My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Genre: Adult Sci-fi
Pages: 342
Pacing: Normal
Publisher: Crown
Published: July 26th, 2016
Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.
It starts with a man in a mask kidnapping him at gunpoint, for reasons Jason can’t begin to fathom—what would anyone want with an ordinary physics professor?—and grows even more terrifying from there, as Jason’s abductor injects him with some unknown drug and watches while he loses consciousness.
When Jason awakes, he’s in a lab, strapped to a gurney—and a man he’s never seen before is cheerily telling him “welcome back!”
Jason soon learns that in this world he’s woken up to, his house is not his house. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born.
And someone is hunting him. – synopsis from Goodreads
“If there are infinite worlds, how do I find the one that is uniquely, specifically mine?”
Wow! This book blew my mind. Crazy stuff.
I’m not even going to attempt to explain this novel, I think you should go in knowing very little and enjoy the ride. I’m not even sure if I could properly explain it. I love the cover of this book! Am I right? So cool looking!
Dark Matter is very fast-paced. I would’ve read it in one sitting with no problem if I hadn’t been dealing with migraines during that week. This is just one of those books you devour. I actually had no clue what this book was about when I picked it up. I had seen a lot of hype surrounding it but somehow thought it was a psychological thriller or horror. Though it definitely was a thriller, it was very much in the sci-fi genre. I should say that I do not have much experience with sci-fi, I’ve only recently become more interested in reading more since I read Illuminae. I don’t know what is typical and I don’t know all the regular tropes to the genre, so it’s really hard for me to compare on that level.
The novel did really impress me though. It was a complete mindf*ck without being confusing, they actually explained things in human terms so I wasn’t left looking up what everything meant every ten seconds. I appreciated that greatly and it made it much for accessible for a sci-fi novice like myself. I enjoyed all the characters, the main protagonist was believable. He wasn’t one-dimensional and I felt he was very developed throughout the story and at the right pacing.
Now that I’ve read a couple of amazing science fiction novels I think I will be exploring the genre further because books like this one have really got me excited for it. I would highly recommend this one, especially for people who don’t normally read the genre or who feel a little intimidated by it. This is a great place to start.
