The Destiny Equation by J.S. Frankel
Publisher: Extasy Books
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by AstilbeTempting fate. Is it fixed, or can you fight against it? Jordan Maduro and his girlfriend, Lydia Horiuchi, are about to find out!
Two universes, two lives… one shared fate. Jordan Maduro and Lydia Horiuchi come from two different Earths, but they share a destiny, one that could either mean their salvation—or their destruction.
Adventure is right around the corner.
The pacing was strong and exciting. This was one of those cases where I couldn’t find a good stopping spot when I needed to do something other than read for a while. No sooner did Jordan and Lydia get out of one sticky situation than they soon found themselves in another one thanks to fun plot twists and, in some cases, characters who didn’t do what I expected them to do in all sorts of creative ways. As much as I want to share specific scenes here, I don’t want to spoil anything for other readers given just how many surprises were packed into these pages and how closely entwined some of them are to each other. All I can say is to expect the unexpected, beware of moments that feel peaceful, and don’t assume that the way our world works is necessarily going to be repeated in other universes.
What held this back from a higher rating for me was the character development. There were details about Lydia and Jordan’s lives that were never fleshed out. For example, I wondered why both of them had spent so much of their childhoods in foster care without anyone adopting them. Normally, young, healthy children who can’t reunite with their birth families are adopted pretty quickly where I live, so it surprised me that these two had grown up in foster care. I would have also liked to learn more about their personalities and hobbies as I’d struggle to describe those things in much detail.
As usual, Mr. Frankel did an excellent job with his world building. I’ve been reviewing his books for about a decade now, and his ability to immerse his audience in worlds that have so many important differences from our own is one of the many reasons why I try to be the first reviewer to request his works whenever Long and Short Reviews receives them. I especially loved his descriptions of how one logs into the Internet or makes dinner in this particular world, but I really should leave the details of that for others to discover for themselves just like I did earlier. It was well worth the wait once it did show up in the plot.
The Destiny Equation was an engrossing read.
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