Thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book! This was an equal parts of love and confusion for me, but I know others will enjoy it! It's immersive and it pulls you in with its plot and characters, so if you love that kind of experience, give this a chance!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an eARC and physical copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I mean this in the best way possible, but what the fuck did I read?? Did I enjoy it: absolutely. Am I still kinda confused, yes 😂.

Another Dimension of Us was a wild ride. This book is definitely sci-fi but in a different way. Think more like Warcross, astral projecting and time travel! I didn’t know what to expect going into this one and I absolutely loved how weird this book was. It is truly over the place, but in the best way! I definitely plan to reread this one at some point. I really loved the characters and how the time lines crossed each other. The ending had me in tears.

Rep: white gay cis male MC with anxiety, BIPOC queer cis female MC with vitiligo, white lesbian cis female side character, Black queer nonbinary side character, Latino achillean cis male side character, various queer side characters.
CWs: AIDS epidemic (mentions/discussion, fear of it), pandemic mentions (both AIDS and futuristic unknown viruses), quarantine and virus screening mentions, death, death of loved one, homophobia/homomisia, general queerphobia/queermisia, ableism, bullying (towards character with vitiligo and gay character in separate instances), mentions of racism, fire/fire injury, medical content, lightning strike, violence, injury/injury detail, queerphobic slurs, gay used as an insult.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

I was into this until we got to Lolly and then it all went downhill. For a book that wanted to discuss such serious topics the tone is super inconsistent.

DNF at 60%

Thank you NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Penguin Workshop, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

It's the 1986 and Tommy is in love with his best friend Renaldo, but with the AIDS crisis and the rampant homophobia, nothing is simple and they can't be free to be in love or share their own feelings. When he's struck by a lightining one terrible night everything changes.
In the 2044 an high school student named Pris wakes up after having had a vivid dream about a boy named Tommy and an house people call "The murder house". Deciding to investigate, she ventures into the house and found a book about trans-dimensional travel that changes everything. Merging bodies and mind on the astral plane, Pris, Tommy and their friends decide to race to save Renaldo from a dangerous demon, also uncovering truths about love, sexuality and friendship.

Another dimension of us by Mike Albo is a very peculiar, intriguing and wonderful story about love, friends and what would you do for those you love, between astral planes, past and future and also demons. The story is captivating, skillfully written and I felt so involved in it. I loved the characterization, the development of these characters and their bonds with each other. When I've read the description " The breakfast club meets Stranger things" I couldn't not read this book and I was so happy I did.
Astral planes, books about travels, love, sexuality, growing up, it was amazing! I totally recommend it!

DNF at 45%
I just could not get through this... The worldbuilding and character development was so confusing, and I could not see this improving. I wish that I could love this since the representation in it is amazing, the execution was just... not.

This story follows a pair of queer teens as they try to rescue their friends from demons across the interdimensional planes through astral projection. Tommy is a teen in 1986 at the height of the AIDS pandemic, and Pris is a teen in 2044, where society is accepting of gender fluidity and queerness. ⁣
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I really enjoyed reading this! All of the characters felt very realistic - Tommy was my favorite and I adored reading his story. Pris was also a really great character. I loved her friendship with Jayde and Tommy.⁣
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From start to finish, I was rooting for our little crew. Overall, I really enjoyed the dynamics in this book. The ending of this novel had me a whole mess. All in all, this was a very enjoyable queer novel.

There was so much going on in this book at once that it made it hard to follow and figure out what the book was really about or the message that it was trying to send. I really did like the characters and the romance that we are briefly introduced to and the way this story ends broke my heart because of how invested I was. I did like seeing how everything came together in the end and how all the characters we are introduced to begin to make sense. This is one that you have to stick with until the end because of how the end makes sense of the rest of the pieces.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with an e-ARC of Another Dimension of Us & PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook!

DNF @ about a quarter of the way.

Another Dimension of Us definitely has some nice vibes, but unfortunately, I couldn't motivate myself to keep reading. At this point, I couldn't even tell you what happened in the bit that I did read. However, this 100% feels like a me thing, so if you're looking for an LGBTQIA+ rep science fiction, check this one out and see if it works for you!

dnf at 45%
(2 stars because netgalley doesn't let reviews go through without ratings)

i feel so bad not finishing this book but it is just... it's so juvenile in its writing but so mature in its subject matter and the disconnect is really throwing me off. i really like all the representation throughout this book, since pretty much everyone in the queer cast is queer in some way and most are also poc. but that doesn't cover the fact that this book jumps through events so quickly and haphazardly that i have no idea what's going on and why it matters. i think the concept could've been interesting but the execution, at least up until the halfway mark, was very much lacking.

Another Dimension of Us follows Tommy Gaye in 1986, who’s struggling to reconcile with his (very gay) feelings for his best friend Renaldo. But when René gets sucked into the world of astral projection (fancy way of saying they travel through dimensions and time), things turn upside down. At the same time, Pris from 2044 goes to the same high school, but by her time the world has been shook by a deadly virus and life had changed forever. And somehow… Tommy and Pris cross paths in the midst of trying to save their respective friends from a mysterious demon.

Ok, here’s the thing: this book was so promising. And I honestly think that if the plot had followed more of what the actual synopsis MAKES it sound like, it would have a better execution? But the reality is that it’s exactly as confusing as I made it sound in my own summary, and I struggled a LOT coming up with those words (hopefully it mostly makes sense).

A big problem I had with it was simply the (lack of) cohesion. The POV was consistent on Tommy for the first 20%ish and then at one point just kept switching, very rapidly, to characters I don’t think were necessary to hear thoughts from.

The pacing, too, was awkward. It started off steady, then dragged on for a good chunk as it was inching towards the point of the book, and by the time it was speeding up again, we had another problem: the plot. The plot, once the whole interdimensional travel thingy happened, was written to be so incredibly wacky and out of context, that I had an extremely hard time taking it seriously.

There was also the element that the 2044 plot was referencing a “virus” that appeared and never /DIS/appeared twenty years previous… a direct reference to covid. And, I mean, I’m not necessarily against integrating some sort of epidemic into a story based around the future, but it kinda overdramatized the effects to the point where it made it seem so silly and outlandish. When in reality, this epidemic has killed millions of people worldwide.

I also just in general did not like the characters. The 1986 timeline was better than the 2044 timeline in terms of characters, and I think that’s because they had clear motivations and a more concrete context, whereas the 2044 characters were in this very made-up world with holograms of people to BUY to have as a girlfriend, hovercars, and everything social running through a single social platform that’s never really explained. It’s just? Not at ALL what can possibly happen between now and 20 years in the future.

This book was honestly very ridiculous. I really, really enjoyed the concept, but I wish the book had been focused more on one timeline (the 1980’s timeline) and built those characters and their struggles, rather than adding external, theoretical factors.

Content Warnings: death, injury (lighting strike), disturbing imagery, coma, kidnapping, supernatural possession, bullying, infidelity (of a parent)

The premise sounded interesting and the first 20% worked for me, leaving me to think this would have lighter dimensional travel / sci-if elements. However as this progressed, the book seemed to lose its way, it was hard to follow along with, what the rules of the dimensions and astral plane are, and what belongs to each timeline. The book just couldn’t decide what it wanted to focus on and i think it just included too many characters, side themes, and issues against a complicated time / dimensional travel backdrop.

Points for great musical references though!

rating: 4.5/10 (2.5, rounded up to 3)

This book started off so strong. I absolutely loved part 1 with Tommy and Rene in the 1980s. Rene is a bit eccentric and really smart and loves poetry but is slowly going mad with his obsession of travelling to another dimension. Tommy juggles with being a queer boy with acne in the 80s during the AIDS crisis while also being in love with this complicated boy who he both admires and is a little scared for. And then at the height of it all, Rene is struck by lightening. By this point in the book I was absolutely invested.

And then we switch to Pris, a teen girl from the future. I don't know why 20 years from the pub date of this book is so futuristic (the world feels more like 100 years in the future not 20). The focus of this world is very much like the Covid pandemic we just had and I absolutely am not a fan of that (and the 80s part is already about the AIDS virus, why do we need all these other viruses? I think a teacher in the futuristic part tried to connect it all but eh).

I started losing interest in what had already been built up with Tommy and Rene. And then we start getting more POVs, including one from a librarian in the 1980s who is 25 years old. So then I got confused as to what age group this is for because I thought it was a little strange that a non-teenager had a POV in a YA book.

The first 25% with Tommy in the 80s was so good. It was slowly building up to something that felt really genuine and nice and I was completely on board until after the lightning strike. The rest of the book doesn't even feel like it's part of the same book that the first 25% is part of. There is just so much going on after that in a really muddled and weird way. A dream world, a mystery, a bunch of characters from the past and different ones from the future, a demon. It's just kind of a mess and a complete 180 from the great beginning.

I will add that the cast of characters is diversely queer with gay characters, a lesbian couple, and a nonbinary character. The main female character from the future, Pris, also has a type of vitiligo. So I did enjoy the range of rep in the characters.

Thanks to penguin for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Teen for an earc of this book!

This is such an interesting mix of historical fiction and sci-fi and time travel but really astral plane travel??? Also like possession? Lmao there is a lot going on.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and the characters. At times there was a bit much happening and the MC went hard on the self-pity, but I enjoyed the character development and the way things turned out!

Thank you to Penguin Workshop/NetGalley for a copy of Another Dimension of Us in exchange for an honest review.

Historical fiction?
Times of great social upheaval — epidemics, pandemics, wars — bear strange fruit. The art to come from these times is undoubtedly some of the strangest, tasting of all flavors, nutritious and poisonous all at once. Mike Albo’s Another Dimension of Us reconciles with the reverberation of the AIDS crisis up through to today’s COVID pandemic, with distant vibrations of US America’s other crimes.

I was born in 1987, so I didn’t live through the AIDS crisis my (only slightly older) forequeers did. I don’t think the generational trauma from that crisis has escaped my generation. I felt shockwaves during the initial waves of the COVID pandemic and then Mpox … my point is, if this is the terror I feel, I can’t really begin to imagine how older queers feel.


Another Dimension of Us packages all that pain and sorrow into sci-fi that’s giving Inside Out meets Stranger Things with hints of Pan’s Labyrinth. It’s truly a brilliant concept. And I hated reading it.

Pull those triggers
One of the great things about being a book reviewer is that I read things outside my comfort zone. In my private life, I prefer escapist fluff and romance novels. I’m not opposed to reading or watching media that makes me sad or uncomfortable. It’s just … the real world sucks enough. My issue always comes back to: How much real-world pain do I want to subject myself to while reading? What am I gaining from this?

On the other hand, writing is a way to work through our traumas, and it seems that Albo is doing just that. I get it. I wanted to support that. It’s an exciting process to see on the page. There’s a lot of creativity here; even with the summary provided, I didn’t expect Another Dimension of Us to get into the Akashic records (quite literally, in fact).

Should you read it?
When I look at other review sites, Mike Albo’s Another Dimension of Us has middling reviews, receiving some low star ratings for being poorly executed and/or disturbing. For one, I found the novel well-executed and easy to follow.

Secondly, when I say the novel upset me viscerally, it is not to put you off from reading it. Another Dimension of Us is not a bad book — it is a good book with very upsetting themes. That’s not for everyone.

Another Dimension of Us is out on January 17, 2023. Pick up a copy at your local indie bookstore or library. 📚🌌

Content warnings: Racism, homophobia, bullying, queer death (including a trans woman of color), kidnapping, pandemics.

This book unfortunately I did not finish, I just didn’t really vibe with it. I like the idea of this book but I couldn’t get into the plot or characters

a queer sci-fi, that’s usually right up my alley. however, and it truly pains me to say this, but it was really not for me.

it started off so strong, following tommy and rené, writing their poems, silently pining after each other, and seemingly falling their way into a supernatural/magical situation. based on what i knew, from the blurbs and how it was marketed, i was mostly expecting to be following these two boys as they went searching for each other. interacting with the second timeline much more indirectly than they actually did.

but okay, for the first 1/3 or so, we did have this much more focused story. tommy, rené, and dara, each trying to figure out themselves in high school. trying to figure out what’s going on with rené and his obsession with astral projection. that was all alright. it really did unfortunately start going downhill a bit more for me when we were introduced to pris and jayde.

it’s from here that you could tell that this book was most probably written at the height of covid lockdowns. their timeline has a deadly virus that’s impacted their lives for 20+ years aka literally covid. and i, for one, do not love even the fictional idea that that many years into the future we’ll still be grappling with a pandemic. one that looks to be even more deadlier. no thank you! our currently reality is already anxiety-inducing and impactful enough.

but okay, aside from that. it’s once these characters timelines cross over that it really starts to go off the rails for me, personally. the characters spend a good portion of the book in this astral world, and while that’d be fine and dandy. it truly felt like the author was trying to think of any “whimsical” thing they could and literally throw it at the characters. the middle portion was wasted with them doing every random challenge possible. you could take that out and the book’s progression would be exactly the same. so this was definitely the most difficult part for me to get through.

after that, it definitely moves fairly quickly, but i really did just struggle to connect with the characters. and not only that but the “final battle” of sorts felt almost… too easy? idk, it just all wrapped so quickly. things happened. and then they wrapped everything up. eventually the author connected these characters back in the “earthly world”, which i did appreciate.

but beyond the big picture, there were so many little things that just added up. mainly, with when tommy and pris interacted in the astral plane at the beginning. there were so many things that tommy would ask that pris just wouldn’t answer. like, important things to their respective timelines. just so many little things…

overall, this was quite a struggle to get through. the stakes were never really that high. the idea, while it had so much potential, definitely fell so flat for me. i know this will find an audience, but that audience isn’t me this time.

First I want to say thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for this ARC.

I sadly DNF this book about 5% in. I normally try to read more before I DNF but I just could not get in to this book no matter how hard I tried. I felt like the writing was off and from what I’ve seen of other reviews the book doesn’t get much better. I really do believe that this book simply wasn’t for me and since I did DNF it I will not be giving a star rating.

Thank you Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Another Dimension of Us is a story told in multiple timelines from two POV’s that merge via astral projection when two teens attempt to rescue their friends from demons across inter dimensional planes. That, mixed with the cover, and the queer rep, had me immediately wanting to read this book. Unfortunately, after getting about half way through, I realized this book wasn’t my cup of tea.

Tommy, one of the POVs seems disconnected from the important plots of the book and instead is constantly pining over his best friend. Also, the jump from 1990 to 2044 from one chapter to the next wasn’t done in a particularly interesting way, leaving me more confused than anything at the introduction of an entire new POV and timeline 20% into the book.

Overall, the style and content of the book wasn’t for me, but maybe others will enjoy giving it a read.