Eva Pasco
Goodreads: 5-Stars
April 20, 2025

A Perfect World

Author J.S. Frankel pulls out all the stops to expose, or should I say, blasts, the imperfect world we live in throughout his Romantasy, ‘Here, Now, and Forever’. Themes of antisemitism, racism, and sexism fit prominently throughout his Sci-Fi plotting.

Surviving a military cargo plane’s crash in the Himalayas during WWII, protagonists, Carl and Ruby, have the magic touch for entering caves that are portals to different worlds. One of them is a gardenlike Eden where the two of them iron out their differences and become romantically involved. Curiosity and further exploration put them in the clutches of Norlok, an evil being who holds them prisoners to do his bidding. They must find three items on other worlds, each task deadlier than its predecessor.

Harrowing enough for the reader, the test of time comes when Carl and Ruby are found by a paranormal research team. Returned back to the United States, the stakes are higher for them when rampant aging occurs in a world imperfect and bigoted as ever, and they long to go back to their perfect world, home sweet home.

As always, J.S. Frankel tackles societal ills with effective jabs, while delivering a highly imaginative and riveting story that holds the reader in its clutches.