Cross dimensional journal, trying to find home
3 stars
Astra winds up getting yanked out of her home dimension, and traveling through a a bunch of other dimensions trying to get home. Some of the worlds belong to other authors (Seanan Mcguire's Velveteen, used with her permission, and one in the universe of the webcomic Grrlpower, which Dave Barrack co-authored). The rest are parallel universes of Hope's own, but with historical differences that make those world much worse off.
I found myself really enjoying most of* the ones where the author was writing in another person's universe, and grinding through the ones that were just close parallels. The not-very subtle message was that Astra's home, which I've complained in other reviews was getting excessively grimdark, was actually the Best of All Possible Worlds because any changes would make things So Much Worse.
*(The exception was the one where it was written as a stage play, specifically Midsummer's Night Dream. …
Astra winds up getting yanked out of her home dimension, and traveling through a a bunch of other dimensions trying to get home. Some of the worlds belong to other authors (Seanan Mcguire's Velveteen, used with her permission, and one in the universe of the webcomic Grrlpower, which Dave Barrack co-authored). The rest are parallel universes of Hope's own, but with historical differences that make those world much worse off.
I found myself really enjoying most of* the ones where the author was writing in another person's universe, and grinding through the ones that were just close parallels. The not-very subtle message was that Astra's home, which I've complained in other reviews was getting excessively grimdark, was actually the Best of All Possible Worlds because any changes would make things So Much Worse.
*(The exception was the one where it was written as a stage play, specifically Midsummer's Night Dream. I ended up skipping that chapter.)
I also really disliked the chapter narrated by Artemis, which explored her life in New Orleans and assumed the reader had already read her standalone short story which, like "Omega Night", is not listed in the main chronology. It also had nothing to do with the main story until the last couple of pages.
And after the main story's done there's a short story by K. F. Lim set in the normal universe, wherein Astra briefly teams up with that author's original characters. I gave up on it after the 2nd time the POV character, a part-time mermaid, had to hide behind a towel (held by young men who were averting their eyes) in order to pull on a fresh tankini bottom because her transformation destroys them. Apparently neither the character nor the person shelling out for all these swimsuit bottoms has ever heard of a skirt.