When teenager Benjamin’s mother is struck by a devastating illness, the race is on to find a cure. With the help of his eccentric uncle – an outcast scientist – Benjamin embarks on a mind-bending journey across multiple dimensions. As he uses inter-dimensional travel to work his way through a wild fantasy adventure, he meets an eclectic cast of characters along the way. With countless dangers and corrupt societies at every stage of the expedition, will Benjamin be able to return safely to his own dimension and reunite with his mother?
The way Mike Maroney has written this book is mind-bending and deeply creative, combining the surreal and the ordinary to create this really unique satirical tale. The world-building – or rather, dimension building – is highly complex, and a lot of thought has clearly gone into the way Benjamin travels across space and time. The language used to describe the inter-dimensional travel is especially fun to explore:
“The thought that had once been a boy called Benjamin hovered on the edge of reason.”
The dimension featuring a society governed by social media status was pretty unique, with a Black Mirror vibe. Overall, there is a lot of social commentary going on in this book, and while this is clearly satirical, there’s something to be said for trusting your readers to come to their own conclusions and not spell everything out for them.
The sense of humour throughout this novel is really endearing and – as this is often delivered through Benjamin’s thoughts – this makes it very easy to root for Benjamin and to enjoy him as a character. The way Benjamin’s commentary is presented is a little unpolished, however. There’s no distinction between Benjamin’s thoughts and the otherwise third-person narration, which is distracting and difficult to ignore. Paired with an information overload at the beginning of the book, and constant action with no breaks, this was an overwhelming reading experience at times.
While at times awkward and overbearing, The Fantastic Journey of Benjamin Washington is a humorous, unique fantasy novel that gives readers a lot to think about. This is a science-fiction fantasy novel reminiscent of the books I used to read growing up, and I loved the creativity and descriptive language. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
You can find The Fantastic Journey of Benjamin Washington available for purchase here.
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