This book brings an interesting world-building and fantasy imprint to the table. The lead character Shawna is a potter (I like that!) and 'shaper'. She's unaware of her special status as the shaper of the world she lives in (a central plot point which will apparently be revisited in future books). There are hundreds of other shaped worlds which lie tenuously connected contiguously to one another. Her guide Karl (a sort of Harry Dresden pastiche, complete with duster and hat) is an extraterrestrial on a mission to save First World (Earth prime) and the Labyrinth (the collection of multiverses). There's a fair smattering of Judeo-Christian concepts and vocabulary (The 'Adversary', hokhmah - Hebrew for 'wisdom') side by side with classic SF/fantasy elements (nanites, AI, gates, crossworlds etc).
There's some rough language (multiple uses of the f-bomb, and lighter cursing). There's some light implied (off narrative) sexual entendre between the lead character and her boyfriend early on in the book, but nothing explicit.
There's a lot of potential here and although I found this first book to be disappointingly reactive instead of plot led, I feel that the author could well find his feet and take this series in a good direction.
I'll be interested to see where the author goes from here. This was an interesting read and has a lot of potential. It was long, for a YA/NA novel in my estimation. A sample of the first chapter/intro is available on Amazon.
Three stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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