Recursion by Blake Crouch

Lynnie   

Amy     


science fiction, thriller

When a small group of scientists develop a method for allowing people to go back and “reset” the world to a prior point in time, the results are catastrophic. 

Lynnie's Review

I previously loved Blake Crouch's book Dark Matter so I was eager to read Recursion. Let me say this- Crouch really knows his way around a multi-verse.

Focusing on memories- preserving them, navigating them- Recursion is a wild ride that keeps you on your toes and makes you question the way time and memory can be manipulated and what they really mean. The book builds slowly as we get to know the characters and the circumstances that brought them together but once things coalesce, the story pushes ahead full steam ahead and gets difficult to put it down.

Make no mistake, this is a thriller. There are good guys, bad guys, and a lot of grey area in between while reality bends and shifts, often with harrowing results. There were a few times while listening that I tried to predict what would happen, but I was rarely successful- which made me very happy.

I listened to the audio book during a road trip. I really enjoyed listening to Jon Lindstrom (Kevin and Ryan Collins on General Hospital!) and Abby Craden- their voices really helped me feel immersed in the story.

Amy's Review

Again with the alternate realities!  Blake Crouch makes a habit of forcing his readers to explore string theory, the Mandela Effect, and other space/time theories that blow our minds.  While I love to contemplate time travel in the simplest sense, I don’t like having to think so hard to swallow his science fiction in Recursion.  However, once he sets the rules for this novel, he does creatively explore all the nooks and crannies of his defined universe. There are moments when this novel is gripping. But I spent most of the novel thinking that I probably won’t read any more of his novels.  Don’t get me wrong. Recursion wasn’t bad. It was just a bit over the top for me.

The story was told from two perspectives (Helena, the scientist who made this technology possible, and Barry, whose life’s tragedies are fixed, erased, and altered) and various time periods.   I really liked Barry as a character and he was my favorite thing about the novel. I also liked the way the novel ended.

The audiobook was narrated by two people: Abby Craden voiced Helena while Jon Lindstrom voiced Barry. Abby did a great job.  I give her an A for her voice acting, character voices, and accents. Jon disappointed me with unemotional delivery through much of the novel. He displayed great voice acting when narrating heart-wrenching portions of Barry’s story. But large portions were bothersome. I give him a B.