Paul Melko

Calling the Walls of the Universe Science-Fiction is only a technical truth, in reality the books science-fiction element are few and widely separated by most of the book. The premise for Wall of the Universe is a that a boy,john, is given a device that permits the travel between alternate universes. This concept is largely tWotU's only Sci-Fi element, still its a wonderful idea that promises many interesting worlds colored with humor and peril. What the author gives us instead boils down to three of four of the same conversation, in sundry alternate existences, and a sequence of flash journeys where he just tells you the protagonist jumped through world; albeit these jumps take place in a despairing flight, but still. That is the majority of tWotU's Sci-fi, there's a little more universe jumping at the climax, which treads toward spoiler territory, and some exposition concerning the state of all universes as a whole.
After this wee bit of Sci-fi, tWotU devolves into a book about the building of a life, with john trying to find a place in his new universe, the teleporting device being broken, and struggling through a patent war over pinball, which he confiscated from his original universe. Meanwhile his double, who original gave john the device, proceeds to make himself at home in John's original universe. What follows is another life story, involving teen pregnancies and failed patents, that is only briefly enlivened by an act of manslaughter, and i mean briefly. The manslaughter story arch consumes about three chapters and then fades away without actual resolution. This is the extent, and vast majority, of tWotU's story.
As for the characters, they are basic, predictable, uninteresting, and quite often asinine. While there are characters you like, mostly because there is a lack of unappealing traits, there are none you enjoy to read about, explore, or take the journey through tWotU with.
Finally we have the prose. The prose is weak, possibly analogous in quality to tWotU's Sci-fi, and relies heavily on telling. The dialogue is comparable to the characters, and adds no life to them; there is nothing in any sequence of dialogue for any character the differentiates that character from any other.
simply said, there are much better Science-Fiction novels, and life stories/literature, out there than tWotU; I suggest you go read those instead.… (more)