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m_hates_reading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
5.0
Literally incredible I cannot describe how amazing it is the way it combines theoretical physics with thriller
won’t give any spoilers but the last few chapters are VERY intense and I was reading the ending through tears with several people on the bus staring at me
I forget how much I love books where the MC is actually a GOOD person who you’re attached to- Jason is very lovable and someone you really care about and are rooting for, even in his darkest moments.
A beautiful story about love and family, with a healthy amount of murder and intense action.
A beautiful story about love and family, with a healthy amount of murder and intense action.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Confinement, and Cursing
Minor: Gun violence, Abortion, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicidal thoughts
mateoj's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have what i call "an English major's obsession with quantum physics", meaning that I absolutely adore narratives about things like time travel (or fucky time in general, like time loops) and, yes, the multiverse/parallel universes, but I am not a hard science person by any stretch of the imagination. Dark Matter is great in that regard—Crouch even says in one of the interviews that was in the back of my ebook copy that the science is accessible to a layperson because he himself is a layperson, and that much is true. the multiverse concept is given due justice here, especially the themes of identity and selfhood, but... the book in itself is not that good.
the thing about this story is that it hinges on the narrator/protagonist being just some guy; of course, you could write a multiverse story about someone wildly successful, but that's not the story Dark Matter is telling. unfortunately, he's just a little too much Just Some Guy. you root for him because he is the narrator, but i found his narration/internal monologue deeply irritating (this may have been compounded by the fact that i kept picturing him as my writing professor). the women in the story, even Jason's wife, didn't feel like actual people, just props to hold the story up; Jason's love for his wife and son is the driving force behind his actions, but who ARE they? all we get is how he feels about them, which is emotional but doesn't quite flesh them out enough. there was also Amanda, who did nothing but save Jason's life a couple times and leave. she didn't have to have a bigger role, but some depth to the role she did serve would have been nice.
add to that some aspects of the plot that were genuinely laughable—the chatroom? really?-— and Dark Matter became, to me, some great ideas stitched together with a mediocre cast of characters and a mediocre plot.
the thing about this story is that it hinges on the narrator/protagonist being just some guy; of course, you could write a multiverse story about someone wildly successful, but that's not the story Dark Matter is telling. unfortunately, he's just a little too much Just Some Guy. you root for him because he is the narrator, but i found his narration/internal monologue deeply irritating (this may have been compounded by the fact that i kept picturing him as my writing professor). the women in the story, even Jason's wife, didn't feel like actual people, just props to hold the story up; Jason's love for his wife and son is the driving force behind his actions, but who ARE they? all we get is how he feels about them, which is emotional but doesn't quite flesh them out enough. there was also
add to that some aspects of the plot that were genuinely laughable—
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Sexual content
Minor: Abortion and Stalking
rosaelise's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Death, and Blood
Minor: Abortion
s__'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Pleasantly surprised! Was not expecting to like this book after it turned out to be a Sci-Fi thriller. It’s better of classified as Sci-Fi with the sub-genre as thriller, instead of vice versa. It’s for the readers who love anything remotely similar to Inception or The Matrix.
The main question the protagonist (Jason) has about who kidnapped him (& why) can easily be predicted by chapter 4 at most. However, what made this story great was the second half of the book. As Jason figures out a way to get back to the life he knew, the author leaves a bit of uncertainty to keep the reader guessing if that will really happen. The fast-pace of the second-half really saved this book from being drawn out and at times the scientific facts were not that easy to grasp, but....considering the topic is quantum physics that’s expected . I do think the ending could have been made better if.....there was more uncertainty left, and it wasn’t exactly sure if they (“original” Jason and his family) got their happy ending. I thought the author would end it with one of the multiverse Jason’s finding one of the ampoules that “original” Jason had left behind in the hotel when he was trying to escape from a multiverse Jason. Indicating that the multiverse Jason could have followed “original” Jason and a had 1/♾ chance of ending up in the same world.
The main question the protagonist (Jason) has about who kidnapped him (& why) can easily be predicted by chapter 4 at most. However, what made this story great was the second half of the book. As Jason figures out a way to get back to the life he knew, the author leaves a bit of uncertainty to keep the reader guessing if that will really happen. The fast-pace of the second-half really saved this book from being drawn out and at times the scientific facts were not that easy to grasp, but....
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Murder, Sexual content, and Stalking
Minor: Abortion, Child death, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Pregnancy
colleenward_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
4.75
What. The. F❌❌❌.
Okay, I loved this book so much! I’m going through a period in time where the message of this plot really hit home and I appreciated it a lot —> What if you could do your life differently?
Blake Crouch delivers a mind-bending plot which moves the story along and keeps you wondering how everything will play out. 10/10 recommend!
Okay, I loved this book so much! I’m going through a period in time where the message of this plot really hit home and I appreciated it a lot —> What if you could do your life differently?
Blake Crouch delivers a mind-bending plot which moves the story along and keeps you wondering how everything will play out. 10/10 recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Child death
Minor: Vomit, Stalking, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Cursing, Drug use, Car accident, Cancer, Animal death, and Abortion
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