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daffodilcherry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Oh my goodness if you are going to read this book I would 100% recommend the audiobook. Peter Kelley's narration absolutely brings Claire North's excellent prose and story to life, and I'm so glad I gave this long term denizen of my tbr a chance!
Harry August lives an ordinary life, only to find that when he dies, he is instead born again, with all his memories of his past life intact. Centuries of his lifelong timeloop later, he is warned that the world is ending faster, and sets about trying to find out why and to maybe stop it.
I loved so much about this book, the plot, the fucked up timeloop ethics, the quantum physics, the various settings and scenes, the characters, and as I said, Peter Kelley turned this into an absolute amazing piece of art. This is what happens when you hire crazy talented voice over actors for your epic historical sci-fi audiobooks!!! Do NOT adjust the speed and instead revel in Kelly's mastery!
I was absolutely hooked from the get go on this book, and the final third was so hard to put down (to sleep or like work lol). Definitely a top book for the year.
Wheelhouse items: fucked up timeloop ethics!!!, large cast, quantum physics but explained in a way that you can actually understand, my friend my enemy, secret societies.
Triggers (it's a very dark book at times): lots of torture, like there's quite a lot, medical institutionalisation, suicide, dying, murder, cancer, AIDS, electroshock, opiate use,radiation poisoning in depth, discussing killing children/pregnant people.
Harry August lives an ordinary life, only to find that when he dies, he is instead born again, with all his memories of his past life intact. Centuries of his lifelong timeloop later, he is warned that the world is ending faster, and sets about trying to find out why and to maybe stop it.
I loved so much about this book, the plot, the fucked up timeloop ethics, the quantum physics, the various settings and scenes, the characters, and as I said, Peter Kelley turned this into an absolute amazing piece of art. This is what happens when you hire crazy talented voice over actors for your epic historical sci-fi audiobooks!!! Do NOT adjust the speed and instead revel in Kelly's mastery!
I was absolutely hooked from the get go on this book, and the final third was so hard to put down (to sleep or like work lol). Definitely a top book for the year.
Wheelhouse items: fucked up timeloop ethics!!!, large cast, quantum physics but explained in a way that you can actually understand, my friend my enemy, secret societies.
Triggers (it's a very dark book at times): lots of torture, like there's quite a lot, medical institutionalisation, suicide, dying, murder, cancer, AIDS, electroshock, opiate use,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Addiction, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Child death
ifigeneiatsa's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
I really enjoyed reading this book. The story was unique and innovative. It was an extremely fast-paced novel, especially with all the going back and forth between the lives of Harry August, to the point that at times I was a bit confused about what was happening, but the author made a good job with reminding the reader who was who. The only thing I wish it had was a bit more of a confronting ending. I would have liked to see Vincent realise that Harry has been lying to him for all these lives and see the realisation of his failure in his face. Overall, this was such an exciting read.
Quote: "They say that the mind cannot remember pain; I say it barely matters, for even if the physical sensation is lost, our recollection of the terror that surrounds it is perfect"
Quote: "They say that the mind cannot remember pain; I say it barely matters, for even if the physical sensation is lost, our recollection of the terror that surrounds it is perfect"
mistydawnwaters's review against another edition
5.0
Utterly. Brilliant. Author, story, and narrator. All of it. Absolutely brilliant.
j4ndo's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
jockgreg03's review against another edition
5.0
this book was great. I listened too it mostly on audiobook which I enjoyed more than reading the actual book. Recommend reading it by audiobook if you can.
readingpisces's review against another edition
2.0
I really don't know how to rate this book to be honest but in the end I settle for 3 stars,even though the book had me bored a good amount of my time reading it, the beginning and the last 30% had me hooked. I just wanted to know how it would come to a close.
I can't really explain what it is, I didn't like. Maybe time travel isn't for me. Maybe it's because the book took a different turn to what I expected would happen judged by the synopsis. Who knows.
I'm kinda sad that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped to because the synopsis is really good and let's not forget all those amazing reviews for this book.
“The secret to being unafraid of the darkness is to challenge the darkness to fear you, to raise your eyes sharp to those few souls who stagger by, daring them to believe that you are not, in fact, more frightening than they are.”
I can't really explain what it is, I didn't like. Maybe time travel isn't for me. Maybe it's because the book took a different turn to what I expected would happen judged by the synopsis. Who knows.
I'm kinda sad that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped to because the synopsis is really good and let's not forget all those amazing reviews for this book.
“The secret to being unafraid of the darkness is to challenge the darkness to fear you, to raise your eyes sharp to those few souls who stagger by, daring them to believe that you are not, in fact, more frightening than they are.”
dilchh's review against another edition
5.0
What the actual f? This book is just so amazing! Bring on all the great historical fiction! Everything about this book is everything that I like from a fiction. I kid you not, everything! The fact that this book hooked me from its first chapter is just amazing; the first chapter is like the promise of a great story.
I love the narration! The fact that the main character has been living in this world for hundreds of years (albeit by reliving it over and over again) is something that is not a miss. Wait, what do I mean by that? I mean, the narration of the story felt real; like you can just tell that this is a story being told by a man of hundreds of years. How the story flows and the narration moves is something that made me refuse to stop reading (come on, I only took two days to finish this book, that’s gotta tell you something, right?)
Eventually I stop myself at chapter 29 for fear that I would just gobble the entire book in one single sitting; I refuse to end such a great book in one sitting. I want to immerse myself with the story, I want to be in the world of this story and not letting it go just because I enjoy reading it so much. What I notice about the story is that as the chapter progresses, the story just got crazier and crazier; a good kind of crazy though. Oh my God! Even days after I finish this book, I am still in lost for words, I can’t seem to be coherent enough to explain how amazing this book is.
Anyway, by chapter 47, I am legit anxious as to how the story would end. What’s so great about this book and its story is that, you really can’t guess how the story ends. Of course you have your own set of thoughts at how you want the story to ends, but you can’t guess it at all (well, not unless you’ve reached the last two chapters, which basically already is the end of the book) because the story uses a lot of back and forth setting (surprisingly, I have no problem with it.)
Fascinating thing about the Kalachakra or Ouroboran is that these guys gets to live their lives over and over again without having to lose the memories of their previous lives (bearing in mind that they did not go through a Forgetting, but this wont be the case if you are a Mnemonic as you would never, as in never, forgets anything!). Oh, you think that would be boring? Are you kidding me? Of course not! Think about how many books you can read, how many languages you can learn, how many professions you can try, how many choices in lives you can make! Although, now that I think about it, if I were an Ouroboran in this era, I might be a bit torn as to whether or not I would like it. In one side, I like the fact that in this era there are more books than the era of yesterdays, but at the same time the state of the world in this era is a bit too depressing for me.
Either way, this concept about being able to live one’s life over and over again is of something of an interest for me. Even though a somewhat similar premise can also be found in Kate Atkinson’s ‘Life After Life’, ‘The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August’ took it a step further by giving them the ability to retain their memories from their previous lives, while in ‘Life After Life’ the memories of their previous lives felt like a deja vu. Their take on the story was also different, as Claire North took the repercussions of the existence of the ouroboran could affect the grand scale of world’s history while Kate Atkinson focuses more on family. Both are definitely a favourites though!
I love the narration! The fact that the main character has been living in this world for hundreds of years (albeit by reliving it over and over again) is something that is not a miss. Wait, what do I mean by that? I mean, the narration of the story felt real; like you can just tell that this is a story being told by a man of hundreds of years. How the story flows and the narration moves is something that made me refuse to stop reading (come on, I only took two days to finish this book, that’s gotta tell you something, right?)
Eventually I stop myself at chapter 29 for fear that I would just gobble the entire book in one single sitting; I refuse to end such a great book in one sitting. I want to immerse myself with the story, I want to be in the world of this story and not letting it go just because I enjoy reading it so much. What I notice about the story is that as the chapter progresses, the story just got crazier and crazier; a good kind of crazy though. Oh my God! Even days after I finish this book, I am still in lost for words, I can’t seem to be coherent enough to explain how amazing this book is.
Anyway, by chapter 47, I am legit anxious as to how the story would end. What’s so great about this book and its story is that, you really can’t guess how the story ends. Of course you have your own set of thoughts at how you want the story to ends, but you can’t guess it at all (well, not unless you’ve reached the last two chapters, which basically already is the end of the book) because the story uses a lot of back and forth setting (surprisingly, I have no problem with it.)
Fascinating thing about the Kalachakra or Ouroboran is that these guys gets to live their lives over and over again without having to lose the memories of their previous lives (bearing in mind that they did not go through a Forgetting, but this wont be the case if you are a Mnemonic as you would never, as in never, forgets anything!). Oh, you think that would be boring? Are you kidding me? Of course not! Think about how many books you can read, how many languages you can learn, how many professions you can try, how many choices in lives you can make! Although, now that I think about it, if I were an Ouroboran in this era, I might be a bit torn as to whether or not I would like it. In one side, I like the fact that in this era there are more books than the era of yesterdays, but at the same time the state of the world in this era is a bit too depressing for me.
Either way, this concept about being able to live one’s life over and over again is of something of an interest for me. Even though a somewhat similar premise can also be found in Kate Atkinson’s ‘Life After Life’, ‘The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August’ took it a step further by giving them the ability to retain their memories from their previous lives, while in ‘Life After Life’ the memories of their previous lives felt like a deja vu. Their take on the story was also different, as Claire North took the repercussions of the existence of the ouroboran could affect the grand scale of world’s history while Kate Atkinson focuses more on family. Both are definitely a favourites though!
erivers's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25