Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - Book Review

From the publisher: “Are you happy with your life?” 

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. 

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. 

Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”  

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

Blake Crouch's Dark Matter is a captivating book. I couldn't put it down, and hated having to stop at any point.  It is the story of a man, Jason Dessen, who has his life assumed by another version of himself. Meanwhile, Jason is sent to an alternate version of his life, one where he made some very different life decisions, which resulted in a very different life. Dark Matter is the story of Jason's journey and efforts to return "home", to his wife and son, and the life he loves.

In Jason Dessen, Crouch has created an everyman-type protagonist. Dessen is easy to relate to for several reasons: he loves his family, he has a relatively "ordinary life" that he loves, and he sometimes wonders "what if" in regards to some past choices he made. The difference is that he is a brilliant physicist and has discovered how to jump timelines that have branched off based on the decisions he made. If this sounds confusing, it really isn't. In Crouch's hands, this concept makes sense and is clear to follow. Additionally, the fact that Dessen is also the antagonist adds another level to the tension, because really, how do you out think yourself?

As for the story, I've seen someone else refer to this as a love story, and I would agree to a point. Jason's love for his wife is the motivating factor for him to get his old life back. In fact, this story reminded me a lot of The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The science fiction concepts layer on top of the love story element and are all surrounded and wrapped up in something that feels very deep and meaningful.

I highly recommend Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It is a page turning story that should appeal to a wide variety of readers.

I received a preview copy of this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review.

Highlight Play

Today, Griffin's football team won their first game this season. That was cool. However, what he did was even cooler. Griffin scored on a 40+ yd counter. Along the way, he broke a tackle, kept his balance, and stiff-armed a kid before he scored. It was his first touchdown in the tackle league, and its quite possible I was more excited about it than he was. In addition, his blocking improved, and he was involved in a tackle or two while playing linebacker. All in  all, a pretty cool day.

We are still waiting for Cami's fall softball season to start, but that should be any time now.

Lexi had her first action as a cheerleader this past week, and every time I looked at her, she had a big smile on her face. She also found out that she would be playing #1 doubles this tennis season.

This week, we have two tennis matches scheduled (weather permitting), one cheer game, and one youth football game.

More to come...

ALL-STAR BATMAN #1 by Scott Snyder, John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Dean White - Book Review

From the publisher: “My Own Worst Enemy” part one! Superstar writer Scott Snyder explodes into an all-new Batman series alongside legendary artist John Romita Jr., reimagining some of the Dark Knight’s greatest villains. First up: Two-Face! Batman must take Two-Face to a destination out of Gotham City, but the duplicitous villain has a two of spades up his sleeve. Every assassin, bounty hunter and ordinary citizen with something to hide is on their tails with one goal: kill Batman! Handcuffed together on the road to hell, this is Batman and Two-Face as you’ve never seen them before! 

In what promises to be a cool series, Scott Snyder starts All-Star Batman #1 off with a bang! This opening chapter to the "My Own Worst Enemy" storyline continues DC's new Rebirth process. Snyder drops the reader into the middle of a crisis, with Batman transporting Two-Face to a mysterious location. Two-Face tells Batman that he has offered a reward to anyone who helps him escape, and promises to reveal damaging information about everyone if he isn't freed. As expected, chaos ensues.

I really liked this opening chapter, and look forward to seeing where Snyder takes the story. He has done such a great job writing Batman over the past few years, and I can't wait to find out how he handles Two-Face.

In addition to the main storyline, there is a back-up feature about the new "Robin", Duke from the Robin Wars story. It looks interesting as well.

Overall, Snyder has done it again with All-Star Batman. He has a proven track record with this character, and this book should be in the must read pile of any Batman fans, as well as fans looking to give the new DC Rebirth books a shot.

I received a preview copy of this book from DC Comics and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Here we go!

This past week, the Knight family jumped back into our routine. After a fun summer break filled with camps, swimming, and a long Orlando vacation with the beach, theme parks, and Idaho family, our school lives began to gear up. The kids and I started school on Thursday. Lexi began tennis practice, and has continued cheerleading practice. Cami is starting fall softball soon. And Griffin had his first football game yesterday. He carried the ball a couple of times, had a few blocks, and was involved in making two tackles at the cornerback position. The team lost, but Griffin showed improvement from last year.

More to come as we get deeper into the seasons.

Past Aways: Facedown in the Timestream by Matt Kindt - Book Review

From the publisher: When five deep-time explorers find themselves stranded in the distant past of 2015, they're forced to adapt to a primitive world of iPhone 6s's and cars that can't even drive themselves. But when a rift in space-time starts spitting out dinosaurs, giant robots, and other strange phenomena, only the marooned "PastAways" can defend the twenty-first century from the terrors of the timestream!

Collects issues #1-#6 of the Dark Horse original series, plus a short story from Dark Horse Presents all in full-color!

Matt Kindt's Past Aways: Facedown in the Timestream is full of big ideas. It is the story of a group of people from the extreme future sent to observe our present. However, they become stranded. While looking for a way back and coming to terms with their new reality, they deal with other time disruptions like themselves.

This book has an interesting, big science fiction concept. It is full of action and weird, wonderful future-type things. However, I didn't really find the various characters that interesting. They were barely more than archetypes, with very little characterization. While this isn't a necessity for an action book, for me it resulted in not caring that much about what happened to them. There was very little character development, either.

As far as the story, Past Aways started as one type of story (castaways in time dealing with their situation and hoping to return home) and by the end had turned into something else altogether (no spoilers). This initially threw me off, but I found that it was actually more interesting than the characters, so I liked that part of it.

Overall, Past Aways was average. I feel like Kindt aimed high, but the execution didn't quite reach the heights he aimed for. I would recommend this book to fans of weird science fiction and big action movies.

I received a preview copy of this book from Dark Horse Comics and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Down and Out In Purgatory by Tim Powers - Book Review

From the publisher: What do you do if the man you’ve vowed to kill dies before you can kill him?
In college, Tom Holbrook worshipped Shasta DiMaio from afar, but she married the arrogant John Atwater—and Atwater eventually murdered her.

All that’s left for Tom is revenge. He has devoted the rest of his life to finding Atwater and killing him—but when he finally finds him, Atwater is in a bag in the Los Angeles County morgue.

How do you kill a man who has already died?

Down and Out in Purgatory, by Tim Powers, is a quick read of a novella that details the Tom Holbrook's quest for revenge on the man who killed the woman he loved. Unfortunately, Tom discovers that John Atwater is already dead. He is left with two options: give up his obsession with revenge, or follow Atwater to the afterlife and try for revenge there. He chooses the latter, and what follows is trip around purgatory and a brief examination of what is really important in life.

Tim Powers typically takes the everyday and peels back the layers, mixing in magic and/or the supernatural to add an unexpected depth. In the case of Down and Out, he looks at what is important after a person dies. There are quite a few interesting ideas presented in this story, including the structure of the afterlife and over-easy ghosts. Powers also touches on themes of loss, obsession, the value of life, and others. Because the book is so short, these don't get the examination they might otherwise have in a full-length novel. However, the length helps in that reading a Powers novel often requires a lot of persistence due to the denseness of ideas he generally packs into his stories.

Overall, I would recommend Down and Out in Purgatory. Fans of Tim Powers will enjoy another chance to visit his creations, while new fans will find this a great introduction to his style.

I received a preview copy of this book from Subterranean Press in exchange for an honest review.

James Bond: VARGR by Warren Ellis - Book Review

From the publisher: After a mission of vengeance in Helsinki, James Bond returns to London and assumes the workload of a fallen 00 Section agent. His new mission takes him to Berlin, presumably to break up an agile drug-trafficking operation. But Bond has no idea of the forces ranged in secret against him, the full range of an operation that's much scarier and more lethal than he could possibly imagine. Berlin is about to catch fire... and James Bond is trapped inside. Dynamite Entertainment proudly presents VARGR, the debut storyline in the all-new James Bond comic book series, as crafted by masterful writer Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, The Authority) and artist Jason Masters (Batman Incorporated, Guardians of the Galaxy). 

Vargr, the new James Bond comic by Warren Ellis for Dynamite Entertainment, is awesome. It is basically a James Bond movie in comic form, minus the theme song. There is a femme fatale, a crazy villain, a strange henchman, and an action-filled opening.

After 008 is killed, James Bond is assigned one of his open cases. This leads him to Germany, where he is to meet a CIA asset to discuss a drug issue. It's potentially a quick case; he doesn't even get armed with any of Q's fun gadgets. However, things don't go as planned, and the mission quickly goes sideways. Soon, its up to Bond to connect a former Nazi with the mysterious drug that is devouring junkies from the inside out.

Ellis perfectly captures the pace and dialogue of the newer Bond movies. With appearances by Q, M, and Miss Moneypenny, the whole cast of familiar characters is here. Ellis has created just enough backstory for the various villains to make them believable. He has kept the witty dialogue (no "shaken, not stirred" though), particularly between Bond and Moneypenny. The action is balanced with slower pieces, and the plot pulls together nicely.

The only disappointment is the lack of character development for Bond himself. However, as this is a planned ongoing series, I'll give Ellis the benefit of the doubt and hope that future story arcs will further flesh out James Bond.

James Bond: VARGR by Warren Ellis is a fun, exciting read. I look forward to seeing where this series takes 007. I highly recommend it, particularly to James Bond fans.

I received a preview copy of this book from Dynamite Entertainment and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.