timeaisis's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A fun physics thriller that loses steam near the end. If you don’t think about it too much it’s a fun read.
matosapa's review
3.0
Warning: This book is heavy on the science (quantum science to be specific) and full of great detail but this might turn off some people who just want to read light science fiction. I loved the dense detail and the story itself was fascinating and worth the effort.
hardscifi's review
Thought provoking
Are we a series of probability events that interact with other events (persons) like photons? Is the world a collspsed wavefront that results from the interference of the events? Is the person you meet again tomorrow tge "same" person you met today, or are they one of the multiple iterations implicit in their probability cloud? I love this book.
Are we a series of probability events that interact with other events (persons) like photons? Is the world a collspsed wavefront that results from the interference of the events? Is the person you meet again tomorrow tge "same" person you met today, or are they one of the multiple iterations implicit in their probability cloud? I love this book.
cameronreapereads's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
mato's review
3.0
Warning: This book is heavy on the science (quantum science to be specific) and full of great detail but this might turn off some people who just want to read light science fiction. I loved the dense detail and the story itself was fascinating and worth the effort.
timsa9cd0's review
1.0
A quantum physics page-turner. I shoulda known better. If anyone can pull this stunt off I will be so pleased, but this is totally forgettable.
katetownsend's review
3.0
Review originally seen at Looking Glass Reads.
The Flicker Men delves into some hardcore science. Quantum physics isn’t anything to sneeze at, and the double-slit experiment is very central to the plot. But it never felt confusing to me, and I never got bogged down trying to decipher the science behind the story. Everything you need to know is relayed by the author, and done so fairly well. The story never stops to dump all the info on the reader. Instead, everything is relayed in conversation between Eric and his fellow scientists, many of whom are not physicists themselves, and on an as-needed basis. (And as I edit this review I realize that, technically, that can be considered infodumping, in a sense. However, it didn’t feel like that at the time.)
Now for the characters.
Eric Argus. Our narrator. Our protagonist. I loved Eric in all his flawed wonderfulness. He had some very real issues in depression and drinking, had a lot of childhood trauma he’d never worked through. Eric was a fantastic character to experience the story through, and I rooted for him all the way. I love an unreliable narrator, and I feel like this strayed into that territory at times. Even Eric questions his own mental state. I liked even better how he changed through the course of the story, perhaps not completely overcoming his vices and downfalls, but making the effort both consciously and, at times, unconsciously to do so.Some of the other characters. Well…
The scientists were loveable, filled with personality and quirks. (Note the lack of the phrase character development.) Yeah, I was disappointed here. A lot of the characters weren’t fully drawn out. One in particular I hated. By the end of the story I almost felt like she was a caricature pulled directly off of tvtropes.
So, yes. The Flicker Men does have its flaws. It’s not perfect. While Eric’s flashbacks were very interesting, I feel like they didn’t completely pay off in the end. I’m not sure what it was that I was waiting to happen, but I was waiting for something, and it never came. Some of the characters and a bit two dimensional. One or two were downright aggravating.
But you know what? I still liked this story. It was still a good read. Nothing made me want to throw the book across the room, and never pick it up again. I read it in only a couple of sittings, and want to reread it.
At the end of the day, yeah. I absolutely recommend this book. If you like thrillers give The Flicker Men a try, but be prepared for some real science. If you like science-fiction, go for it!
The Flicker Men delves into some hardcore science. Quantum physics isn’t anything to sneeze at, and the double-slit experiment is very central to the plot. But it never felt confusing to me, and I never got bogged down trying to decipher the science behind the story. Everything you need to know is relayed by the author, and done so fairly well. The story never stops to dump all the info on the reader. Instead, everything is relayed in conversation between Eric and his fellow scientists, many of whom are not physicists themselves, and on an as-needed basis. (And as I edit this review I realize that, technically, that can be considered infodumping, in a sense. However, it didn’t feel like that at the time.)
Now for the characters.
Eric Argus. Our narrator. Our protagonist. I loved Eric in all his flawed wonderfulness. He had some very real issues in depression and drinking, had a lot of childhood trauma he’d never worked through. Eric was a fantastic character to experience the story through, and I rooted for him all the way. I love an unreliable narrator, and I feel like this strayed into that territory at times. Even Eric questions his own mental state. I liked even better how he changed through the course of the story, perhaps not completely overcoming his vices and downfalls, but making the effort both consciously and, at times, unconsciously to do so.Some of the other characters. Well…
The scientists were loveable, filled with personality and quirks. (Note the lack of the phrase character development.) Yeah, I was disappointed here. A lot of the characters weren’t fully drawn out. One in particular I hated. By the end of the story I almost felt like she was a caricature pulled directly off of tvtropes.
So, yes. The Flicker Men does have its flaws. It’s not perfect. While Eric’s flashbacks were very interesting, I feel like they didn’t completely pay off in the end. I’m not sure what it was that I was waiting to happen, but I was waiting for something, and it never came. Some of the characters and a bit two dimensional. One or two were downright aggravating.
But you know what? I still liked this story. It was still a good read. Nothing made me want to throw the book across the room, and never pick it up again. I read it in only a couple of sittings, and want to reread it.
At the end of the day, yeah. I absolutely recommend this book. If you like thrillers give The Flicker Men a try, but be prepared for some real science. If you like science-fiction, go for it!
jaybatson's review
5.0
Awesome expansion of key science seeds
This book takes fundamental tenants of quantum mechanics and not only builds a great story, but also does a fine job of romping through our underlying philosophy of existence, consciousness, and purpose. This is one of the most mind-exercising books I've read in a long while. I feel stronger already.
My 1-5 rating scale says that "5" is a book you finish, and want to immediately re-read.
I'm starting my re-read now. Then looking for more from this author. Excellent stuff.
This book takes fundamental tenants of quantum mechanics and not only builds a great story, but also does a fine job of romping through our underlying philosophy of existence, consciousness, and purpose. This is one of the most mind-exercising books I've read in a long while. I feel stronger already.
My 1-5 rating scale says that "5" is a book you finish, and want to immediately re-read.
I'm starting my re-read now. Then looking for more from this author. Excellent stuff.
bookishfifi's review
4.0
If you take anything more than a passing interest in science then this will probably irritate the hell out of you as you question everything. I nearly DNF'd this but kept going and ended up enjoying it!
tonstantweader's review
5.0
The Flicker Men is science-fiction, hard science-fiction. It is rooted in the real world science of Feynman’s double slit experiments that proved the duality of light, that light is both wave and particle. Coincidentally, just one year ago, the very first photo was taken of this duality of light. I know sometimes people run in fear of hard science and quantum physics in particular, but Ted Kosmatka does an excellent job of making it easy to understand in his book. If only the people who wrote textbooks could write with such clarity. For those who are still afraid of the science, this short video explains the experiment and even a little more, explaining how they were able to photograph light as both wave and particle.
The double slit experiment in the book and in real life demonstrates the observer effect, because when light goes through the slits unobserved, they are waves. When they are observed, they are particles. Observing a phenomenon changes the phenomenon. All of this is real science, rooting this novel deeply in reality, which makes its progression into speculative fiction more exciting.
The speculation begins when the scientists discover than frogs observing the light do not change its nature, nor do cats, dogs, chimps or apes. Is it possible that the difference is explained by human consciousness, maybe even the human soul? Of course, our scientist Eric Argus is only thinking of the science, not its implications in society.
The rest of my review is at https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/02/06/the-flicker-men-by-ted-kosmatka/
The double slit experiment in the book and in real life demonstrates the observer effect, because when light goes through the slits unobserved, they are waves. When they are observed, they are particles. Observing a phenomenon changes the phenomenon. All of this is real science, rooting this novel deeply in reality, which makes its progression into speculative fiction more exciting.
The speculation begins when the scientists discover than frogs observing the light do not change its nature, nor do cats, dogs, chimps or apes. Is it possible that the difference is explained by human consciousness, maybe even the human soul? Of course, our scientist Eric Argus is only thinking of the science, not its implications in society.
The rest of my review is at https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/02/06/the-flicker-men-by-ted-kosmatka/