Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Recursion

Who would've thought that Recursion is a beautiful love story set in a horrendous loop of global catastrophy?
I usually shy away from anything to do with physics but Blake Crouch explores the topic of memories mostly in a philosophical way that I didn't mind the physical aspects even though they made my head hurt.
So many people are part of each others lives in a crucial way, them sharing the same memories and therefore being affected when one of those memories is altered. Weird how such a terrible thought experiment makes you feel closer to your fellow human beings.
Whether or not it was intended this book is also the story of a woman who has her intellect, her work, her dream and her freedom stolen again and again by men and is therefore a story of oppression. This was clear to me without it being on-the-nose.
Exceptional was also the weaving of parallels throughout the book, I found many connections between plot lines and characters only reinforcing this theme of togetherness.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

My only question is:
Why didn't Slade remember the world ending in previous timelines and needed to be convinced of it??

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alienguy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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wyabook234's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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jazhandz's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book has a really interesting premise and sci-fi twist, which it promptly proceeds to squander through lackluster characters and a bloated, complicated plot. Unfortunately it feels like it’ll join the ranks of scifi books that were almost good enough for me to remember, but not quite.

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acidicorchid's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I don't even know where to starteith this. The beginning was good, immediately hooked me in, and I can't lie and say Blake Crouch's writing style isn't one I find super appealing. It's snappy in parts, descriptive in others, and always manages to draw me into the action. His takes on sci-fi concepts (time travel in this case) are super interesting because there's always a twist to them I'm not used to seeing.

This book, despite its more gripping start and final part, did struggle to hold my focus towards the middle (not uncommon for me with his books. They're good, they're interesting, but something about getting from point a to point b is just not hitting with me). By the third part, though, I was back in. When I tell you some of these moments were jaw-dropping....

I also like how well balanced the dual POV is between the main characters. It's hard to pull off well, but for the most part the author makes it look almost easy.

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chasen's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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