Paraworld Zero, Vol. 1 Book

After reading Paraworld Zero, by Matthew Peterson, I am impressed. Matthew Peterson resides in Arizona with his wife and five sons. He has a degree in Business Management, an Eagle Scout award, and a second degree black belt in karate. Paraworld Zero is his first title.
Simon Kent thought he was just an ordinary twelve year old. He may be a bit of a weakling, have asthma, chased by bullies, and live in a foster home- but he does have his video games. That is, until he stumbles upon Tonya, a girl who can perform magic and whose hair can change colors with her passing moods. Somehow he is swept into a futuristic world where nothing is as he knows it. Together, with Tonya, they unravel an ancient mystery, brawl with mystical creatures, and attempt to save the universe from impending doom.
On the cover of this book it has this listed as Book One in Parallel Worlds. I am not entirely sure if this implies this is a series, or if there will be more, but Matthew Peterson sure leaves it open to do so.
Now, if I'm being perfectly honest, the sci-fi genre is completely out of my element and I have very little to compare this to. Typically I find myself bored with this genre. I found a few grammatical errors with commas, but there were very few and it was not distracting nor did it deter me from reading.
After saying that, I found this to be an original, creative, and engaging story. This young-adult sci-fi book is filled with demonic dumpsters, cat-like women, hideous villains, magic, wild chases, dragons, gigantic spiders and worms, ravenous creature devouring trees, giants, dwarves… you name it! It packs you with one adventure after another. This is a cross between Harry Potter and Star Trek, with characters right out of Lord of the Rings! I am utterly amazed at how engrossed I was by this book. The characters, from the Puds, to the royalty, to Marmasuelian, to Simon and Tonya are believable and endearing. It made me want to jump to a parallel dimension, too! This book makes you feel the magic and imagination of childhood all over again. Something I think we all lose after we grow up, and what a shame. To experience the prospect that anything is possible again was a real delight, even if only cover to cover. I would very much like to see this adapted on screen. Matthew Peterson will be edging his way through the writing community with this one, no doubt about that! I hope to see more from these characters in the future.

Kelly Moran,
Author and Reviewer