This was an amazing start to a new middle grade fantasy series, and I can't wait to see what further adventures Dylan will have. Howard did a great job with the world-building, creating a believable parallel universe filled with magic. I loved the characters, and I think younger readers will find one of the three protagonists relatable. I might be older than the target audience, but even I found myself drawn into the story, and I was so enthralled by it that I finished it in two days. If you have a middle grade reader in your life who loves magic and adventure, then I have to recommend getting this book for them, as it's certain to capture imaginations. ( )

Dylan is an ordinary boy. Or so he thinks. Then one day he finds out he is extraordinary. It is not the most original of story starting points. But the idea of an immortal world on the other side of a vortex is new and interesting enough to give the concept a new spin. Dylan is a likeable enough hero that you root for him right from the start even when he is still in the human world. And I'm glad that both Dylan and his birth parents worry about Dylan's poor adoptive parents who just lost a child. But I think everyone is just a little too accepting of this situation. This son that they were told didn't survive birth shows up and the parents just accept 'I don't know what happened' as an answer from the doctor who delivered them. Dylan and his brother just settle into family life together like everything isn't extremely odd. But the bad guy is appropriately sinister and creepy, and his minions are interesting characters because you can't really figure out whose side they are on. And the mystery of the prophecy and what it means and how it relates to Dylan is enough of a draw that it keeps you reading. It is a fun story and it leaves you wondering what will happen next. ( )

With so many pre-teen and young adult fantasy novels to choose from these days, it's sometimes hard to know where to start or what to choose. Well I can tell you unequivocally that "Dylan Dover: Into the Vortex" is one you don't want to miss. The first book in the start of a new series, it has everything you'd want in an engrossing, adventure-filled tale of this nature, especially likeable main characters being first on the list. I had so much fun reading this book and hated to see it end without the next one readily handy. But I know when it does get released, I'll be first in line to get it. The world-building is handled magnificently and the action never lets up. This is one you'll want to read yourself, no matter your age, or read aloud with a favorite family member. The only thing that could enhance this book would be a movie based on it. I can only dream. ( )

Dylan Dover: Into The Vortex is the first book in a new fantasy middle-grade series by Lynne Howard. Dylan is a typical 12-year-old boy until one day while fleeing from some bullies he falls into a grey "vortex" which transports him to a fantasy world. He is one of a group of siblings (quadruplets, the reader learns in the prologue) that are destined to save or destroy the "immortal world". The siblings all share a common birthmark, but the evildoer and his underlings manage to separate the siblings at birth before they can combine and become too powerful. Dylan does meet with one of his siblings, and when they are together they can accomplish more powerful feats at the magical school than either could alone. We are left at the end of the book as the brothers looks to find more of their lost quadruplets. I enjoyed the different points of view the author used - the antagonists serve the big bad boss more out of fear than of loyalty, and they don't always do what they're told. There's a lot of mystery to explore about how this immortal world works. It seems that Dylan and his brother are too powerful when combined, that things come too easily for them, but we will see how this plays out in the sequel! ( )