A million thoughts, but only one right thing to do.
Eighteen-year-old Serenity Ashdown has a brilliant mind: she counts, calculates, and analyzes everything, all the time. Awkward. When her father suddenly disappears, Serenity follows his trail to a parallel dimension. The feds on the other side claim to want to help her go home, if she helps them reconstruct the right codes for the portal between worlds. But it’s soon clear they want something more: a gateway for invasion, because this version of Earth is dying.
When Serenity learns that her alter-ego was killed in battle, she assumes “the other Serenity’s” identity and uses her unique abilities to lead the resistance in a mortal fight against the tyrannical super-government that is poised to invade her universe. Serenity has no idea how to be someone she’s not, but she has to try–or she may not have a home to return to.
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Review by Brandy
I received this book for a review.
Hi everyone, it’s been a while since I’ve posted but this was a good story to come back for. I don’t get
the chance to review many audio books so of course I had to check this one out.
To start with I must say the narrator is excellent. She does a really good job with different inflections for
different voices and helping give the characters their own speech patterns. It’s very easy to listen along
and pick out who is talking.
The story itself is very interesting. The world building is very good, and it felt a bit reminiscent of the
show the Fringe. There is a reality parallel to ours and it is similar but not the same as ours. Where we
focus on a balance of things with our resources, they have focused on war leading to some interesting
differences.
The characters are also very well developed and take you through a range of experiences that draw you
in. Serenity is a very logical thinker and analysis everything all the time which leads to some anxiety in
some situations as to what is the best course to take as she weighs the odds as to what is the best result
and struggles to act in situations that require quick thinking. However, when it comes to studies and lab
tests this serves her well and she excels. While this may sound like you will get bored, I assure you this is
far from the truth. The author does an excellent job keeping things from sounding analytical and instead
you get Serenity’s emotions and deeper thoughts instead of boring analysis.
Overall, I think this story has earned it’s full 5 stars as you are drawn into Serenity’s worry about her dad
and his work and then into a whole new world. As she fights to find her dad and uncovers the truth
about his work things are not as simple as just going home. She makes new friends and grows into a
different person who knows her worth and what she is fighting for. I would recommend this for anyone
ages 15+ and just a bit of a warning there is a slight cliff hanger at the end. I am really looking forward to
a book 2.
Bryan Prosek is a young adult writer and business attorney. Along with his first two novels, The Brighter the Stars and A Measure of Serenity, he has published books and articles in legal trade journals and magazines. When he isn’t writing or practicing law, you can probably find him watching dystopian and science fiction movies or television shows. He loves the big screen and the small screen. There’s a good chance that he’ll be watching one of the numerous Star Trek movies or series, but he could be watching anything from Guardians of the Galaxy to The Conjuring.
