Reviewed by: Sooz
Genre: Fantasy
Approximate word count: 105-110,000 words
Availability
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on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
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Author:
Sue Perry
has had many jobs over the years (scientist, professor, TV producer) but
writing is what she loves. The California resident has two children, five cats
and a dog.
Description:
Rookie PI
Nica takes a case where she enters multiple dimensions called Frames. She is
called in to help a great struggle between good and evil that could have great
consequences.
Appraisal:
Maybe Gumby
is real? At least in Nica’s universe, there are Gumby people – and so much more.
In Sue
Perry’s re-imagined universe, there are different frames that beings live in.
We currently live in one, but there are thousands (maybe even millions) of
others that are similar with subtle changes or altogether different. One of
them is even filled with Gumby people who can stretch and contort into about
any shape.
Nica is
trying to get her life started over by becoming a private investigator. She
immediately gets new clients and all of them seem shady and mixed up in things
she doesn’t want to know about or understand. But money talks, even though she
trusts her guts and ends up working for the other side in two of the cases.
Also, two
of her clients seem otherworldly and trustful, and she immediately wants to
help them. Nica is pulled into their world of animate buildings and sinister
people trying to disrupt the natural flow of the frames. Perry has a unique
voice told in the first person of Nica. Her voice is distinct and allows
readers to slip into Nica’s world as she discovers these new frames.
However, I
did find parts of the book melodramatic. As soon as one minor subplot was
wrapped up, another jumped up to bite a character. It’s almost as the book read
like a serialization and bundled for an e-book. While this may work if the
chapters were spread out over weeks, it was a bit too much for one reading.
I would
like to learn more about the other characters. We learned a lot about Nica, who
is layered and complex, but we didn’t know much about those around her. Perhaps
that was by design, but I would have enjoyed a bit more background as to what
makes these others tick.
The world
is one of creativity and fun. The frames also allow Perry to create just about
any world she wants when the only thing holding her back is her own
imagination.
Format/Typo Issues:
There were
some issues, but nothing glaring.
Rating: **** Four stars
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