mollybreads's review against another edition
5.0
A definite page turner. This one inspired some deep questions and really played with my psyche. Very dark at times but very well written. A great read!
goddess_of_gore_vix's review
4.0
Exceptionally well written thriller sci-fi. I thoroughly enjoyed the concept and the thrill ride that it contained. Mind bending and tense, I thought it may have been too confusing but nope. Like some kind of fever dream it all made sense when I was inside the world. His characters and world's were so well described it was so easy to get a feel for the MC and his despair
knit_and_purl's review against another edition
4.0
All I could think when reading this was how am I going to describe this later? Although unique, it isn't; the book reminded me of the movie "Total Recall" in a way, but I know others would disagree. The ultimate premise is, what would you do if you had the chance to do life differently, take a new path? Jason Dessen gets that chance, and the way it turns out is terrifying and exciting. Well worth a read, even if you're not a fan of science fiction. This is very much a thriller, too.
what_would_steph_read's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
rosshomson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
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
4.25
nadibooks93's review against another edition
5.0
4.5
Despite it not being my type of book, I'm not going to forget it anytime soon. Throughout the book, I had three words going through my mind, 'What the fuck?'. The author takes a concept that we've most likely subconsciously thought of but because it's too much for our small human brains to comprehend, we dismissed it. Blake Crouch did not and he set out to make us feel small, or in his words using Jason's voice, like ‘a grain of sand on an infinite beach.’ or 'a fish, swimming in a pond.'.
“All your life you’re told you’re unique. An individual. That no one on the planet is just like you. It’s humanity’s anthem.”
What life lessons did I take with me after reading this book? I’ll start recounting them. It can take all but a month or less for a person to change drastically. While it’s true that it all depends on what happens in our lives, fundamentally, it is our thoughts and choices that make us who we are or rather, that slowly but surely change us.
“It's terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, branches off into a new world.”
“Life doesn’t work that way. You live with your choices and learn. You don’t cheat the system.”
There were some parts which I didn't like. Daniela’s reaction to the situation in particular, she recuperated quite fast and let me tell you, if I were in her shoes, I would not know what to do. Actually, scratch that, I would not want to be in Daniela's shoes, ever. I felt the author was rushing to bring the story to a close and he left a lot of unanswered questions. Such as: 'What is going to happen to those other versions of Jason, do they not matter?’ ‘Is Jason the original?’ ‘How are Jason, Daniela and Charlie going to live in a new world where there must be other versions of them living in it?' Perhaps that was the author’s intention by choosing to leave the ending open.
There is one thing I would like to do if it was possible, I would like to see all the other versions of me living their different lives from mine, not to steal their lives the way Jason2 did but rather to motivate myself into creating a version of a life that I envision for myself. However, it is true what Jason said:
“I’ve seen so many versions of you. With me. Without me. Artist. Teacher. Graphic designer. But it’s all, in the end, just life. We see it macro, like one big story, but when you’re in it, it’s all just day-to-day, right? And isn’t that what you have to make your peace with?”
Or that we should appreciate what we have:
“What a miracle it is to have people to come home to every day. To be loved. To be expected. I thought I appreciated every moment, but sitting here in the cold, I know I took it all for granted. And how could I not? Until everything topples, we have no idea what we actually have, how precariously and perfectly it all hangs together.”
Despite it not being my type of book, I'm not going to forget it anytime soon. Throughout the book, I had three words going through my mind, 'What the fuck?'. The author takes a concept that we've most likely subconsciously thought of but because it's too much for our small human brains to comprehend, we dismissed it. Blake Crouch did not and he set out to make us feel small, or in his words using Jason's voice, like ‘a grain of sand on an infinite beach.’ or 'a fish, swimming in a pond.'.
“All your life you’re told you’re unique. An individual. That no one on the planet is just like you. It’s humanity’s anthem.”
What life lessons did I take with me after reading this book? I’ll start recounting them. It can take all but a month or less for a person to change drastically. While it’s true that it all depends on what happens in our lives, fundamentally, it is our thoughts and choices that make us who we are or rather, that slowly but surely change us.
“It's terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, branches off into a new world.”
Spoiler
Jason2 thought he could have a ready-made family on a silver platter without so much as working hard at creating one when he could have met with the Daniela from his world and start over again. He thought by creating the godforsaken box, he was taking the easy way out but it’s like Daniela said:“Life doesn’t work that way. You live with your choices and learn. You don’t cheat the system.”
There were some parts which I didn't like. Daniela’s reaction to the situation in particular, she recuperated quite fast and let me tell you, if I were in her shoes, I would not know what to do. Actually, scratch that, I would not want to be in Daniela's shoes, ever. I felt the author was rushing to bring the story to a close and he left a lot of unanswered questions. Such as: 'What is going to happen to those other versions of Jason, do they not matter?’ ‘Is Jason the original?’ ‘How are Jason, Daniela and Charlie going to live in a new world where there must be other versions of them living in it?' Perhaps that was the author’s intention by choosing to leave the ending open.
There is one thing I would like to do if it was possible, I would like to see all the other versions of me living their different lives from mine, not to steal their lives the way Jason2 did but rather to motivate myself into creating a version of a life that I envision for myself. However, it is true what Jason said:
“I’ve seen so many versions of you. With me. Without me. Artist. Teacher. Graphic designer. But it’s all, in the end, just life. We see it macro, like one big story, but when you’re in it, it’s all just day-to-day, right? And isn’t that what you have to make your peace with?”
Or that we should appreciate what we have:
“What a miracle it is to have people to come home to every day. To be loved. To be expected. I thought I appreciated every moment, but sitting here in the cold, I know I took it all for granted. And how could I not? Until everything topples, we have no idea what we actually have, how precariously and perfectly it all hangs together.”
lizscanlon's review against another edition
4.0
The older I get, the less I understand.
Dark Matter… Oh, boy, Dark Matter, you were the talk of the blogosphere.. You rode into town with your scifi element and thrill and won over everyone’s hearts… I mean, you popped the cherry for many a reader who hadn’t read scifi-anything before. That’s something! Now the hype has died down, I hear a bit less about you but when I do it’s mostly people saying- “Ahhh, I really need to read this book!”
I think due to the hype surrounding this book having lodged itself in my mind I did go into reading it with some high expectations. Most of those expectations were met.
What I truly loved about this book was its source of inspiration- the many worlds theory and Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment. Fascinating! Mighty fascinating! Love this stuff to bits! Even though I failed my physics/chemistry/maths throughout my education years 😀 And it’s all mind blowing the more I think about these topics… I mean, I completely love what Crouch did here- essentially he explained complicated theories in simple terms- through storytelling. And the many worlds theory has been something of a niggle at the back of my head when thinking about all things life and choices but I never actually knew the theory existed until I read this book, so there! I can name it now, explore it and have interesting inner dialogues with myself!
I did not know what to expect in terms of plot and characters… I was pleased to be hooked into the story from pretty much paragraph one and when I thought perhaps I and Nicki wouldn’t have catch ups that often, we ended up DMing each other rather frequently! That was fun! It was great to try and guess what was going to happen next, chapter after chapter. I think we both had plenty of visions in our heads on how it was all going to play out or how we wanted the story to go… Personally, I got a bit anxious because the closer to the end of the book I got, the more gargantuan I was expecting the final ‘big bang’ (tee-hee!) to be… The conclusion certainly satisfied me! Although I do have questions about what happened to all those… *cough* …’people‘!
What I didn’t that much like, or well, what kind of took away from the complete enjoyment for me was the occasional sappiness. I get it: life = love! But man, there were some serious sappy moments in this book where I just rolled my eyes and thought: Ahh, you little sappy sap, Jason!
I have to admit, though- isn’t it always the case that when the status quo is shaken and stirred, we suddenly realize that what we’ve had all along, and what we’ve been taking for granted seems a lot more valuable to us. I do think that little piece of intimacy and emotional side of it was there to please the wider group of readers, HOWEVER, it also, in my mind, has its role to highlight the differences in between the Family Man Jason versus the Scientist Jason.
In the end… I have to admit, I enjoyed what Crouch accomplished. Part thriller/part scifi, centred around the ‘old as man’ question of love and happiness.
So, the only thing for me to do is ask you: Are YOU happy with your life? I would recommend reading this book to help you visualise all the different ways your life could change and whether what you currently have in your life suffices for happiness and peace. Dark Matter definitely made me think!
alidathealien's review against another edition
4.0
Ok I thought I already marked this as read and reviewed it but I guess not. Quick version: loved the premise, loved the story. The writing got a little repetitive at times (dude this is the second parallel world you've entered, why are you just now remarking on how it feels like you've stepped into a world that's not yours?) (Spoilers) the ending was open ended which I usually hate but it works alright here.
I find it very hard to believe that NONE of the other Jasons were like "hell yeah, the science career I always wanted" or even like "well I guess there's other fish in the sea" if there were Jasons different enough from Jason prime to kill without hesitation, surely there are Jasons who are okay with moving on from Daniella.
I find it very hard to believe that NONE of the other Jasons were like "hell yeah, the science career I always wanted" or even like "well I guess there's other fish in the sea" if there were Jasons different enough from Jason prime to kill without hesitation, surely there are Jasons who are okay with moving on from Daniella.
wreathian's review against another edition
4.0
I love mulling over the themes that this book was focused on. Mind-bending multiverse shit plus psychological thriller twists and turns? That's definitely my arena. It started a little slow for me, but I'm sure that was intentional. After that first chapter, it was a quick read that I couldn't put down for long. Crouch also introduced a unique (to me) addition to traveling through the multiverse that I thought was pretty brilliant and added another sense of urgency Jason's plight.
Overall, this book *gripped* me and horrified me, just thinking of how I'd feel in Jason's shoes. It made me look over my past and the defining moments (or simply mundane choices) that would have splintered me into multiple selves, had I been at one point a brilliant particle physicist and had this be an option. What facets of myself would come out after a stroll through the reality's backstage? Probably more of the same - crazy and desperate.
Overall, this book *gripped* me and horrified me, just thinking of how I'd feel in Jason's shoes. It made me look over my past and the defining moments (or simply mundane choices) that would have splintered me into multiple selves, had I been at one point a brilliant particle physicist and had this be an option. What facets of myself would come out after a stroll through the reality's backstage? Probably more of the same - crazy and desperate.