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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4.5 stars? i meant to write this right after i finished it...but i really enjoyed this book. i found it thought provoking and well paced. essentially this guy creates this box that has the ability to bring multiple (and infinite) dimensions together, so that when you walk out of the box you could be in an infinite number of parallel universes. some are very similar to ours, where maybe only one thing was different (could be a butterfly effect or not), where as others are vast wastelands that clearly differ from ours a lot. but even those, they seem like nuclear fallout situations, things that could still happen, not like aliens. anyways, the version of him who created this decides he regrets devoting his life to science and instead wishes he had stayed with the girl he knocked up in his 20's. he figures out how to control which parallel universe you enter from the box (its sort of like thinking up the world you want to be in), and he finds the version of himself that settled down and had a family. he abducts that guy, sends him back to his world, and tries to take over his life. his wife and kid can tell something is up, but the changes are small enough they don't do anything, it's not like you would suspect the truth. but the first version slowly pieces it together, and ends up back in the box with another scientist who helped him escape. it takes them a while to figure out they can control the universe they walk into, and i legit thought for a second that the two of them would get together. she seemed into him, and it seemed like they would never find the exact old life he started from, and in some ways, i was ok with that. who are you really when you take away your job/family/etc? but he had more faith than i did, and ultimately amanda left him as she realized he was devoted to finding his old life. and then things got really crazy when he did find grabiella and his kid, but he soon realized that many other versions of him had also figured it out. the author never explained exactly how many jasons there were in that world, but it was clear from the chat rooms that there many (hundreds?). it became an interesting dilemma to think who really deserved to be with the family, since that's what they all wanted. but ultimately the original one was able to isolate his wife and kid and explain the insane situation. even then though, his plan was to get all the jasons together and do a lottery. but gabriella wanted him, and he soon realized that some of the other versions of himself had gone through such an extreme month or so trying to get back to that world that they were much more desperate than he was and were willing to kill as many versions of himself as it took. in the end they got away, and let the son choose the new world (as jason 2.0 had left them ampules to go into the box one more time), which seemed a bit risky to me. i also was curious to explore, could you dream a world similar to ours but without guns/global warming/whatever social cause you are most concerned about?
Once it got towards the end, I understood it a whole lot more. There were a lot of words I just couldn't get my head round so I would say it's too sci-fi for me. I thought it would be more along the lines of a psychological thriller
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fun read, just a tad disappointed because I remember liking Recursion a lot more.
The premise is compelling and leaves enough room for introspection despite being written in a highly accessible and "easy reading" sort of style. Definitely could be enjoyed by those who aren't really into sci-fi, but also still reasonably fun if you are. I liked the casual foray into the multiverse from the perspective of an Average Joe type MC and the exploration of his unrealized selves. And I'm reasonably sure this is meant first and foremost to entertain, not serve as a literary masterpiece, so I think I'd give it a near 3 stars with that in mind.
My major gripes:
1) Couldn't believe Jason was that in love or obsessed with Dani or Charlie to make half of the chase feel worth my time. The pre-kidnapping was far too underdeveloped for us to really feel his loss as deeply as he claimed/acted.
2) Amanda's whole existence was sort of poorly done. And her disappearance verged on the comical. I could palpably feel the struggle of "I'm done with Amanda, so how do I get rid of her character now so Jason ends up with Dani?" I would've loved a more introspective exploration and rediscovery of the box without Amanda, rather than using this random former therapist as a tool to explain that to the readers. It would have helped add color to Jason and his life.
3) Definitely the kind of book that feels like it has a forced ending that tries to balance closure with provocative open-endedness, but kind of fell short of achieving either.
The premise is compelling and leaves enough room for introspection despite being written in a highly accessible and "easy reading" sort of style. Definitely could be enjoyed by those who aren't really into sci-fi, but also still reasonably fun if you are. I liked the casual foray into the multiverse from the perspective of an Average Joe type MC and the exploration of his unrealized selves. And I'm reasonably sure this is meant first and foremost to entertain, not serve as a literary masterpiece, so I think I'd give it a near 3 stars with that in mind.
My major gripes:
1) Couldn't believe Jason was that in love or obsessed with Dani or Charlie to make half of the chase feel worth my time. The pre-kidnapping was far too underdeveloped for us to really feel his loss as deeply as he claimed/acted.
2) Amanda's whole existence was sort of poorly done. And her disappearance verged on the comical. I could palpably feel the struggle of "I'm done with Amanda, so how do I get rid of her character now so Jason ends up with Dani?" I would've loved a more introspective exploration and rediscovery of the box without Amanda, rather than using this random former therapist as a tool to explain that to the readers. It would have helped add color to Jason and his life.
3) Definitely the kind of book that feels like it has a forced ending that tries to balance closure with provocative open-endedness, but kind of fell short of achieving either.
Dark Matter was a total mind-bender 🤯🧠💥. Every time I thought I had it figured out—boom 💣 another twist. Then another 🔄. Then another 🔮. It felt like watching a high-stakes sci-fi thriller 🎥🚀🌌 play out on the big screen, but even better because I got to live inside it for a while. Honestly, it blew my mind start to finish ⚡✨.
Now I’m just sitting here questioning reality like… am I me me 🙋🏽♀️ or some alternate me who already read this book twice 👀🌀🌍?
This book was okay I guess, it’s an entertaining enough story although the concept has been vastly overused in my opinion.
I knew from the first few pages in that I wouldn’t really like it but I was determined to ride it out and see where it went. It’s a short read after all. But I do hate myself for that decision.
This is some serious 21st century, softened up, goes down easy like baby food literature. There is no edge to the characters or story at all. I will forget about this book within a month.
It’s not poorly written and the science fiction concepts seem sound on an elementary level. It’s a certain lack of detail, effort and reliance on typical, cliche, and utterly predictable characters that made this book rile me.
I’ve been James Patterson’d and I’m so ashamed
I knew from the first few pages in that I wouldn’t really like it but I was determined to ride it out and see where it went. It’s a short read after all. But I do hate myself for that decision.
This is some serious 21st century, softened up, goes down easy like baby food literature. There is no edge to the characters or story at all. I will forget about this book within a month.
It’s not poorly written and the science fiction concepts seem sound on an elementary level. It’s a certain lack of detail, effort and reliance on typical, cliche, and utterly predictable characters that made this book rile me.
I’ve been James Patterson’d and I’m so ashamed
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No