Totally Rad Wormhole is the story of two high school losers, Bill and Ted. Wait, no, it’s Alex and Roger. But if you remember the sorta classic film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Alex and Roger will sound rather familiar.
The book isn’t a complete knockoff. Instead of forming the superband Wyld Stallyns, Alex and Roger just want to win the science fair and get a date with a cheerleader. And rather than traveling back in time via a phone booth, their science project creates a wormhole that transports them to 2021. Bogus.
The future proves problematic for the young heroes. They must adapt to smartphones, free soda refills, the loss of their favorite arcade, and legalized marijuana. Oh, yeah. And their future selves, who want to manipulate their younger selves. Heinous.
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Totally Rad Wormhole – The Fun Parts
Most of this book was fun to read. Not only because I remember the 1980s well and enjoyed some nostalgia. The story was like a fun, catchy 1980s pop song—not too deep, perhaps, but it hits just the right tone if you don’t take it too seriously or expect profundity. Excellent!
That’s not to say the book is just a bunch of 1980s references with no point and no message. It has a point, and the characters show some growth, Alex especially. The dialogue is period-appropriate and the author shows a good sense of humor. Nice going, dude!
The action moves quickly. I don’t know if I’d say the reader gets a deep character sketch of the secondary characters—most were kinda stock characters like jocks, science nerds, headbangers, cheerleaders, and so forth, so we already know the character types. But, somehow, it felt realistic to a 1980s high school despite that. I guess because high school kids in search of identity do sometimes take up well-known personas. Bodacious!
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Totally Rad Wormhole – The Non-Triumphant Parts
This all depends on how critical you want to be. The story is supposed to begin in 1989. But the musical soundtrack felt more 1986 or 1987 to me. Small potatoes, I suppose, but I did notice that.
The only real critique I have of the story is that it’s much more about Alex than about Roger. The story needs both characters, but it’s Alex who drives the story. Will he date the cheerleader? Will he save his happy, well-adjusted future? Can his younger self help save his future daughter from her lousy boyfriend? Roger begins the story with goals, too, but they get lost along the way.
Who Might Like This Book
Totally Rad Wormhole is a niche book designed to appeal to a certain set of people. Leading that set would be people who were teenagers in the 1980s and early 1990s and remember those years fondly. The set also includes people of any age who enjoy 1980s culture. Fans of time travel books are another group that could have fun with this book.
Like I wrote above, I enjoyed the book considerably. I don’t know if I learned any major life lessons besides “be excellent to each other,” but that’s okay. If your expectation is a fun book that takes you back to your younger years, a person could do much worse than Totally Rad Wormhole.
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