Review: Kaleidoscope World is an intriguing read.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 11, 2014
Kaleidoscope World is an intriguing read.It was also a complicated reading experience and one I don't think I came through unscathed. Be prepared to have your senses overwhelmed and your brain exploded into the realm of astral bodies, ghosts, lucid dreaming and a large number of other New Age themes.Along with this 'enlightenment' comes the the darkness of Dahlia's past and present. Her emotionally abusive, manipulating and neglectful alcoholic mother, Dahlia's complex reactions to the absence of her father, and the ever present shrink that she uses like a crutch, all add to the complexity of the story.Much like a kaleidoscope, Kaleidoscope World had many different pieces that shifted and fit in together, and then with a slight movement, they'd shift and fit in a different way. I liked how that seemed to occur throughout the book, but it also made it feel a little disjointed.I didn't really like Dahlia, I couldn't stand her mother, and I didn't really love or hate Javier. The one character I actually liked was Felipe, yet I felt he was under developed and underutilised. This left me feeling a little lost as to why I kept reading. If I didn't like most of the characters, why would I want to know what happens to them?I quite enjoyed the way Tomica writes, the way she paints pictures was very clear and often came about in the most amazing way. Poetic comes to mind. I enjoyed the picturesque visions Tomica painted of the scenery and Dahlia's surrounds (including the other senses outside of vision) at times it felt like I was actually there with Dahlia in the bustling streets, the serene island or as the sun broke over the streets of Barcelona.I made a couple of notes about the disjointed feelings as I went, one instance of a weird jump was at around 20% through when Dahlia found herself in one scene only to be whisked to another on the next line with no indication of a change. This also occurred at the end of the book - 95-100%.These could be addressed by some additional formatting in the eReader documents to allow the reader to see a break. This would help with the disjointed but smooshed together feel of some of the scene changes.There was one typo I picked up at 69% - '...would thinks (think) they're not.'**Note: I was provided with an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review**