Review of Mind Over Mind
Deryl was committed to an exclusive sanitarium years ago by his family when he became irrational and suicidal. He’s still there, and what his family doesn’t know is that his symptoms are caused by his psychic and telepathic abilities: he not only can read the thoughts of others, but he feels their emotions – a problem that, of course, has become even more difficult now that he is surrounded by the mentally unstable and even the elderly Holocaust survivor down the hall, stricken with Alzheimer’s, whose memories about his terrible ordeal are a misery that Deryl has finally learned to manage. Somewhat.
Oh, and then there’s the Miscria, the mysterious being that summons him from time to time to demand that he learn about all sorts of arcane subjects, from medieval weaponcraft to triage to military strategy to space reconnaissance. Then he must report to the Miscria on all he knows. To the Miscria, he is known as Ydrel – the Oracle – for the knowledge he imparts.
And there’s also the Master, who appears in his dreams and teaches him to fight. But the bruises are there when he wakes up.
Because it’s real. It’s all real, the telepathy, the Miscria, and the Master – the first of which comes from his father and the last two from another world in another galaxy or perhaps even another universe.
Enter Joshua, a summer intern destined for a career in psychiatry if he can’t make it as a rock star. Joshua’s father has not only been teaching the young man his own profession since childhood, he has also taught him his specialty: neurolinguistic programming, or NLP. Joshua uses NLP, and simple human kindness, to get through to Deryl/Ydrel, who now believes Dr. Malachai, head of the sanitarium, wants to keep him there indefinitely because of the money his family pays for his treatment.
Readers will enjoy this book, the first in a trilogy, from the very first page as Ydrel, mired in a memory from a World War II boxcar on its way to a concentration camp, soothes the old man with a vision of his own to free him from his terror and to save his own sanity. From that point on it is an engaging story of a young man coping with phenomena that others don’t believe, but this time with help: Joshua, who decides that whether Ydrel’s alternate worlds are real or not, he needs coping strategies for them because he believes they’re real. And Joshua is resolved to give Ydrel just that, risking running afoul of Dr. Malachai – who does indeed want to keep Ydrel just where he is for a number of reasons.
Disclaimer: The review copy of this book was provided free of charge. I do receive books and music for review, but I also review media that I have paid for.
Deryl was committed to an exclusive sanitarium years ago by his family when he became irrational and suicidal. He’s still there, and what his family doesn’t know is that his symptoms are caused by his psychic and telepathic abilities: he not only can read the thoughts of others, but he feels their emotions – a problem that, of course, has become even more difficult now that he is surrounded by the mentally unstable and even the elderly Holocaust survivor down the hall, stricken with Alzheimer’s, whose memories about his terrible ordeal are a misery that Deryl has finally learned to manage. Somewhat.
Oh, and then there’s the Miscria, the mysterious being that summons him from time to time to demand that he learn about all sorts of arcane subjects, from medieval weaponcraft to triage to military strategy to space reconnaissance. Then he must report to the Miscria on all he knows. To the Miscria, he is known as Ydrel – the Oracle – for the knowledge he imparts.
And there’s also the Master, who appears in his dreams and teaches him to fight. But the bruises are there when he wakes up.
Because it’s real. It’s all real, the telepathy, the Miscria, and the Master – the first of which comes from his father and the last two from another world in another galaxy or perhaps even another universe.
Enter Joshua, a summer intern destined for a career in psychiatry if he can’t make it as a rock star. Joshua’s father has not only been teaching the young man his own profession since childhood, he has also taught him his specialty: neurolinguistic programming, or NLP. Joshua uses NLP, and simple human kindness, to get through to Deryl/Ydrel, who now believes Dr. Malachai, head of the sanitarium, wants to keep him there indefinitely because of the money his family pays for his treatment.
Readers will enjoy this book, the first in a trilogy, from the very first page as Ydrel, mired in a memory from a World War II boxcar on its way to a concentration camp, soothes the old man with a vision of his own to free him from his terror and to save his own sanity. From that point on it is an engaging story of a young man coping with phenomena that others don’t believe, but this time with help: Joshua, who decides that whether Ydrel’s alternate worlds are real or not, he needs coping strategies for them because he believes they’re real. And Joshua is resolved to give Ydrel just that, risking running afoul of Dr. Malachai – who does indeed want to keep Ydrel just where he is for a number of reasons.
Disclaimer: The review copy of this book was provided free of charge. I do receive books and music for review, but I also review media that I have paid for.