Kassandra Sims, Falling Upwards

Falling Upwards

Kassandra Sims

Tor, Apr 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0765355817

Neva Jones is in Wales on a business trip when she meets the enigmatic March. From the onset, she thought he was different though she is not sure why except that he seems to live in this world and somehow outside this world.

In sweet home Alabama, curious and attracted to March, Neva suffers from hallucinations that frighten her. Still, she develops a hypothesis to overcome the limitations of her mind. On the other hand, March believes Neva is the woman who can lift the curse that has left him with one foot in a realm of dreams and one in the mortal plane. As Neva begins to believe that there is more to the universe than the physical plane starting with the metaphysical feelings of falling in love, she struggles with reality vs. illusion as she enters a realm in which her only realism anchor is March.

FALLING UPWARDS is a sort of modernizing of Alice Through the Looking Glass. The storyline starts a bit slow and disjointed as Neva and March meet in a Welsh pub, but once she crosses over into a fantasy realm, the storyline turns fast-paced and exciting as the heroine ponders whether reality means insanity. Fans who dive into that Alabama pond with Neva will enjoy her quest once she steps out of the water to meet fantasy species, talking animals and, of course, March.

Harriet Klausner