kinetics's review against another edition
3.0
A 3.5 star rounded down rather than up, because I think this book gets a tad more praise than it deserves - and obviously my 3-star won't drag it down too much.
The plotline and main conceit is intriguing, the story is action packed, but I still couldn't help but feel like it could have been more. Despite established character histories, I found the two leads to be rather shallow in personality, their actions serving the plot without a lot of insight into them as three (four? hehe) dimensional people.
I also found a lot of the dialogue to be completely unnatural and/or corny, despite the way that Crouch writes, which seems geared toward TV/film adaptation. I'm not sure whether the style is intentional or not, but it's definitely there, and while it makes for an exciting action packed book, the dialogue often didn't sound natural at all.
I was asked several times during my read-through what I thought, and my opinion went from "slow" to "holy shit" to "I'm not... sure?" I felt like the end was satisfying, though, and it was definitely worth the read - I did finish it in a day, after all. I just didn't come away from it raving like I was hoping I would.
The plotline and main conceit is intriguing, the story is action packed, but I still couldn't help but feel like it could have been more. Despite established character histories, I found the two leads to be rather shallow in personality, their actions serving the plot without a lot of insight into them as three (four? hehe) dimensional people.
I also found a lot of the dialogue to be completely unnatural and/or corny, despite the way that Crouch writes, which seems geared toward TV/film adaptation. I'm not sure whether the style is intentional or not, but it's definitely there, and while it makes for an exciting action packed book, the dialogue often didn't sound natural at all.
I was asked several times during my read-through what I thought, and my opinion went from "slow" to "holy shit" to "I'm not... sure?" I felt like the end was satisfying, though, and it was definitely worth the read - I did finish it in a day, after all. I just didn't come away from it raving like I was hoping I would.
srags's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
beccabot's review against another edition
5.0
In Black Crouch’s latest novel, Recursion, he follows the lives of Barry, a detective in New York City, and Helena, a scientist trying to create a technology to restore memories of people with Alzheimer’s. Helena is recruited by Marcus Slade to work with him on her device and given an unlimited budget. When Americans start experiencing False Memory Syndrome, memories that don’t seem to be their own, Helena and Barry’s lives soon become intertwined.
I’m not sure I even know how to write this review without spoilers. Blake Crouch uses a unique concept that hits close to home for a lot of us, making advances in technology and the people behind it the villain. Crouch does a great job of making you want to like the villain in the beginning and slowly bringing you around to thinking they’re bad. Technology is so prominent in our current culture you never want to think anything bad could happen from it so of course, you want to like the people behind it. It honestly reminds me of some of your superhero stories like Spiderman and Ironman where the villain uses technology to destroy the world.
I loved how the characters in the story’s lives come together. While they may not know each other in the beginning, they become quite acquainted in the end. It’s really interesting how Crouch manages to make the whole fictional world of people connected in a way. It’s great how the scientist is a badass female character too. We don’t see this often.
This book is action-packed! Every turn of the page left me wanting more. I’m a sucker for sci-fi and Recursion did not disappoint. This is the first novel I’ve read from Crouch and I will certainly be reading more now.
I’m not sure I even know how to write this review without spoilers. Blake Crouch uses a unique concept that hits close to home for a lot of us, making advances in technology and the people behind it the villain. Crouch does a great job of making you want to like the villain in the beginning and slowly bringing you around to thinking they’re bad. Technology is so prominent in our current culture you never want to think anything bad could happen from it so of course, you want to like the people behind it. It honestly reminds me of some of your superhero stories like Spiderman and Ironman where the villain uses technology to destroy the world.
I loved how the characters in the story’s lives come together. While they may not know each other in the beginning, they become quite acquainted in the end. It’s really interesting how Crouch manages to make the whole fictional world of people connected in a way. It’s great how the scientist is a badass female character too. We don’t see this often.
This book is action-packed! Every turn of the page left me wanting more. I’m a sucker for sci-fi and Recursion did not disappoint. This is the first novel I’ve read from Crouch and I will certainly be reading more now.
ladysagestorm's review against another edition
5.0
Wow wow wow. Wow. Wow. Pretty cool.
Reminded me a lot of Dexter Palmer's _Version Control_ , and not just because both titles are programming terms.
There actually were lots of elements that reminded me of other stories, but the way that this one unfolded was really interesting. Especially given the complex nature of the concept, it was also easy to follow.
And I love it when a story that should be about the end of the world ends up really being about the love between two people that drives them to save it.
Also: the next book in my stack is Camus's _The Stranger_ , which is mentioned in this book!
Reminded me a lot of Dexter Palmer's _Version Control_ , and not just because both titles are programming terms.
There actually were lots of elements that reminded me of other stories, but the way that this one unfolded was really interesting. Especially given the complex nature of the concept, it was also easy to follow.
And I love it when a story that should be about the end of the world ends up really being about the love between two people that drives them to save it.
Also: the next book in my stack is Camus's _The Stranger_ , which is mentioned in this book!
zosiablue's review against another edition
4.0
(4.5) Oh, this was so lovely. Very much a Groundhog Day + Eternal Sunshine + Interstellar mashup that spoke to the tensions of memory. Ending got unnecessarily trite/tacked-on but that’s OK. The rest was worth it.
discoverypaper's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
outofthegates's review against another edition
3.0
Lost its narrative momentum around 2/3 of the way through. You know how the movie "AI" was pretty good until it blew past several obvious end points? That's what this book reminded me of.