Book Tour - THE BOY WHO WALKED TOO FAR by Dom Watson

Out of This World SFF Reviews is delighted to be just one of the many blogs participating in the Storytellers On Tour Book Tour featuring author Dom Watson and his first book in the Xindii Chronicles, THE BOY WHO WALKED TOO FAR!  Today is day #5 of the tour and I am very excited to be bringing you a synopsis of this SFF novel as well as my official review and some additional links to connect with Dom and his books.

And now, here is a brief description of THE BOY WHO WALKED TOO FAR followed by my review:


Book Description:
It's the end of the universe, and everything has come undone.  Entropy has won the war, but one last battle rages in the half-ruined city of Testament.

No one knows who created this last outpost and peopled it with billions of species.  However, it is here, under a sky with no stars, that the last remnants of life in the universe live, love, and pray to their many gods.  It is here where Godrich Felstrom dies.

Most residents of Testament care little for the affairs of a single fragile human, but the event brings back bad memories for Heironymous Xindii.

It has been many years since the dreamurlurgy professor discovered his true potential and doomed four people in the process.  Now, he lectures to bored students who dream of the many pleasures Testament has to offer.  Xindii, on the other hand, becomes obsessed with the mysterious Godrich and his missing soul.  As he and his valiant companion, the Neanderthal Solomon Doomfinger, look back at Felstrom's last steps, they discover the shocking truth about Felstrom's death, his destiny, and the future of Testament and all those angels, demons, liars, and dreamers who call it home.


Review:
I don't think I've ever read a book quite like THE BOY WHO WALKED TOO FAR.  There are so many different elements and influences fused into the story that it really makes for a multi-textured and fascinating read that keeps you guessing throughout.  At times it felt like a murder mystery SF story, it also had moments of unrelenting dark fiction, futuristic SF, and fantasy.  So to say that this story really makes your head spin (in a good way) is an understatement.  

I don't want to get too much into specifics about the plot because I feel like describing anything in further detail from the book blurb will give away too much.  I will say that the I couldn't help but be reminded of Isaac Asimov's Robot series, most specifically The Caves of Steel, as the mystery of Felstrom's death was being investigated.  As the circumstances begin to get revealed gradually, the parallels to that series by Asimov were inescapable in my opinion.  Yet THE BOY WHO WALKED TOO FAR has a lot more going on than just a SF Noir tale in a futuristic world.

I will say that this is not an easy read that you can just pick up with a lot of distractions happening around you and still be able to follow it.  Quite the contrary, as there are so many subtle things that occur which if you miss, will make it really hard for you to reconnect with what is happening.  So you really need to focus on every aspect of the plot because events occur early on in the book that are important for later on.

The world-building is out of this world great (no pun intended).  Dom Watson has created such a deep and wondrous setting with Testament and its environs that this book is such a pleasure to read almost based on that alone.  When you add to that some terrific characters, a wickedly dark and brutal story line, and a mystery that is incredibly intriguing and keeps you hooked to the very last page, the result is a genre-traversing story that both entertains and horrifies at the same time.  I look forward to reading more books by Dom Watson and also to seeing where he takes this series in particular.  If you are looking for a different and challenging read that is far from the usual fluff variety, pick up a copy of THE BOY WHO WALKED TOO FAR.

Rating: 8/10

You can purchase this book on Amazon and many other online retailers.

Author Bio
Dom Watson lives, writes, and dreams in Suffolk, England.  He enjoys life with his wife, daughter, and three cats.  He also doesn't mind the occasional glass of Merlot.  

You can connect with Dom online via Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

And that concludes my stop on THE BOY WHO WALKED TOO FAR book tour!  Hope you enjoyed it.  I would like to extend a special thank you to Storytellers On Tour and author Dom Watson for the opportunity to participate.  There are many more awesome stops on this tour, so if you would like to check those out, below is the official schedule.
As always, thank you for stopping by and supporting the blog.  Every visit and page view is appreciated more than you know.  Stay safe and healthy and Happy Reading!

-Nick

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