Salvador suddenly finds himself thrown into an intense laser battle. He doesn’t know how he got here or why, and that’s just one of his problems. He’s been experiencing a sort of dimensional schizophrenia, jumping into bizarre scenes across time.Is the universe messing with him, just when he needs the universe onside for his ultimate mission, the only thing that drives him on, to save his wife’s … his wife’s life?
Then he starts seeing elements of the past, ghosts and demons that shouldn’t exist in the present.
Are these the signs he’s been searching for? How do they help?
At the same time, a little girl has gone missing and a man has been shot several miles away.
Nothing is as it seems, and an invasive truth is coming.
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I received an ARC from the author. I put this in my reading queue and waited way too long to finally get started. What a wonderful book.
It takes a little while to get into the cadence of the story. I found the punctuation a bit strange, sometimes too much and sometimes hardly any at all; but after a while it really didn’t matter as the story took over. The challenge of the story was following as it jumped around in space, in time and in place. While the main character remained the same everything around him kept changing. The writers ability to make it all seem real was accomplished by his talent and ability to paint pictures with words. Rather than get lost in the complexity of the tale he was weaving things got crisper, sub themes emerged and then things started to twist in unexpected directions.
When it was done it came together in most unexpected and beautiful ways. This is a nice little treasure and belongs on your reading list.
This is one thrilling ride with so many twists my head was spinning. And I was still wrong! So good to be so surprised. What an awesome author. This is an excellent read that I highly recommend.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
An Unfortunate Dimension by Dominic Schunker is a mind-bending trip over a multi-dimensional landscape. The author invites the reader on a journey through a real, present day, not quite normal, everyday world. Then, as if in making a multi-layer cake, Schunker imposes on top of it two worlds. One is a world that is presently in development, one of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR). A second additional world that exists in an alternate dimension, one that exists in the present but has also existed in the past that was not constricted by hypotheses of AI or the hard wiring necessary that is bringing out VR devices we see offered today.
The first world, a base, has added complexities which contribute to this being a psychological thriller. The second world, AI and VR, will appeal to gamers. I am not a gamer, but after reading this, I will consult my son and request he guide me through some of the basics. This novel will inspire non-gamers to look anew at a world they previously thought was “just for kids.” The third world should appeal to a reader who has faith that humans can and will be better. A lot of agnostics will be in this reader group; it is a faith-based group without the need for the techie stuff.
From the above, review readers might conclude I liked this book. Five Amazon stars and get on with it. Almost. Read to the end; this novel invites discussion. Dimension is a novel I would love to read in a book discussion group. It is not for everyone because of some of the fantasy elements or the demands for belief in a better world. Pessimists won’t like it. For readers attached to a belief in the way a novel should be organized, there might be a bit of criticism. The novel has 28 chapters. From Chapter 23, Nerosonic, it was almost as if I could read the chapter and its successors to the conclusion while standing on my feet and cheering. These were very good and inspiring.
Chapter 1 to Chapter 23 had a few bumps in the road and threatened to derail reader interest. I did not become engaged with the story until Chapter 6, Coup de Ville. The first five chapters were good; they were action-packed. But up until Chapter 6, I could not find any unifying thread. I didn’t abandon the novel, but I started reading others at the same time. My interest in this novel was overtaken by an interest in others, and I almost shelved this one. Luckily for me, I received an email from the author asking where I was in the novel. I had promised a review. Back to Dimension with feelings of guilt; I honor my reading commitments. Fortunately, I engaged with the adventure in Chapter 6, and it was all good from there.
Salvador is our hero and the main character, although when we meet him, he seems mostly devoted to alcohol and appearing naked, unintentionally, in the strangest places. But we can put that down to “time jumps.” Salvador will lead us on a path to discovering his past lives as he revisits them on a quest to save the love of his life, Jemma. Salvador might even take us into a future event; readers hang on to see if this happens.
Jemma occupies most of this story in a coma. Doctors are waiting to pull the plug. Because Jemma can give mental winks, nudges, and nods to Salvador indicating that she is still sentient, Salvador accepts no one’s opinion that Jemma is almost clinically dead. He will find clues Jemma is communicating to him that will unlock a mystery which in turn might restore Jemma.
Jemma’s mystery, a problem to be solved not only for the good of Jemma, is the story of Ashlen, a young girl who has been kidnapped and enslaved by a pervert who was looking for a wife. Chapter 20, Sanctity, can be difficult to read, although I am not justifying a trigger warning.
Salvador’s mission has a main focus, but not a sole focus, on saving Jemma. Salvador is aware of the mystery that is Ashlen. And there is the lovely Camille, a childhood friend (girlfriend?) of Salvador. She is also a mystery for Salvador; she had abruptly disappeared from his life when she was thirteen. At various points on Salvador’s quest to save Jemma, Camille will appear and reappear, sometimes in a somewhat ghostly manner. Some sexual situations might put some readers off but, again, I saw no need for a sexual language trigger warning. Scenes are not salacious.
I found Schunker’s character descriptions complete and appealing. Jemma is every girl I would like to meet both due to great physical and emotional descriptions. Camille is well described and projects overall sadness at her fate. Reader emotions might follow, mine did.
While I was reading, I wanted to give this a four-star Amazon rating because of organization mentioned earlier. But I couldn’t do it. Dimension deserves five stars as a unique genre-bending read. If the novel were evaluated solely as a psychological thriller, a fantasy thriller, or a time travel tale, my rating might differ. In combination, this is a superb read that will ask for the reader’s attention but will then reward the effort.
An Unfortunate Dimension is for sale at Amazon for USD 3.99 and is not yet available through Kindle Unlimited. The story is worth the price of admission.
I like science fiction but I haven’t been reading a lot of it. To be honest, I got burned out by it. When I saw the blurb for An Unfortunate Dimension, I decided to read it. I am glad that I did because this book was good.
An Unfortunate Dimension is the story of Salvador. Salvador has been having a rough time lately. His wife, Jemma, is in a coma, on life support. Salvador has been experiencing weird occurrences. Like being dropped into an intense laser fight, naked. Or seeing his best friend who disappeared when he was 13 year old. Or seeing a young kidnapping victim alive. Salvador makes the connection between Jemma and the kidnapping victim the same day he is told that he has 7 days before they shut off life support. Convinced that saving Ashlen will save Jemma, Salvador does everything in his power to find her. But things aren’t what they seem. Can Salvador lead the police to Ashlen and save Jemma? Or will he fail?
I had a hard time getting into An Unfortunate Dimension. The beginning was confusing. There was so much going on that I had an issue keeping everything straight. There was a point during the first couple of chapters where I almost DNF’d. But I decided to keep on plugging along. By the 4th chapter, the book smoothed itself out. It turned into the book that I enjoyed reading.
Salvador: I liked Salvador. His grief over losing Jemma came off the pages. Once he realized who Ashlen was to Jemma, he was determined to find her. He was determined to help Jemma so she could be restored to him. He did have his faults. He drank way too much. His choice in friends made me question him on more than one occasion in the book. But what I liked the most about him was that he didn’t question anything that was happening to him. Even when he saw the demon (which would have freaked me out).
The kidnapping storyline was heartbreaking. I liked how the author foreshadowed what was going to happen. I also liked the connection to Camille. I thought it was interesting and I didn’t put two and two together.
The author did a fantastic job with the science fiction storyline. I liked how he included VR in this book. The whole scene with the shaman was creepy but informative. The revelation of the alien planet was creepy too. Knowing what I know now, I understand what that planet was too Salvador.
The plot twist in An Unfortunate Dimension was one that I didn’t see coming. I was taken aback by it. I did a no way. I can’t say too much more about it because I will be giving away spoilers. This is the second book in as many weeks with a plot twist that took my by surprise.
The end of An Unfortunate Dimension is tied into the plot twist. So, I am not going to say anything about it. Only that I was shaking my head and saying “No way” up until the last sentence.