Journey: Worlds Apart by Nick DeRiso chronicles the band back before they became an offshoot of Santana. You'll find out who started Journey, how they rose in popularity, and how all the band members fit into the mix. Then it switches gears to when they started struggling to remain on top and keep it together, even after their universally loved lead singer left the band. It untangles the legal web that's been claustrophobically silencing the band, which almost resembles a Western movie shootout where everyone turns against one another.

I will say that Journey is the first rock band I ever loved. The first time I heard Escape at my cousins' house in South Jersey, I instantly was enamored. I still remember traveling back to North Jersey on the New Jersey Turnpike with all the songs replaying in my head. I begged my mom when we returned to take me to a record store or any kind of store that had this album, and it's still a favorite.

For Journey fans, this book provides all the information that you ever needed to know. It's packed with so much information about the band members, their touring life and personal lives, and their recording of many of their seminal albums. It's totally comprehensive to the point that you may grow a little bored. That is not the fault of the author. He does an excellent job of covering everything that's important. The problem is that after Raised on Radio is covered, the book slows down immeasurably, and I had trouble staying interested. Except for when you find out how they hired Arnel Pineda to take over for Steve Perry, the book couldn't keep my interest.

I like the way this book is arranged, though, with quick snippets of information through charts of current record albums, a rundown of who they toured with, who recorded what, and more. If you're not interested in every part of (ahem) Journey's journey, you can page through the book until you get to a section that interests you more.

You get biographies of most Journey members who made an impact. The coverage of Steve Perry really gives you insight into his reasons for leaving and conduct in the band, some of which wasn't favorable. I bet not everyone knows that Randy Jackson from American Idol toured with Journey and has a resume of outstanding talent to boot. I didn't even know that they had a handful of other people to cover the singing. I knew about Arnel because the story is one of fairy tales, but that's the extent. If you ever see the documentary about him, it's compelling.

One thing I never knew about was that the item shown on many of the albums is a scarab. Hearing about how that symbol came to be associated with Journey fascinated me. I'll never look at Escape or any of the other albums in the same way again. Who knew, either, that the alien- or robot-like creature on Frontiers had a name! I almost feel silly for not knowing about the scarab.

My final summation for this book is that it's definitely for fans who will read the entire book. If you're more of a casual fan, it may be easier to pick up the electronic version to skip past sections that may not interest you. Otherwise, it may be too much information to digest because there's so much of it.

This review only needs four words: READ THIS BOOK NOW!!!

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.