at the one, as I was pleasantly surprised to see him pop up again, only for him to die a few pages later.

So the characters were the biggest problem I had. Once again there's rather a large amount of exposition to catch up readers unfamiliar with the previous books, but a much smaller amount of character-building in the present time, which again makes it really hard to care about the people who keep getting killed off.

The relationship between Joey and the Old Man was visible in the second book, although still open to some doubt (since everyone at InterWorld is, after all, some form of Joey Harker) but the third resolves it exactly the way I was expecting. It does leave some rather puzzling gaps, though. What exactly did Hue do when he was "helping Joey heal" at the end (the implication is that Joey thus gains some powers, but never specified what). And the Omega designation by the Time Walker implies one thing, but the note Joey scribbles on the photo implies the opposite.

I still had a lot of fun with this book, and I would still advise readers who liked the first book to finish out the series. But be aware the second and third books aren't up to the same quality as the first. Still, they're also short enough that it won't take long to punch through, and there's still plenty to enjoy. I rate this book Recommended.

See my reviews and more at http://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress.com

[Eden Grey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joey Harker, interdimensional adventurer and regular good guy, returns in the final book in the Interworld series. Started by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves in 2007, the series was originally imagined as a screenplay or television series, and that concept is reflected in the story. The entire series reads like a movie; it's very visual and will appeal to fans of science fiction and action movies.

ETERNITY'S WHEEL chronicles Joey Harker's attempts to save not only his world, but every world, the entire Multiverse, from a destructive storm called FrostNight. He must rebuild his home ship-city, called InterWorld, recruit new team members, and save old familiar faces in order to have enough allies to stop the evil HEX and binary baddies, who are now working together to basically reset the universe. While all of these ideas were introduced and fleshed out in the first book, there wasn't anything new in the final book in the series.

Honestly, I wanted more complex writing, but that could have taken away from the "reads like a tv show" appeal. The shallow, easy to follow, and repetitive writing make Interworld a perfect series for middle grade readers, or even younger readers looking for something a little more advanced and without mature content. Fans of the first 2 books will find a lot to enjoy, but ETERNITY'S WHEEL isn't for the casual reader.

The verdict: Mind-bending sci-fi adventure that you won't be able to put down.

[Gretchen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just OK. Series gets weaker as it progresses. A little tedious.

[Dots · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is he or is he not. I don't think he is him, but not.

[Jonathan Pongratz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh, this was such a great series! This last book was just as solid as the other two, and I thought this was a wonderful and respectful sendoff.

This time, FrostNight threatens the entire universe as Joey and the Walkers know it, and they charge into action to fight the unbelievable odds. But sudden chaos leaves Joey without allies, and he must rebuild the InterWorld that he knows and loves, finding new allies and exploring treacherous new worlds.

So once again, I just have to point out how great this portal fantasy series was. The system that Joey utilizes to hop from world to world is complex and well thought out. Did I mention how much I love the concept of parallel universes?

This series is a dark YA story that covers the concept of war, loss, grief, and perseverance. I would compare it to Kenneth Oppel's Overthrow series or the darker final installments in the Animorphs series. There's a lot of loss and heartbreaking moments, but it's realistic and doesn't pull punches, so I respected that.

Joey continues to find depth as he finds himself alone without aid. He can't depend on InterWorld like he always has, and I think starting from the ground up was good for him. He truly knows himself at this point, and he has to soldier on through impossible situations with potential losses at every turn.

The plot was a ton of fun. Each chapter had huge developments that kept me blazing through the pages. Action, mystery, scifi, fantasy, this book had it all and a bag of chips. Things came full circle with his fight against HEX and the Binary, and the ending was great and open ended.

Though I have the same quips as the other two books in the series on vocab used, I think this series would be a great read for an older teen that's up for some brutal truths and epic scifi adventures. Highly recommend trying this out!

[Cort · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an adventure! Leaving room for some imagination, it all comes together wonderfully in the end. I liked the theme of being able to make your own choices and being willing to make sacrifices for a greater cause. All of the walkers are variations of the same person. They are united under Interworld in their fight to stop the Hex and Binary. Initially they all have the same purpose, but they are all different with unique personalities and the ability to choose for themselves what to do. My favorite part was in the end with Joaquim. Joey goes into the eye of Frost Night to try and stop Joaquim from destorying the universe. He tells him that he has a choice about what to do. Joey and Joaquim are willing to die for their cause. In the end Joaquim saves Joey too. He goes from being the traitor to the hero. Joey forgives Joaquim and gives him a second chance allowing him to redeem himself and ultimately save everyone. Everyone in the story had a mission and a role to play. Interworld is a wonderful book! I will most likely read the series again!

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eternity’s Wheel was my favorite novel in the Interworld series. The authors do a wonderful job of wrapping up the story, answering lingering questions while giving hints about what might happen to Joey and the other Walkers in the future.

Joey undergoes important character growth and, for the first time, feels like he has grown into his role and is fully capable of handling his problems. There’s plenty of action, and I felt the interdimensional and time travel elements were used to their full effect. The ending was satisfying, with enough little surprises to keep things feeling different from the first two books. My only complaint is I feel like some of the side characters were underutilized, as the story does revolve so closely around Joey (whereas previous books had more development of and involvement from side characters).

A satisfying end to a fun science fantasy series. Recommended for fans of YA, science fantasy, portal fantasy, and time travel.

[Mehmet Turan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ana karakterin ağzından hikayeyi okumak değişik bir tat sunuyor bazen. Bu da o kitaplardan.

Serinin 3. ve son kitabı. Açıkçası finali kitabın başından değil serinin başından tahmin edilebilir öğeler içeriyor. Ama yukarıda da değindiğim gibi yazım dili ve süreci o sona sıkmadan ilerletmeyi başarıyor.

Yoğun temalı kitaplardan sonra kafa dağıtmalık bir seri olarak okunabilir. Bu amaca uygun olduğu kanaatindeyim.

[Bruce Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was more of the same. I probably liked it the least. The time and dimensional travel got a little confusing. All three of the books used large vocabulary which could be good for young readers if it doesn't turn them off. Important to not that Neil Gaiman did not write this one either.