Mind over Mind


Fiction - Paranormal
314 Pages
Reviewed on 11/14/2012
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Stephanie Dagg for Readers' Favorite

"Mind over Mind" by Karina Fabian grips you from the first page. Eighteen year old Deryl - or Ydrel as he prefers to be called - hears voices in his head that make him act in certain ways, and because of this he has been in a mental asylum since he was 13. He doesn’t believe he’ll ever get out. Dr Malachai seems quite happy to keep him a patient forever and hopes to make some kind of mark, and hopefully money, with his studies of Deryl. It looks pretty hopeless for Deryl, but then a home-schooled, precocious, over-confident psychiatric intern, Joshua, is sent in to try and make friends with Deryl. Apart from friendship, Joshua plans on bringing neurolinguistic programming to bear in helping out the troubled teenager. He has some success but then things seem to get worse. It turns out that Deryl isn’t imagining the voices. Various beings from other worlds are calling on him for services such as advice and foresight and even to perpetrate crimes. In fact, an entire alien civilization is depending on his help to survive a war. Not surprisingly, Deryl is overwhelmed by his unwanted telepathic abilities which he doesn’t understand and can’t really control.

This is a paranormal psychological novel, unique and amazingly effective. It is brooding, bordering on the dark. There is an air of menace, particularly around Dr Malachai with his ulterior motives for keeping Deryl as a helpless patient. There is some romance, and a few light moments, but generally this is a serious, powerful novel that explores how to differentiate between fact and fantasy. Hero Deryl is conflicted and socially inept - grumpy and rude on the outside but in desperate need of help and support on the inside - and so Joshua is a ray of hope. The real world of the hospital and the blundering efforts of family and the suspicious methods and motivations of Dr Malachai to help Deryl are well portrayed. So too are the fantastic realms of the Barin and the Kanaan. We get a real feel for their plights. The interaction between these parallel worlds facing physical destruction with Deryl in hospital facing a mental battle and possible breakdown is both poignant and ironic. This novel is a superb piece of writing and a more-than-promising start to a series.