WWW Wednesday, 12-May-2021

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community. 

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Currently reading: I think I read a chapter from Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono this week but that’s about it. I’m not happy about moving so slowly, but I’ll come to terms with it eventually. I’ll finish it, but maybe I want to shy away from nonfiction for this format in the future.
I made some decent progress in The Hangman’s Replacement: Sprout of Disruption by Taona Dumisani Chiveneko. I’m a little iffy on this one right now, it seems to be rambling a bit and I’m unsure how it might all come back together.
I started listening to The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead on Sunday but I’m not far into it yet. It’s a long book so I expect this will be here for a while, though I hope I can power through.

Recently finished: I finished up The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee! After taking a break from it for so long, it was great to finish this one. I posted my review yesterday so you can check that out. I gave the book Four out of Five Stars.
I also finished Recursion by Blake Crouch and I’m meeting with my reading buddy tonight to talk about it. I found the end a bit too convenient, but this is a book I still thoroughly enjoyed and I would recommend to people who liked Crouch’s first book. I gave it Four out of Five Stars.

I also posted my review for Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal on Thursday last week. My book club met on Monday to discuss it so look for a summary of that conversation early next week.

Reading next: I still think Dollface by Renee Rosen will be my next ebook. I just need to read ebooks faster so I need a new one!

Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

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Book Review: Recursion by Blake Crouch (4/5)

This was for sure my pick for a buddy read. I loved Courch’s first book, Dark Matter. I was curious to see what else he had up his sleeve. My reading buddy was up for a bit of a thriller so this seemed like a good pick for us both. Man, did we speed through this one. I think we met twice in a week at one point because we were both so eager to keep reading.

Cover image via Amazon

Recrusion by Blake Crouch

Other books by Crouch reviewed on this blog:

Dark Matter (and Book Club Reflection)

Summary from Amazon:

Reality is broken.
 
At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the first shock wave, unleashed by a stunning discovery—and what’s in jeopardy is not our minds but the very fabric of time itself.
 
In New York City, Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the truth—and in a remote laboratory, neuroscientist Helena Smith is unaware that she alone holds the key to this mystery . . . and the tools for fighting back.
 
Together, Barry and Helena will have to confront their enemy—before they, and the world, are trapped in a loop of ever-growing chaos.

Having not read the summary, I thought this was going to be about a contagious disease early on and I wondered what I’d stumbled into. Maybe the later half of a global pandemic wasn’t the best time for this? But the more we got into it and realized what FMS was and what was really going on, the more we were sucked in. The first half of the book is told from two view points, Helena and Barry. They’re not in the same place or in the same year but we quickly discovered how interlinked their stories would be. Crouch’s exploration of reality and what would realistically happen with new technology is really well done. I thought the reactions of many people were completely justified and Crouch’s ideas about the impact of a broken reality on the human psyche was great.

I adored Helena. She was so strong and brave and I respected her so much throughout this book. She was a great hero to be cheering for throughout. Her intelligence was forefront but usually understand which let her personality shine through. Barry seemed a little flat, but in a thriller I’m not usually looking for strong personalities in characters.

Helena was my favorite character. Her motivations, at least early on, were very noble and were always to help her mother. Her motivations changed to be for a greater good and she really expressed that when working for DARPA. She recognized ramifications and how what she was dealing with was so much larger than herself. She was a voice of reason and good when everything was going badly.

Barry was the most relatable character in the book. I’m sure most of us have something in our pasts that we wish we could fix or redo. Barry’s desires to have a different life were very understandable and I thought back to decisions in my own life that I might like a ‘do-over’ for.

Blake Crouch Image via Goodreads

These next two paragraphs are going to be some major spoilers so please skip down to avoid them. I adored the time Helena spent working with DARPA. I thought it was really great how she fought to use the chair for good. She was backed against a wall but found the best way to make use of her position. Fighting to let major atrocities happen, pushing not to let large passages of time occur, these things made a difference. I was so sad when the project got hijacked by the military. It really seemed to ruin everything.

The ending was a bit anti-climactic for me. Slade telling Barry that Helena had found a way to travel to dead memories once and then Barry instantly figuring it out was a little too convenient. It was hard to believe that in 200 years, Helena had never tried visiting a dead memory again. Especially since she could jump back an hour and ‘fix’ the problem the same way Slide did with Reed on the oil rig. Such a simple solution to a very complex problem made the ending seem cheap.

Humans are starting to experience reality in different ways because of technology. We’ve developed virtual reality, online worlds that can fulfill social needs and desires. The idea that we may someday master time enough to change that aspect of our reality is jarring but not entirely out of the question. If we did get to this technology, what would we do with it? Would it be weaponized like Helena and Barry experienced? Would it be used for good the way Helena tried to do with her mother’s memories? It’s a hard question to answer. Humans do seem to be inclined to selfishly using every advancement our world has made so as much as we’d love to say it would be the latter, the former seems likely.

Writer’s Takeaway: Crouch put his foot on the throttle and never let it go. The pace in this book was astounding and kept me guessing and turning pages well past my bed time. Thriller writers have an amazing capacity to pace a book and I feel like I’m getting schooled each time I read one.

A great, fast, read that made me think. Four out of Five Stars

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Related Posts: 
Recrusion, by Blake Crouch | A Bookish Type 
RECRUSION – Blake Crouch | Weighing a Pig Doesn’t Fatten It 
Recursion: book plot and timelines explained | Starvind 
Review: Recursion by Blake Crouch | Creature from the Book Lagoon 
Review of HARDBACK edition of Recrusion by Blake Crouch | Brainfluff 

WWW Wednesday, 5-May-2021

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community. 

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Currently reading: I didn’t move through Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono this week. I’m really not too worried about it, but I’m hoping I can return to it fairly soon and make some more progress!
I was able to get back to The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee and I’m flying. I love the narrator for this one. While I’m not as enamored as I was with Lee’s first book, I’m still enjoying this and I think I can finish it within the week!
Reading Buddy and I are just about finished with Recursion by Blake Crouch. We met Monday and I’m now reading the last section so we can have our final meeting! Expect a review soon and this should easily be off here next week.
I’m reading The Hangman’s Replacement: Sprout of Disruption by Taona Dumisani Chiveneko between sections of the Crouch. I’m not too far yet and still unsure what to think of it. The style is very different but still enjoyable enough that I’ll keep going.

Recently finished: I wrapped up Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal as expected last week. I liked this one more than I expected from the title. It’s a very timely book about culture and understanding and I really liked what Jaswal had to say. I think it will be a good discussion with my book club. I was able to post my review yesterday if you want to read more. I gave the book Four out of Five Stars.

Reading next: I’m sold on Dollface by Renee Rosen being my next ebook. I just need to get to a point where I’m ready to start one!
I think I’ll need a new audiobook soon, too. Next up will be The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. This was supposed to be a book club pick but got delayed due to COVID and seems to be permanently on hold. I’d still like to enjoy it and if we do eventually read it, I’ll be ahead of the curve.

Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

WWW Wednesday, 28-April-2021

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community. 

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Currently reading: I got through another chapter of Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono while I was waiting for a lane. I’m sure I’ll make my way through this soon, but I’m not minding the slow pace.
I think I’ll return to  The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee later this week! I’m having a lot of success with time to listen to my other audio so this is coming up sooner and sooner.
The other audio I’m talking about is Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. I like this one a lot and I’m flying through it quickly. I’m optimistic about finishing today! Fingers crossed.
My reading buddy and I are both in love with Recursion by Blake Crouch. We met twice last week and are already more than half way through it! We haven’t read one this quickly before so I’m really excited to have found something we both enjoy so much.
I started The Hangman’s Replacement: Sprout of Disruption by Taona Dumisani Chiveneko and I’m iffy on it so far. It’s not written in a way I would write, but it’s not poorly written. I’m pushing forward with it between bouts with Recursion and even though it’s a long haul, I think I’ll make it through.

Recently finished: Nothing new this week. I’m sure I’ll have at least one thing here next week, though. Two if I’m lucky.

I posted my review for Mil veces hasta siempre (Turtles All the Way Down) by John Green on Thursday. I gave the book Four out of Five Stars. I really liked the ending, more than I thought I would early on. I liked how Green tackled mental health and I thought telling the book from Aza’s point of view was really powerful.

Reading next: It might seem premature, but I think I’m getting toward the end of Lateral Thinking so I’ll need an ebook next. It sill probably be Dollface by Renee Rosen. It will be nice to get back to some fiction with my ebook. I wonder if that will help me read a bit faster.

Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

WWW Wednesday, 21-April-2021

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community. 

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Currently reading: Yet again, not much with Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono. I’m fine with this going on a while so I’m in no rush. I just feel bad letting it linger!
Nothing again with The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee but I’m making good progress with other audiobooks so I’ll stay optimistic that I’ll be back to this soon!
The other audiobook is Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. I’m really enjoying this one so far! It’s funny and has some good points so it’s a win for me. I hope I can get through it quickly.
I started Recursion by Blake Crouch for my reading buddy book! I’m excited to get some SciFi and I hope the quick pace will help me read quickly. I’ve missed some solid fiction in my reading lately.

Recently finished: I was able to wrap up Mil veces hasta siempre (Turtles All the Way Down) by John Green on Thursday. It was a solid story and I enjoyed it a lot. I’ll be posting my review tomorrow. I always feel like my reviews for a Spanish read should be different, but then I realize that’s silly.

I posted my review of The Overstory by Richard Powers on Monday. This book wasn’t a good one for me. My book club met last week so I’ve posted a reflection of our conversation as well. I wasn’t alone in disliking it, but I was a minority.

Reading next: I don’t really have a good idea here. I think it will be a print book to pick up between chunks of the buddy read, though. There’s one book I’ve had on my TBR for years that I got as a Goodreads Giveaway and that’s The Hangman’s Replacement: Sprout of Disruption by Taona Dumisani Chiveneko. I won’t lie, I’ve debated taking this off of my list a few times due to what looked like polarized reviews, but looking again they seem pretty well spread if new in number. I’ll give it a try.

Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

WWW Wednesday, 14-April-2021

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community. 

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Currently reading: A slow week on Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono but with a few upcoming doctors appointments, I might make more progress. TBD.
I’ve made a lot of progress with Mil veces hasta siempre (Turtles All the Way Down) by John Green. I’m really liking Aza’s story and this is a good reading level for me in Spanish. I’ll stick with it as much as I can and hope to finish soon.
Unfortunately still waiting on The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee. Not commuting has really cut down on my listening time this past year.
I’ve started another book club pick already, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. Not very far into this one yet but I’m hoping it will go quickly so I can get back to Piracy!

Recently finished: I made a huge push on Sunday to finish The Overstory by Richard Powers in time for my book club meeting on Monday. Finally! This book was not for me by any means. I really disliked the characters and the length was a big turn off. A lot of the characters could have been cut to save on the length and I don’t think there would have been a negative impact. I felt like I was being lectured and it was a big turn off. I’m giving it Two out of Five Stars. I’ll have a review and book club reflection up next week.

Reading next: My reading buddy and I decided on Recursion by Blake Crouch as our next book. I recommended this mostly because we were looking for a paperback option and I’d loved Dark Matter so much. I hope she likes it! We haven’t done SciFi yet (though we touched on fantasy) so this is new territory.

Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Book Club Reflection: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

I’ve been looking forward to our group discussion of Dark Matter since I read it. Apparently, not everyone was as thrilled with this title as I was. Some really disliked it and there were others who loved it as much as I did. Some said it read more like a screenplay than a book as if Crouch knew it would be adapted for television. A few complained that the middle dragged while he was going through door after door.

The premise required a solid suspension of belief. It reminded me of The Flash a bit because of the other ‘Earths’ that Jason visited. There was a lot jammed into this book and it left some of us wondering more about dark matter. A few people recommended two books, We Have No Idea by Jorge Cham and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson. The different worlds showed infinite possibilities and how profound the Butterfly Effect can be.

We started to wonder about our own lives and the different versions we might find. Something beyond our control, like a decision a parent made, could produce a drastically different world. It might not be any relation to you, but that decision could mean you were never born. While there are big decisions in a person’s life that make you wonder, it’s probably the small ones that make large differences. Jason went looking for happiness because he missed it. But the happiest Jason pined after the success he could have had. Everyone lives with regret. For Jason, family was the right choice, but that doesn’t mean it is for everyone.

We had a lot of questions about the box. Jason sees himself at some point. Does that mean there are infinite numbers of every person who’s entered the box somewhere in the box? Is there a doppelganger of Jason 2 wandering around in there? What about the other people who went into the box and never came out? Are they in there, too? In a way, all of the Jasons that return are deserving of Daniela and Charlie. Jason2 is the only one who’s not.

When the plot first switched to Daniela and we see her welcome ‘Jason’ home, it’s not obvious that it’s Jason2. Some of us thought life was continuing like there was a reality split somewhere else and in one version, Jason had come home with no run-in. We wondered if the Daniela in Jason2’s world was happier. Maybe her career and being an artist was her best path. It seemed odd that she completely stopped being an artist to be a mother of one son. We thought she could have kept it up a bit at least.

We wondered about the world Charlie would create for them to live in. Would it be unpopulated? Similar to their own? They were leaving with nothing and taking only memories with them. It reminded us of immigrant stories around the turn of the century. It must have been terrifying.

We’ll be meeting again just after Thanksgiving so I better get reading quickly! Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Challenge Update, October 2018

I finally got the rebuilding month I was waiting for! It was a long time coming, to be sure, but it came and I’m feeling slightly more optimistic about meeting my reading goals for the year. It’s a rebuilding month. You can look at my progress at any time on my challenge page.

Books finished in October:

Bel Canto//Ann Patchett (4)
Artemis//Andy Weir (4)
The Girl in the Spider’s Web//David Langercrantz (4)
Dark Matter//Blake Crouch (5)
A Night to Remember//Walter Lord (4)
A Column of Fire//Ken Follett (4)

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to report six books read! It feels great, really. I had so many books partially finished and now I feel this is a fair representation of how much reading I did in October. On to November!

When Are You Reading? Challenge

8/12
One more down! A Column of Fire was my 1500s book for the challenge. I’m in the middle of two more (1700s and 1800s) and I’ll start on my 1600s read soon. I’m feeling good about this one, I think I’ll knock it out of the park this year!

Goodreads Challenge

41/55
Only four books behind now! I’ll take it this time. I’ll have to really start reading soon but until school’s over (November 13th) I can’t think like that. So soon…

Book of the Month

Yet again, a book club selection won me over this month. I think that’s the third month in a row. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch had me laying in bed more than is probably healthy for my back. I wanted to know what happened so badly! Glad this one was introduced to me.

Added to my TBR

The numbers are creeping up as my book clubs make their selections for the next season. I’m up 4 this month to 92. I’m sure I’ll bring it down again.

• Old School by Tobias Wolff. No idea what I’m getting into here. Wolff sounds familiar, should I be scared or excited?
• The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Langercrantz. How could I stop after that last one? I can’t wait to see what Lizbeth does next!
• Before the Fall by Noah Hawley. Again, no idea here. I like going into books blind.
• Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani. This looks very different from a lot of the books we read for the club so I’m curious to see how our group reacts to it.
• Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay. I’ve heard so much about Gay and I’m excited to see what I think of her writing! Woop!
• Dodgers by Bill Beverly. I’m thinking either draft dodgers or baseball here. I’m hoping both.
• The Power by Naomi Alderman. No idea, again. However, the cover looks familiar. Maybe I’ve seen it in stores. Or maybe another book has a similar cover? I’m unsure but still excited.

Personal Challenge

I used these monthly posts to keep myself accountable to my personal goals for 2017 and I’m excited to do that again this year. You all were so supportive before.

• Graduate and keep my 4.0- Final is coming up and it’s looking good so far!
• Travel to Europe with my husband- I shouldn’t be dreaming of our next trip, but I am already…
• Complete a 2018 Weather Blanket- Yep, I’m really behind. I think a re-watch of GoT is in order. That will give me plenty of knitting time!

How are your challenges going so far? I hope you’re off to a good start If you love historical fiction, give some thought to my challenge for 2018, it’s fun!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Book Review: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (5/5)

I somehow missed the hype of this book when it came out. I knew it got some good reviews but it was never on my radar. Man, do I regret that. This book blew me away. I’m so glad my book club picked it. I must have missed it due to a class in one book club because they were all shocked I was just getting to it. I’m so glad I’m in two!

Cover image via Goodreads

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Summary from Goodreads:

“Are you happy with your life?”

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

At first, I didn’t like this book. I was having flashbacks to The Maze Runner and the frustration I felt when the main character had no idea what was going on and he was getting no answers. But as soon as Jason figured out what was going on, I was in. I finished this book in three days and that’s no easy feat for me now with how busy my life is. I stayed in bed a lot on my days off, napping and reading this book. It blew me away. It was very original and yet it used something familiar enough that I could understand it. I wish I was still reading it. Fair warning, it’s hard to not have spoilers in this review so continue reading at your own risk.

I loved Jason. He was very realistic and yet he was so smart that it was unimaginable. I loved the relationship with him and Daniela. I thought he was really resourceful. Overall, it was really great. The ‘other Jasons’ were fun, too. I wish that had some more screen time.

Daniela was my favorite character. I loved her as a wife and mother and I loved the other versions of her we met. She was creative and fun and still very much the same person. I thought the way she acted at the end was believable and it showed how strong her relationship with Jason was.

While none of the things in this book have happened to me, I understand Jason’s’ dedication to his wife. I love my husband with an odd ferocity and I can understand why he was willing to go to such extreme circumstances to make sure she was safe. I’m not sure I understood the lottery he was willing to set up. I’ll never be in that circumstance so I guess I never have to.

Blake Crouch
Image via Twitter

I liked Amanda and Jason trying to navigate the box best. It was fun to see the strange worlds they ended up in and how the navigated them and got out. It was a fun adventure and it led well to the final adventures of the book. I understand why it was necessary, too, but the fun was the best part.

I didn’t like being kept in the dark for the first 100 pages. I was frustrated and might have put the book down. Crouch’s writing was quick and easy to read, which kept me going forward, but I hate not knowing something critical when the narrator also doesn’t know. It seems like the writer isn’t sure what he’s doing yet but in this case, Crouch had a very good idea!

Jason’s love for Daniela obviously drove the book. If he hadn’t been so driven and dedicated to getting back to Daniela and Charlie, he might have stayed in the other world. Success, riches, and intelligence didn’t mean anything if he didn’t have Daniela and Charlie to share it with. Even successful Jason wanted the happy family.

Writer’s Takeaway: Crouch’s short sentences kept me reading fast. The long chapters and short chapter interchanged kept me guessing. I loved the way he paced this novel, though I wish it had been a little faster earlier on. It was a really fun and quick read, something I haven’t enjoyed in a while.

Really run and enjoyable, Five out of Five Stars

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Related Posts:
“Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch | Ellie’s Reviews
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch | The Owl on the Bookshelf
#BookReview – Dark Matter by Blake Crouch #BuddyRead | Secret Library Book Blog
Dark Matter | Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch | For Winter Nights

WWW Wednesday, 17-October-2018

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community. 

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Currently reading: It might be optimistic, but I think I can return to The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl soon! I’ve only got one more book standing in my way. The future is at hand!
Unsurprisingly, I’m still working through A Column of Fire by Ken Follett. I’m getting close now, only a normal-length audiobook to go!
I’m moving slowly through Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson but I think this will be faster than some of my other ebooks. It’s a lot shorter than I thought it would be, honestly. I double checked four times that I didn’t have the abridged version!
I began listening to A Night to Remember by Walker Lord on my phone. I love everything Titanic and I’m honestly surprised I didn’t have this on my radar earlier than I did. It’s a short one and I expect I’ll fly through it.
I began Not Me by Michael Lavigne on Friday. Not too far into it yet but I’ve had such a good run of print books that I’m optimistic that this one will go fast. too!

Recently finished: I finished two again! The first was The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz which was a phone audio. I was happy to wrap it up on my way home from school. It was a very satisfying ending for me and set up well for another one in the series! I gave it Four out of Five Stars and posted my review yesterday, check it out.
The second was Dark Matter by Blake Crouch which I flew through. I was skeptical for about the first 100 pages and then finished it in less than 24 hours. I’m yawning as I type this because I sacrificed a lot of sleep for this book. So worth it. A full Five out of Five Stars and my review will be up tomorrow.

I also posted my review of Artemis by Andy Weir last Friday. It wasn’t The Martian, but it was good. I’ll expect good things from Weir in the future. I gave it Four out of Five Stars.

Reading Next: It seems too optimistic to think about finishing yet another book this week. If I do, it will probably be an eaudiobook and next will probably be That Night by Chevy Stevens. This book haunted me for a while before I found it on clearance when a Barnes and Nobel closed and decided to buy it. We’ll see how it goes.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!