Recursion

Review

This was the second Blake Crouch book I read, and like the first one, I enjoyed it. I always find there is a bit of suspension of disbelief that has to go on with his books and the science involved, but once you accept that, you can enjoy the story. Mainly because of the complicated nature of time and how we perceive it would work in these worlds.

I think the dual narrative really works, and I found myself engaged with both characters and their plights. The book starts really strong emotionally. It can get a little confusing at a few spots, but I think that is intentional with how recursion would work.

The math in my head for figuring out the scenarios where people would remember and not did make me wonder a few times how that actually worked, but then I just accepted it, like I said, and moved on.

I did see other reviews where people were unhappy the narrative moves away from the scientist, but I didn't get that at all. She took charge of the situation and her agency was not lost. It was necessary to switch more into his perspective because she remembered everything and it was interesting to see how he reacted to each new lifetime.

But then she'd done it too many times, and it switched to him, and then we see him experience what she'd been experiencing, and I just loved the end.

I think when you find yourself writing a lot about a book, that really tells you how much you enjoyed it. Blake Crouch is what I would consider accessible hard sci-fi ideas for people that don't want to see the math.