Skipshock by Caroline O'Donoghue

Margo is travelling to her Irish boarding school by train when she slips into an alternate universe and finds herself on another train in a very different world where even the length of a day may be different. In her confusion she is rescued or claimed by a young man bearing a crescent-moon shaped tattoo (known as Moon) and discovers that she really does not fit in this new world but is somehow very valuable and potentially powerful. There are others pursuing her and her disruptive influence seems to stimulate the rebellious locals, but also causes those who oppose them to become even more violent. Can she ever get back home and can they restore the world to its former normality or has Margo’s arrival set ‘the cat amongst the pigeons’? And is Margo’s attraction to Moon something that can survive the odd alternative reality that she is now trapped within? 

This is a very clever alternate reality story that is complex and confusing in equal measure. Nothing that seems normal remains in this story - with different laws for time, strangely complex aging patterns, and social conditions that are unrecognisable. But what is recognisable is teenage attraction, the growth of romantic interest and working out how they can survive when they are under attack. With a unique dystopian feel, O’Donoghue has created a powerful story that also has commentary on discrimination and prejudice within the alt-society. The story is told with a third-person alternate focus on Margo and Moon, so we find their perspectives, but not in their voice. After the initial confusion of the worlds with no commonality to our own, the story does become quite compelling and we are left dangling at its conclusion. As this is book 1 of a duology there will need to be patient to wait for the next instalment in this exciting story. Readers aged 15+ are the target audience for this book… just note that the main characters do explore their relationship physically as is expected in the new social environment of the alt-world and there are some steamy scenes.

Themes: Dystopian worlds, Parallel universes, Rebellion, Romance, Discrimination.

Carolyn Hull