Review: Torn Between Two Worlds
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 14, 2012
Epileptic seizures frequently are preceded by "Auras", a sense of disorientation, déjà vu, even altered sense of taste, the world just seems different. What if the Aura was evidence of something different? What if it is magic welling up?Gabe suffered a head injury when he was six. Since then, the sensations he experiences have been diagnosed as epileptic auras. His mother is overprotective from a sense of guilt. His father turned away from his creative accomplishments in order to support his family. They move with Gabe and his older brother in support of Dad's career to a small town in the Northwest.Just up the street is an empty lot, shunned by the town, where a witch died.He is introduced to the dead witch's home site by a new friend. As he finds himself drawn to the site, he discovers that his new friend senses the witch. At the same time, his auras come more frequently and intensely and he begins to fall into trances where he lives the life of Mabon, the son of a goddess in a parallel world and the potential savior of that world.Meanwhile he's trying to cope with the consequences of an overprotective mother and a bully older brother. He only has one friend in a new town and everyone thinks he's a wimp.He knows he needs to save the world of Mabon, but this world keeps pulling him back. Will he be able to save it and will he be able to come back home?The author does a great job capturing the life of a teenage boy suffering with numerous problems, but with the heart of a hero. Gabe is the center of the story, but the rest of the characters have real dimensions and are believable.The book is face paced and the author has a superior command of words. The only problem I had is that the words sometimes get in the way.