DNF Review: Parallel by Lauren Miller

Title: Parallel
Author: Lauren Miller
Genre: science fiction, young adult
Series: N/A
Pages: 432 pages
Published: expected May 14 2013
Source: publishers via edelweiss
Rating: 2/5

 Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

I was disappointed by Parallel fairly early on. My perceptions from the cover and blurb had me imagining a rich science fiction tale of parallel lives and possibilities; of random chance and consequence. Unfortunately, the main character, Abby, is flat, shallow and just uninteresting.  Parallel is all surface, no substance. It's drama after drama, without any depth or meaning to the angst. This is very clearly a debut novel - it's unpolished, uninsprired and fails to do anything with the interesting premise.

I gave Parallel a good three hundred pages to either get better, or devolve into "so-bad-it's-awesome" territory. In the interest of fairness, I can say one thing for this novel - at least it's consistent. Consistently annoying and disappointing. It's far more concerned with cliques and drama than in portraying real science fiction. The sentences devoted to actually detailing the science are dense, and admittedly the most intriguing part of the whole novel. But, it doesn't last very long at all. Unfortunately, ultimately Parallel is far more interested in describing Abby, criticizing other girls, or fantasizing about a love interest than  it is in exploring alternate worlds in depth. 

It's just such a shame. This had so much potential, and lived up to none of it. It was a great idea, squandered by mediocre, banal, and petty execution. After the lack of followup on a great premise, Abby is the biggest letdown. Her personality is so stuck up, vain, and boring. Her issues with other girls take precedence and eat up far more time and attention than any real conflict or struggle. She's flat, and a one-dimensional Mean Girl -- one that's been done before, and so much better.

Bad characterization, petty conflicts and a focus on drama made Parallel a big miss for me. I was excited for this, but it seems like I should have read Pivot Point instead. Don't pick this up looking for a sscience fiction adventure. If you want to read about Abby and her spiteful best friend, or obsess over a hot guy, go ahead. Or, you know, go watch Mean Girls because at least that one was written by Tina Fey and doesn't pretend to be anything other than it is.