Dark Luminance

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Luminance is written by E. M. McDowell and is a Sci-Fi, Horror, Action novel.  McDowell writes with the knowledge of technology and science.   The book revolves around the main character Mack and his friends/coworkers as they are thrust from Earth into a parallel dimension of a similar world, that is like our own on the surface.  Unfortunately, that is where similarities end, as they actually end up meeting someone who has the same name and face as someone they knew on Earth, and yet is a completely different person. 

Mack is plagued by guilt and ghosts of his past and is craving a release, but in his search for a greater energy source, he ends up dragging his friends and another person working at his lab along for the ride.  It is not long before they are encountered and attacked by untold horrors.  I must commend McDowell on this book because he has taken a lot of traditional science fiction ideas and given them an original twist that claims them as his own inventions.

Dark Luminance is fast paced from the beginning and doesn't let up until the end.  It is written in a way that it could easily be recreated as a horror movie.  The possibilities of where this story could go are endless.  The ending is very open-ended in that the reader can be left wondering if this is the end or if there is more to come.  Personally I am hoping to see several more books with these characters to explore what they may encounter next.

McDowell has introduced characters that are realistic and have doubts and emotional issues.  He has also introduced characters that make you cringe and keep hoping they will die and that you will figure out what their ulterior motives may be.  It is easy to follow along on this journey with the characters that are brought to life on the pages.

Admittedly I was hoping that with the concept of parallel universes and that possible parallel selves may have been pulled back to Earth in our lifetime that we would have been able to get to know those characters and what they will be.  I kept wondering if they are dead in one world will they transport?  What if they are some of the horrors encountered in the new world, what would that do to Earth as we know it?   This was on thing that I really felt was missing in the story, but perhaps it could be a second part so as not to confuse the reader.  The only other negative aspect that really stood out for me was in the last 10% of the story, it seemed that the counting of the characters was sometimes off.  Sometimes referring to the group as three and sometimes as four, wasn't always adding up for me. 



Overall I give Dark Luminance 4/5 stars.  It was an enjoyable read and had a lot of innovative ideas.  I hope to see more books about these characters and concepts and hope that the ending will be a start to a new "chapter" in this story.  If you are into Sci-Fi, Horror, Action, or Thrillers, you would enjoy this book!