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timeliss's review
2.0
im giving this book a 2.5 . this book was pretty good except it started getting confusing with all the Marys and Shellys and MaryShellys, and Nates and Nathans and Nathaniels, and i always forgot which mom was doing what (dead or alive or nice or whatever), and then there was the whole dead Jena alive Jena then the other girl i cant remember her name. some parts were just dumb and confusin like that whole "put in the coordinates" or " we have to travel backwards to align all the ephraims back to their alternet universes!" yawn. on top of that, how come when someone died in one universe, none of the others died too? i was just lost in this book and i felt like it was a waste of paper. the beginning was good though. if only it stayed that way...
kottiel's review
2.0
This was a quick, fun, surprising read--it was really hard to put down and it just got better and better.
atinydisaster's review
3.0
As soon as I read the blurb for Fair Coin I knew it was a book I would enjoy. The concept by itself is pretty cool– flip a coin, change your life. It doesn’t turn out to be quite that simple (surprise, surprise), but Fair Coin definitely kept me guessing throughout the entire book.
Fair Coin offers a really interesting take on exploring what could be, within your own life and ends up taking a bit of scientific what if turn later on that will absolutely get your brain going on the possibilities within your own life. While the main character wasn’t exactly someone I have a lot in common with, I still found him easy to root for and someone I could imagine hanging out with which is what usually determines if a book is one I’ll stick with until the end.
My only real issue with the book was that I had trouble getting attached to any of the secondary characters. I never really got to the point where I felt like I knew who they were as individuals (which makes sense within the context of the book but still made it hard to get attached to the characters or to really root for anyone besides Ephraim). Honestly, I don’t even know how I would fix this while staying true to the idea of the story (sorry, you really have to read this to know what I’m talking about) but something just didn’t click for me.
While the story didn’t blow my socks off, I have to give credit here for getting me thinking which is what will make this book stick in my head for at least a few months to come. I’ve already had a couple moments since reading the book a week or so ago, where something seemingly minor has reminded me of Fair Coin. I know I’m being purposefully vague in this review but I really don’t want to give too much away as I absolutely think this is a YA title worth reading.
Fair Coin offers a really interesting take on exploring what could be, within your own life and ends up taking a bit of scientific what if turn later on that will absolutely get your brain going on the possibilities within your own life. While the main character wasn’t exactly someone I have a lot in common with, I still found him easy to root for and someone I could imagine hanging out with which is what usually determines if a book is one I’ll stick with until the end.
My only real issue with the book was that I had trouble getting attached to any of the secondary characters. I never really got to the point where I felt like I knew who they were as individuals (which makes sense within the context of the book but still made it hard to get attached to the characters or to really root for anyone besides Ephraim). Honestly, I don’t even know how I would fix this while staying true to the idea of the story (sorry, you really have to read this to know what I’m talking about) but something just didn’t click for me.
While the story didn’t blow my socks off, I have to give credit here for getting me thinking which is what will make this book stick in my head for at least a few months to come. I’ve already had a couple moments since reading the book a week or so ago, where something seemingly minor has reminded me of Fair Coin. I know I’m being purposefully vague in this review but I really don’t want to give too much away as I absolutely think this is a YA title worth reading.
mentat_stem's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
trisha_thomas's review
4.0
a great adventure of a story. The science was easy to grab, the shifting and all it's secrets kept well hidden until they were revealed. And I loved the Ephs & Jenas :) but not Nates.
jelundberg's review
5.0
Caveat: I'm good friends with the author, so I'm not completely impartial here. That said, this was a tremendously compelling book. It starts off as fairly innocuous wish fulfillment, a fantasy about a magic coin that grants wishes, and then at around the halfway point, shifts into high stakes science fiction concerned with quantum entanglement and many-worlds theory. Ephraim is a completely believable protagonist, and his friendships with Nathan and Jena fundamentally form the backbone of the narrative. Hella fun as well.
Anyone disappointed by InterWorld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves (as I was) should definitely give Fair Coin a try.
Anyone disappointed by InterWorld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves (as I was) should definitely give Fair Coin a try.
jonmhansen's review
5.0
This was awesome. It's not very often that I feel bad for protagonists, but I was rather worried about the beginning about the kind of trouble our hero was getting himself into. I blame the author. At any rate, it's an excellent read that wraps up nicely (if you're series adverse), so go get a copy already.
grandgranini's review
3.0
Pretty similar in plot and tone to "The Walls of the Universe" by Paul Melko and "The Homeward Bounders" by Diana Wynne Jones, where the hero gets displaced into a series of parallel universes and has to find his way home. Wynne Jones did it best, of course, but this one is not bad at all. Pretty fast read (I read it in one sitting), but the language was serviceable at best, and clunky in a number of spots.
books_plan_create's review
5.0
Holy crap...this book rocked! And hated to put it down to sleep. Review later!
wildflowerz76's review
4.0
This book's been on my to-read list for ages. I finally got it from the library and it totally sucked me in right away. It's a super easy read and it went rather quickly. I was also very interested, so that probably helped. The physics behind the ideas in this book I could never really wrap my head around, but luckily, it doesn't really matter so much. I totally enjoyed it and would recommend it.