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Ever since her father died seven years ago, Noomi Perez has dealt with “shadows” that leave her feeling empty, her world dark. They have been so frustrating and difficult that she has tried to commit suicide multiple times to escape them. But she’s never succeeded. Somehow, she’s been unable to die, completely unharmed from anything she has done.
Then she meets a boy whose presence somehow stops the shadows when they come for her: they just go away. And she begins to learn that she’s not up against depression or any mental health problems. She’s actually a Pathfinder, someone able to travel between dimensions. And dark beings from a long-gone world are trying to take over her and, through her, this dimension, as they’ve done to other dimensions.
In this first book in a series, Noomi has to find out more about what she is and what she can do, how to navigate through dimensions, and how to use her skills to stop the shadows from taking over this dimension. It’s a tall order, but she ends up with Silas’s help. Silas shows her what they both are and points out others who know the full truth about Pathfinding.
The Paths Between the Stars is a smart book: It incorporates a lot of quantum physics, which I definitely enjoyed. But while it’s fairly well-written and intelligent, it somehow didn’t just grab me as I thought it would/should. I can’t quite put my finger on why. (I did prefer A Thousand Pieces of You, a similar book using multiple dimensions.) But for fans of science fiction, quantum physics, and multiple universes, it should likely be a good read.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 3 uses of strong language, about 6 instances of moderate profanity, about 10 uses of mild language, and a dozen instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes one kissing scene where the two start to put hands under shirts but then stop. Violence includes a scene where one person beats up someone else; a murder; danger from shadows intent on taking over a world.
The main character struggles with what she thinks is serious mental illness and attempts suicide a number of times; the shadows that are hounding her, however, are actually some kind of beings from another dimension. She goes through a lot of mental health treatment, including medications, counseling, and wilderness therapy, until she finds out the reason she’s struggling.
