Pilgrimage

Excellent writing, well-drawn characters and a fascinating story. The longer I read, the more I liked it. I think the most interesting part of the book is that the physical world was medieval but the people had more advanced social ideas than the present - odd juxtaposition but it worked well.

4.5 Stars ~ \"What do you want?\" he asked, knowing he sounded pitiful.
She turned away from the laptop to face him fully. She was smiling. \"I want you to be a hero. A savior.\"
Wow. Talk about pressure.
Mike is having the weirdest experience of his entire life and it's no wonder he initially believes someone slipped hallucinogens into his fast food. A goddess, Agata, appeared in his apartment, transported him to another world, and now he has to complete a pilgrimage to appease her sister goddess, Alina, and lift a curse. Whoa. This alternate world appears to be stuck in the Middle Ages and Mike is forced to make his journey with stolen, handmade clothes, no shoes, no money, and not a technological gadget in sight. Crap. Then he meets Goran and Goran offers to be Mike's guide and protect him if, in exchange at the end of the pilgrimage, Mike gives Goran the journal Agata gave to him at the beginning of his journey. Sounds easy enough.
Their journey is hard, most definitely for Mike, as this is all new to him and being without his creature comforts and basic necessities he's always taken for granted is difficult. Mike and Goran begin to get to know one another and Mike wonders at what has happened in Goran's life to make him want to stay drunk as much as possible. They travel all day, every day, stopping at Alina's shrines where Mike has to make sacrifices and apologies to the goddess. Along the way, Mike learns more about Goran, and the more he learns, the more he grows to care about him. But Mike knows it can't last, for when his pilgrimage is complete he must return home.
This was the most fascinating premise for a book and Kim Fielding definitely did it justice. I loved it. I laughed and I cried, ugly snot and all. I can't tell the ending because it would ruin it, but I can say that these characters were real, in a way that hit me right in the gut and this is a story I won't soon forget. The love Mike and Goran shared was so pure and blindingly brilliant that it made my heart ache. Thank you, Kim, for a wonderful book.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews