I was given a free copy of Brainwalker by Robyn Mundell and Stephan Lacast in exchange for an honest review. This middle-grade, science-fiction, fantasy novel is the story of Bernard's unbelievable adventure into a new, unexplored realm. Bernard is the only child of two scientist parents. His father, a particle physicist, struggles to connect with and raise Bernard as a single parent; Bernard's mother died in a tragic science experiment while trying to discover the secret world of alchemy. Not only does Bernard struggle with his home life, but he does not fit in at school, either. After some stress-induced lashing out, Bernard is suspended from school. His father unwillingly picks Bernard up, and together they visit his father's work: a place that Bernard has always wanted to go, but his father has always been hesitant to take him due to the dangers involving the particle accelerator he works with. When Bernard sneaks away to see the particle accelerator, he is then transported through a wormhole into his father's mind where he discovers the Brainverse - a whole new universe and network of never-before discovered beings and creatures. With the help of these new friends (and enemies), Bernard must work through a brand new landscape and universe in order to unify the broken Brainverse, help his father heal, and get back to his own world and body.
With Robyn Mundell's background in acting, it is no surprise that the story holds many connections to other visual mediums. Specifically, this novel reminded me of an amalgamation of two television shows. Brainwalker reads like an elaborated episode of The Magic School Bus meets the sci-fi cult classic series Quantum Leap.
(Side note: for anyone unfamiliar with these two magical 90's classics, you're now welcome: https://youtu.be/AarZbACsy1o and https://youtu.be/5ucjQ6TfM0A).
In terms of The Magic School Bus, Bernard is able to learn his school curriculum through more experiential learning. In school, his science teacher begins a lesson about how the brain works. Shortly after this, Bernard is not only transported through a wormhole into his father's brain, but the narrative then uses this mysterious and fantastical adventure to teach Bernard in a more experiential way about how the brain works. Through the beings, creatures, and environments that Bernard discovers in the brain, he learns how synaptic connections work (like lightening bolts between the dendrites and axons of the brain's cells), he learns that the left and right brain are polar opposites (intuition and creativity vs. logic and reason), and he learns that, in order for the brain to function properly and remain healthy, all parts of the brain must work together cohesively. While the authors give these functions and parts of the brains more fantasy-like names, they are all derivatives of actual scientific terms (the Intuit Holons live in the right brain, the Reezon Holons live in the left brain, the Great Arc that connects these two "communities" in the Brainverse is the corpus callosum, etc.). And, of course, there is no eccentric Ms. Frizzle or Liz to narrate the adventure, but it is simultaneously entertaining and educational nonetheless.
In connection to Quantum Leap, the incorporation of the wormholes and the idea of traveling from one large universe into a second universe inside of that first universe (universe-ception?) was reminiscent of the way that Dr. Sam Beckett traveled through time and inhabited new bodies to set historical mistakes right. When Bernard travels into the Brainverse, it is only his mind that comes through, and so he takes the form of a new body within the Brainverse in order to materialize and explore this new land. It is only after he has fixed the brokenness of the Brainverse that Bernard is able to go back to his home universe and his own body, just like Sam Beckett in the show.
One last connection I made was in the vessels which Bernard and the other Brainverse inhabitants use to travel through the Brainverse. For anyone who has read Fluke by Christopher Moore, the living transportation vessels in Brainwalker are highly reminiscent of the whale vessels in Moore's story: highly unique, creatively described, illogically deduced, yet compelling to read in such a story.
While the premise of the story seems to focus on education about how the brain works, there are also some hints at social implications throughout. As the Reezon Holons take nonrenewable resources (Energeia) from the Intuit Holons, operating under the premise the the Intuit Holons are uneducated and primitive beings from which the Reezon Holons evolved, the Intuit Holon population declines and their community and home begin to fear the danger of extinction. It is easy to see that there are close parallels between the struggles of these fictional beings to real-world genocide, environmental conservation, and the ignorance of the world in understanding differing cultures. While the story only tangentially explores these issues, this child-friendly platform makes a perfect jumping off point for conversation with children about what it means to be open-minded, empathetic, tolerant, and informed members of society.
Overall the story was a good read, though I was upset at the few plot holes that were left unanswered. For example, throughout the story, Bernard alludes to his deceased mother and the fact that she might still be alive and well in a separate universe. At one point, he even hears her voice. However, the authors never clear up this concept of whether she has actually died or if there is still a chance of his finding her in another place or time. As well, the ambiguity of the ending didn't sit well with me. After Bernard returns home from the Brainverse, his memory is seemingly wiped almost clean of his experiences; all that is left of his time spent in his father's mind are the burns on his hands. The authors leave it up to the reader to decide if his experiences in the Brainverse were real, or if he was actually knocked out in the infirmary the entire time and only imagined that entire venture. He retains some distant memories of what happened in his father's brain which implies that the adventure DID take place, but the story leaves off without him coming to the full realization of what those memories are. While some readers might appreciate these implications that can lead to individual deduction, I didn't like the unfulfilled sense it left me with in the end. I was hoping for one more page or chapter to tie it all back together.
Overall, a fun read that I can see being educational for children, for parents to read TO their children, and possibly even find use in elementary or mid-grade science courses as supplemental materials in lessons about the brain.
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