This is a slow read, and although I often love a slower pace as a breath of fresh air between all the action and nail-biting tension in so much fiction, especially fantasy, this one was unfortunately a little too slow for my liking. I was disappointed in Tina's character progression, because it didn't really feature until the last few pages of the book. I would have preferred to see her really changing as a person because the experiences she has are transformative. This novel could count as transformation fiction if that change had been stressed better.
Tina is a widow struggling with the recent loss of her husband. She begins to have dreams and learns the power of her dreams to traverse the multiverse. This magical realism novel is particularly good in terms of the worldbuilding and the fantastical parallel worlds described. There was so much beauty and also a lot of very unique ideas that were well-thought-out and presented in a very enjoyable way. I also really enjoyed the friendship dimension to the story. So many books like these focus on finding new romance, but Tina's journey is more about finding herself and new possibilities when the future she had envisioned is ripped from her. The friends in her life are the main reason she is able to keep going and I liked that emphasis. Grief cannot be overcome alone. We need a proper support structure and I appreciate how Carter presents that in this book.
However, at the end, I think the final scene between Tina and Mike detracted a little from the friendship focus of the book and I personally feel it ought to have been either developed throughout the book or left as a development for the next book in this series (if the characters are revisted in the next instalment).
Overall, a solid though slow read with a strong message about self-transformation although there is scope to make the transformational dimension even deeper and more moving. The ending could pack a punch, rather than going out with a gentle whisper.
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