Brainwalker

This a very amazing tale about a boy who is in love with science, he would ask just about any question to keep his mind buzzing with ideas and theories, however his dad has lost all will to experiment and try new things (although he's a scientist himself) because of a tragedy that occurred to the boy's mom in which she lost her life.

The boy jokes about changing his dad's brain but little does he know that's exactly what happens next when he's mind travels through a wormhole and ends up in the Brainiverse, the characters and the setting of this book are truly unique and very diverse, the plot is filled with fiction mixed with real brain concepts and puts everything into perspective from both fiction and reality.

Story starts and ends with the MOON! All will have to take a read to find out what I am talking about. This is a great Teen read revolving around young minds faced with the challenges of life. Barnard is a budding scientist without a clue how to pick an experiment that his teacher, Ms. Needleman, will approve of. Science is a battle ground of those that deal in facts and those that are more creative thinkers. Mundell weaves her book around these differences that stem from ideas drawn from either our left of right brain. Bernard is swept into a wormhole that leads him to travel into his father's brain. Narrative reminds me a lot of the 1990's cartoon series The Magic School Bus. Decision making in this story of another world will mean life or death for Bernard's father Floyd. Gifted a copy of this by author and publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

Book – Brainwalker
Author – Robyn Mundell & Stephan Lacast
Star rating - ★★★★☆

Cover – Intriguing
POV – 1st person, one character POV
Would I read it again – Maybe

Genre – Young Adult, Adventure, Supernatural, Fantasy


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **


While I think kids would love this, teenagers and middle-school kids especially, I did find it a little hard to follow in places. I'm not that knowledgeable about brains or neurons or what they do or where they are and how they work. And, though our MC is just learning all of this too, he's far more science minded than I am and I found myself getting a little lost in his erratic thoughts.

It was intriguing to follow Bernard through his normal life, then into the wormhole and into his dad's brain. There are some really nice illustrations to help us visualise things, and the creatures mentioned.

Mostly, I felt bad for Bernard, in his real life. No one really wanted him, listened or cared about him. That all began to make sense once he was inside his dad's head and, at the end, back out again. But I would have liked a little bit more to the ending. It felt a little abrupt.

There are some editing issues (missing quotation marks, missing words etc) but the story didn't have any plot holes and it was all nicely balanced between adventure, discovery and danger.

~

Favourite Quote

“See? So for all you know your entire universe might be inside someone's head.” Basilides counters.
I smile. This Holon reminds me of an even crazier version of myself. If we were in Ms. Needleman's together, we'd rule the class. Too bad he lives inside Dad's brain.”

When impulsive middle schooler Bernard finds himself in the Brainiverse after an accidental journey through a wormhole, he finds he must use both sides of his brain to save this world from self-destruction. Savvy readers will pick up the scientific jargon and make connections but a less scientifically minded reader will get plenty of clues to help them understand what Bernard is trying to do and who he is trying to save. The authors have found a creative way to introduce the functions of the brain in a creative way that's full of action, adventure, and suspense. Middle school boys will enjoy this one!

A fun, exciting read for the YA group and others. The adventurous young misfit finds himself in a precarious situation a scientific accident lands him inside his father's brain. He mus find the source of a dying world that is also causing his father's loss of imagination as well as his life. Learn the intricate workings of the human brain as Bernard searches the mysterious world for answers.

This is a very difficult book for me to review. Mostly because this is a YA book, and recently I have not been reading or loving many of them. I picked up that one because it was an original story, and I can say the development is original and well made too. Bernard, an adolescent who lost his mother to a science experiment gone wrong, find himself thrown through a wormhole insiede the brainverse, the universe that exists inside his father's brain without him being aware of it.

The idea was so new! I wanted to know how the author will exploit it. I found that the book was much more original and entertaining than some really famous contemporary YA book, and it could be a fun rrad even for adults (toward the end I really couldn't put it down, I needed to know how it ended!).

Anyway I will recommend it mostly to kids and young adults, it lacks of some depth, needed to make it a really good book for adult audience, but it's perfectly ok for young people, that's obviously its targeted audience. A young reader will never be bored for a second.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the Author for giving me the chance to read it through giving me ad advance copy in exchange for an honest rewiew.

Bernard was a thoughtful teenager who lived alone with his scientist dad after his Mom had died in an alchemy experiment. Bernard's dad had changed since his mother died - he used to be happy and relaxed and he enjoyed spending time with his family. But he had retreated into himself and was cold and distant towards his son.
Bernard then decides to do a science project on creating wormholes instead of studying the hidden messages in mushrooms. He thought his dad would be proud of his ingenuity.
Bernard was very interested in his father's work and the machine that he worked called an atom smasher because he wondered if it could create wormholes. Bernard visited his fathers office after getting in trouble for mooning his classmates and his curiosity got the best of him, he sneaked into the area where the machine was and he touches a button, expecting to see atoms smashing or a wormhole. His father tries to stop him and he is thrown to the ground.
Bernard wakes up in a strange world where people called "Holons" can create other people, Bernard was given a new body by an alien boy named " Basilides ." Bernard learns that this world depends on energy called, energeia, and that they need to find more of it or their world will collapse.Join Bernard and his new Holon friends In their search for energeia.
They find out that they are actually in Bernards' fathers' brain!
You will enjoy their thrilling adventure and the fantastic creatures they meet!

<b> Brainwalker
Authors: Robyn Mundell, Stephan Lacast
Publishers; DualMind Publishing
Genre: Adventure, Sci-fi
Specialties: Illustrations included
In a gist: It’s a dream-come-true book for me, wanted something like this ever since I’d watched Osmosis Jones</b>

<blockquote>”WOW! We’re headed straight for the ridge that links the brain’s hemispheres…What did Needleman call it in science class-the corpus callosum?
Except this is no science class.
This is the best fieldtrip of my life. </blockquote>
And so was it my best fieldtrip in my head!
Summary:
Brainwalker was such a surprise foe me, as I hadn’t expected to enjoy it so much even though it has a tone of a middle grade book but the plot was immensely entertaining, hilarious and quirky!
Bernard, our main character here is an eccentric, hyper-imaginative kid who has the most bizarre ideas and theories about his science project…nut the only problem is that his needle-some teacher and his classmates find them rather irrational.
So suspended from school after an act out ib his class he has no choice but to join his father in his workplace: Chemistry Research Centre, lets just say his troubles don’t just end there and he races off to avoid them and lands himself-both out of curiosity and coincidence-in front of the particle accelerator. <i>The Flash anyone?</i>.
Now sucked up into that wormhole (which he had theorized existed), he lands not as The fastest Man on Earth but inside his Father’s Brain!
And Im sure anyone can tell that’s where things start getting interesting; this world was so impressive and well done! I loved every minute (more like page) of it! And the illustrations at every chapter were most resourceful aspect of the book and made the story more fun and fascinating to read.
“cause here the brain’s mystery is being unraveled…we meet our celebrator Neurons, the charismas of the left & Right hemisphere of our brain and what keeps us going in our daily lives. But there’s a slight defect that Bernard didn’t think of facing was that the brain might not be as much as in harmony as theorized by scientists and that is having an fearful effect on his father’s well being.
So with the help of his newly-made friends he goes on an adventure (more like a treasure hunt) to find what makes the brain so lop-sided and fix it up before his time in the brain is up and also his father sinks into coma.

What I liked
The characters
They were so adorable and realistic, it made the adventure more exciting.
<blockquote<”If the desk is just made of energy”, Miranda demands, “how come if I bump into it, I bruise my leg?”
“’Cause you’re a clumsy cow?” I blurt out.</blockquote>
Bernard was witty, empathetic and comical and his newly made friends –Holons- were so well imagined and had grown on me very quickly. There were distinctive characteristics of the Holons of the both hemispheres, and I’d enjoyed both the hemisphere ventures.
Then most importantly, Bernard’s Dad, Floyd, I loved their relationship! Despite losing a close one recently they were still so concerned, connected & loving, not aloof and cold like expected after a loved one passes away, and especially if they are reminded of them often.

The world-building
The detailing was so patristic and easy to follow that you won’t feel like you're sitting for a Barnet episode of the brain but a probable one. The plot left nothing amiss when it came to the brain structures and contents and made it as amazing as any space adventure!
It also managed to portray emotional, tense-y, elements along with the fun ones.
The situations portrayed here whether in the brain or in the real world were so relatable and touching even, it made me yearn to experience such a world.
And yes behold – we have a villain – and I assure he is a good one with a plan and quite a smarty pants if you can excuse the fact that they’re unaware of the world outside, I absolutely enjoyed how the villains and their planning were dealt with.
<blockquote> “It’s alright.” Basildes’s voice is ragged, “He’s gone back into the flow if life.” Flow of life. That sounds swell…</blockquote>
What I didn’t like.
There isn’t anything I can pinpoint…although I would’ve loved a more wholesome ending but I like it anyways.

<b><i>wonderfully written sci-fi adventure story with witty and funny characters in an mind boggling universe.</i></b>

I didn't imagine this witty, ironic, funny and educational book would become one of my 2016 favorite reads.
I adored the sketch-like, almost textbook illustrations, the worldbuilding was incredibly well crafted, the story was compelling and action-packed at the same time, and there were a lot of beautiful profound and thought-provoking messages here and there.
It is great for young readers to have a character who isn't afraid to think differently than his classmates and doesn't get put off of science because of being misunderstood by a narrow-minded teacher and a seemingly unsupportive father. Kids should be reading these kind of books; those with characters and stories that teach them to be who they are and to not let other people change them.

I liked this book, it is a good solid science fiction for tweens and older kids too if they are interested in the brain. I like the way the author weaves in facts about the brain into the story, so that you learn a little bit about how the brain works in a funny, wacky story. The main character Bernard is great. He grows a lot as a character as he learns about how his dad's brain works. It is kind of fun to think about little creatures living in your brain and helping it think. It was also fun to think about how using only one side of your brain too much, could hurt it in the long run. The illustrations in the ARC were not great, but I could tell that they were going to add to the story and help the reader imagine what some of the brain creatures looks like. All in all a great science fiction story for Tweens!

I absolutely loved this book! I felt that the characters were very well developed and that the story would intrigue many students who choose to read it! See my full post on http://www.msjmentions.blogspot.com on October 11.

Bernard is the son of two scientists, and understandably, he Loves science. Except, now that his mother is gone, no one appreciates his weird ideas. Besides, he has trouble controlling his impulses. Which is how he ends up inside the “Atom Smasher” at his father’s workplace, Bernard’s mind reduced to atoms and transported inside his father’s brain—a place that appears to contain a world of its own, with people, energia, and cities ready to go to war. So Bernard teams up with his new friends to stop the oncoming war, restore the balance of Energia, and save his father’s life.

Brainwalker, created by Robyn Mundell and Stephan Lacast, will teach you about the brain in a way you never imagined. Bernard is transported inside his father’s brain, and although it contains its own world, it is still his father’s brain. Pretty much everything inside the Brain world has a parallel to the different organs and cells in the real brain; the people living in the right brain are more intuitive and creative while those in the left brain are more logical and organized. Kind of like Bernard and his father, where Bernard is more right-brained and his father is more left-brained. And like the two different sides of the brain and the two nations corresponding to them, Bernard and his father must learn to get along and appreciate both the right and left sides of their brains and each other. I am amazed at the creativity of these authors to make this allegory, providing both a great theme with many layers and a gorgeously creative world that teaches the reader a few biology lessons along with everything else. I truly haven’t read anything quite like it before. Also, to help our imaginations along, the authors included a few images of Bernard’s experiences in the Brainiverse.

I recommend this book to those who enjoy Middlegrade and YA Fantasy.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was something I haven't had the chance to read since my childhood and I was amazed by how much fun it actually was! It was fast-paced, witty and even got emotional at some parts.

Bernard, a fourteen-year old boy, who finds himself inside his father's brain, is on a chest to restore order in the Brainiverse, where Holons from Intuit and Reezon are struggling for survival which extends to the actual survival of Bernard's dad!

It was a delightful read, which you couldn't put down. I felt like I was sucked in an amazing fantasy universe where everything could happen. Strange creatures, brainwashed children even pirates were a part of this book and in the end there was the great battle of good versus evil! As it was a middle-grade book, good prevailed of course and the book ended leaving you with a smile on your lips.

What a fascinating read! I enjoyed the romp through the Brainiverse that Bernard takes us on in order to save his Dad, and even himself. He goes on quite an adventure to both sides on his Father’s brain in efforts to restore peace, communication and unity between the two cerebral hemispheres, Reezon and Intuit.

Go to the link below for the full review.

https://thewritingtrain.com/2016/10/13/brainwalker-blog-tour-by-robyn-mundell-stephan-lacast/

This book I have to say was new to me and I've never read anything like it before but after Netgalley accepted my request to read it I decided that I loved the book and the whole concept of it.

It teaches you about the brain in ways you could never imagine. Bernard is transported into his fathers brain and although it has its own little world there, it's still his brain.

The people living inside the brain are like two nations like the two sides of the brain. The left side has to learn to get along with the right. Very much like Bernard and his father.

When both nations inside his fathers brain decide to go to war Bernard and his new friends must find a way to stop them.

In a era where most YA sci-fi fantasy is about finding a girlfriend or boyfriend than engaging in actual fiction, this book was a refreshing change and challenges the reader at all times with different thoughts and emotions.

A great read for 12-15 year olds but also for 9-10's too.

My rating for this is 4/5

Very interesting book, I highly recommend it. I am grateful that I had the pleasure of receiving it and reviewing it.

I received this one from netgalley for an honest review.

and I so loved it, the theme was super interesting and made me think so much things, so I will never starve my holons away. the characters were so complex and lovable ones and shocking another, the way the author explains everything is so simple that I didn't need major knowledge's to tie the knots.

it was a fantastic book and everyone should read it, a thing I liked was that apart from the brainiverse, it did touch family issues at some level and the ending was so heartwarming it was a shame to end it.

Although this book is aimed at a younger teen, it was a fascinating journey through the brain of Bernard's father. I always knew that the two halves of the brain were at odds with one another, but this book takes it to a whole new level.

I felt like an explorer marveling at new and never before seen sights. The imagination and creativity behind this book is mind blowing. Cudos to Robyn and Stephen. It is an amazing journey.

It was wonderful to see how they portrayed the creative and analytical sides of the brain. I was sucked in form the first page and lived every part of this book with Bernard and Basilides.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this amazing book.