Pilgrim of The Sky is a beautiful, poetic book. It was a slow start for me, but once you get a quarter way through you are caught and keep digging out more and more gems in this book along the way.

Where do I start with this complex book?

Pilgrim of the Sky is a book taking on the idea of multiverse, hence its sci-fi element. Maddie, the main heroine from our world (Sixth World) is transported into World Two into a body of her twain (double) Matilda.

Second world is stunning, it's Victorian, operating on a completely different type of technology and it worships Mary instead of Christ. Boston in that world is absolutely breathtaking with its colourful buildings, cathedrals reminding of gardens of Eden, carriages powered by magnets and mansions floating in the air.

While Matilda and Maddie struggle for control over Matilda's body, Maddie slowly finds out what she has to do and why she is special enough to travel through the worlds. Everyone seems to want her to find Alvin, her ex-lover whom she thought dead - Randal, Matilda's husband; Matilda - a callous beautiful woman with her own agenda; a bearded river captain Joss... and don't let me start with all the confusing twains from other worlds!

There are dragons or demigods, there are magical objects, transfiguration and transportation... Maddie is reeling and way over her head and all she wants is to get back to her own world. Or does she?

Fabulous, rich world and lavish clothes left me drooling despite the plot getting messier and more complicated with each chapter. I did feel for Maddie and wanted her to find happiness, and I really enjoyed this unusual novel. Recommended.

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I really enjoyed this book. They author has an amazing talent with words. This book was well written with fully developed characters and a great plot. I hope there could be a sequel to this book in the future. Thanks for a great read.

This was a goodreads.com first read contest win. ( )

Maddie is trying to move on in her life after the disappearance and presumed death of her long term lover, Alvin. But Alvin’s brother, Randy is less willing to let her go and through Alvin’s contacts shows her the truth of where he has gone.

He has gone to a different world, one of 8 parallel worlds all with different societies and people. But some people straddle different worlds – copies, different versions, TWAINS of themselves exist in these different worlds. Maddie finds herself thrust into the body of her Mathilda, her Twain in a Steampunk world. While there she meets the twains of so many of the people she knows – all similar yet so different from the people she knows.

But there is far more than that to consider. Alvin has a plot far darker than she can imagine and she battles for control over Mathilda’s body as it becomes clear that Mathilda’s own motivations and actions are highly questionable to say the least.

As the plots focus on their ancient twains in the first world, it’s clear both that Alvin’s plans need to be stopped (and certainly surpass any romance she may be clinging too) but there is a plot above and beyond anything they expected.

I think this book needs a prize for sheer originality, I don’t think I’ve come across a world setting even remotely like it. The multiple worlds, each with their own twains, their own experiences, their own power levels but all representation the same archetype – albeit different facets of it is an amazingly excellent concept. I loved how the Archetypes were done, drawing on the different aspects of similar deities or concepts that you see in different societies, drawing out their commonalities but also the different facets. So two twains could have similar powers, similar origins, the same Archetype but still be dramatically different and still fit within that archetype.

And the worlds – whether it’s our own modern world, the primordial first world, the steampunk second world – the fact there are eight worlds gives so much diversity not just to this story, but so much potential for any other stories within this world (or worlds).

The plot was also extremely well done – drawing on the richness of these worlds and pacing it well. There was such a lot of information here, but the author resisted the urge to dump it all on one massive lump. It’s doled out slowly and carefully, enough to keep us interested (and, I have to say, frustrated at times because I felt there were points when hints were given but Maddie completely failed to follow up on them – and I can’t understand why she didn’t, why she didn’t push more questions or demand more answers) without having to deal with an endless series of lectures. There were lectures, characters informing Maddie of what just happened and why, but it was done in bits, when appropriate (or less) and in manageable bite sized chunks. This vast world with its complexity was nicely conveyed. It was perfectly paced to keep you teased along, questioning but never overwhelmed.

And the plot itself? It’s so hard to describe this without spoiling (and that would be tragic) but I will try. This plot is twist after twist after twist after twist. Every reference and world building that comes up I expect to mean something else. Mathilda surprised me, the First World twains surprised me, Alvin surprised me, the love interest surprised me, the sudden power level change surprised me – over and over. I do love a good twist- and a story with constant world building revelations, constant character twists and constant plot twists with machinations that have cunning plans within cunning plans within cunning plans are always going to rate highly with me.

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Maddie Angler is trying to leave her old life behind in an attempt to get over the death of her fiancee, Alvin Roth. But when she learns that Alvin might be alive, she finds herself on an inter-world journey to find him and will discover secrets about the Eight Worlds and herself that she would never have imagined.

I wasn't drawn to this story at first, but as the story progressed past the first chapter, things began to get very interesting and by the middle it was easy, fun reading. The characters have a range of likability, and it's hard to tell who Maddie should trust, but as she grows in confidence, she learns through trial and error who to rely on. I enjoyed seeing how Maddie learned about the other worlds and the grandeur that world presents, as well as seeing the twists and turns in the storyline, which had a few entertaining surprises. ( )

When Maddie’s boyfriend Alvin never returns from a walk and a length search for him turns up nothing, Alvin is declared dead and Maddie is forced to move on. She expects learning to live without Alvin and make a new life for herself will be difficult, but she does not expect hints that Alvin may not be dead. She also doesn’t expect to encounter magic mirrors and steampunky parallel worlds in her search for the answers about Alvin’s fate.

There is a lot to recommend PILGRIM OF THE SKY to readers. It’s use of magic and legend and parallel worlds in a fresh way is exciting. While it felt more steampunk in aesthetic than in content (rather like it was somewhere between steampunk and gas-lamp fantasy), it has enough of the wonder and marvel in machinery that should appeal to fans of the genres.

However, despite those elements, I can’t say that reading PILGRIM OF THE SKY was a satisfying read. One of the biggest problems is that I never felt truly connected to the characters. I felt like the narrator was keeping me at arm’s length, only revealing the more public or shallow aspects of the characters, never mining too deeply into their hearts. I had the same feeling about the description. While lush in parts, it felt like a catalogue at times, like something the narrator was reporting on instead of filtering it through the characters’ perspectives and using it to show me things about them.

Another issue I had was with the prose itself, and since it’s a matter of style, it’s a little hard to quantify. We’ve all read writing that sings. Where there’s a music in the way the writer uses language from the words that are chosen to their sounds to the images and associations they conjure in the reader. Not all writing has to have this texture to be good, but I felt an awkwardness in the language in PILGRIM OF THE SKY. There are sentences where the writing become labyrinthine and hard to follow, where interrupters break up the pace and flow, where ideas are not tight enough, or where questions are raised and then never answered.

Just one example to show what I mean, “[Maddie] vaguely recalled the shop that she’d seen upon first arriving, staring into that strange mirror, and assumed that the house would be situated in such a way that the boutique was adjacent to the house.” For me, the interrupting phrase breaks up the sentence and doesn’t connect well to what frames it. “That” is used far too many times. Reader’s might wonder if the “shop” and “boutique” are the same place. Overall, the sentence is wordy and awkward.

If you’re the sort of reader who is more focused on events, on the magical and mythical underpinnings of fantasy, you’ll likely enjoy PILGRIM OF THE SKY more than I. If, however, you want characters as rich as the worlds they inhabit and language as beautiful and strange as the places it is taking you, you could walk away feeling a bit disappointed.