Content warnings: loss of a loved one, kidnapping, minor self harm (intentionally cutting hand open to act as a key)

What a bombshell to start 2023 off with! Set the bar incredibly high for the rest of the year haha!!

I saw this in the library, had no clue what it was, never heard of it before, but the cover looked neat and the blurb was interesting so I gave it a go. I am *so* glad I did. This book is insanely creative, descriptive and just so damn gripping!

12 Yr old Flick moves to a new town, convinced it'd be bad, she goes around the shopping square looking for something to do. Inexplicably she's pulled towards a small, unassuming shop called The Strangeworlds Travel Agency. Inside she meets Jonathan and her entire world, and the multiverse, gets flipped upside down.

I just can't stop thinking about how much I'd kill to see some illustrations or something of the worlds, the descriptions though were utterly delightful! The queer rep was lovely as well. It's nice to have books where that's a main focus, but it's just as great to just have representation be just there. Not as any explicitly mentioned character traits, but a couple obvious hints and then they're just treated like any other character's identity.

My only downside to this was the pacing. The first half was some very deep world building, but then everything is crammed at a very fast pace into the second half, and when basically no questions are answered it does feel a bit too fast and a bit too confusing. Though, it answers enough for you to stay with the main 2 characters. They're both confused and searching for answers, you know as much as them, so the book at least doesn't assume you know things. Hopefully in book 2 they answer a lot of the questions.