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John Rayburn #2
Broken Universe
Possessing technology that allows him to travel across alternate worlds, John Rayburn begins building a transdimensional commercial empire, led by him, his closest friends, and their doppelgø¤ngers from several different parallel universes. But not every version of every person is the same, and their agendas do not always coincide. Despite their benign intentions, the group€™s activities draw unwanted attention from other dimensional travelers who covet their technology and will kill anyone to control it, a threat that culminates in a nuclear standoff for dominance throughout the multiverse.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published June 5, 2012
About the author
Paul Melko
20 books47 followersPaul lives in Ohio with his beautiful wife and four fairly wonderful children. He is an active member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, where he sits on the board of directors as the South-Central Regional Director and is chair of the Grievance Committee.
Paul’s fiction has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Spider Magazine, The Year’s Best Science Fiction, and other magazines and anthologies. His work has been translated into Spanish, Hungarian, Czech, and Russian. A collection of his science fiction stories, TEN SIGMAS AND OTHER UNLIKELIHOODS, is scheduled for release in 2008. Paul’s work has been nominated for the Sturgeon, Nebula, and Hugo Awards.
SINGULARITY’S RING (Tor Book, Feb 08) is his first novel, the protagonist of which is actually five humans who can chemically share thoughts, allowing them to act as one entity. Strom’s story, “Strength Alone,” (part of SINGULARITY’S RING) made the Nebula preliminary ballot. Paul’s novella “The Walls of the Universe” was nominated for the Hugo in 2007. It is the basis for his next novel.
Paul’s fiction has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Spider Magazine, The Year’s Best Science Fiction, and other magazines and anthologies. His work has been translated into Spanish, Hungarian, Czech, and Russian. A collection of his science fiction stories, TEN SIGMAS AND OTHER UNLIKELIHOODS, is scheduled for release in 2008. Paul’s work has been nominated for the Sturgeon, Nebula, and Hugo Awards.
SINGULARITY’S RING (Tor Book, Feb 08) is his first novel, the protagonist of which is actually five humans who can chemically share thoughts, allowing them to act as one entity. Strom’s story, “Strength Alone,” (part of SINGULARITY’S RING) made the Nebula preliminary ballot. Paul’s novella “The Walls of the Universe” was nominated for the Hugo in 2007. It is the basis for his next novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
July 1, 2012
John Rayburn, his friends, and their doppelgangers from other universes build a transdimenional corporation. However, there old enemies the Alarians aren't finished with them and then there's the matter of John Prime visiting universes on his own, unbeknownst to the rest of the Pinball Wizards...
Sequels. You hate them, right? Yeah, me too. Rarely do they pack the same punch as the original. While Broken Universe doesn't make me forget about my general sequel hate, it does a pretty good job in showing what a sequel could be.
Broken Universe takes what Melko started in The Walls of the Universe and turns the knob up to eleven. Instead of two Johns and two Caseys, we get multiples dupes of John, Casey, Henry, and Grace. They go about building more transfer devices, deal in more than just pinball machines, and generally act like normal people probably would if they had an infinity of parallel universes to explore/exploit.
The Alarians were a decent foe for the first half of the book but I found the Vig to be much more interesting. They were merely hinted at in Walls of the Universe but stepped to the forefront in the second half of the book. I liked that Melko gave them more dimension than just being a transdimensional police force.
The characters of John Rayburn, John Prime, and Grace Home were the most developed. Prime continues to be my favorite character but Grace almost passed him in this one. The contrast between John Rayburn and John Prime drove the book along nicely. Grace really stepped up after what happened to her at the end of the first book.
It's not all peaches and gravy, though. I still don't get why all the Johns and all the Caseys wind up together. I'd much rather see John and Grace as a couple. My only other complaint is that I wanted more. There are still enough unanswered questions for at least one more book.
Note: I did an interview with Paul Melko about the Universe series here.
Sequels. You hate them, right? Yeah, me too. Rarely do they pack the same punch as the original. While Broken Universe doesn't make me forget about my general sequel hate, it does a pretty good job in showing what a sequel could be.
Broken Universe takes what Melko started in The Walls of the Universe and turns the knob up to eleven. Instead of two Johns and two Caseys, we get multiples dupes of John, Casey, Henry, and Grace. They go about building more transfer devices, deal in more than just pinball machines, and generally act like normal people probably would if they had an infinity of parallel universes to explore/exploit.
The Alarians were a decent foe for the first half of the book but I found the Vig to be much more interesting. They were merely hinted at in Walls of the Universe but stepped to the forefront in the second half of the book. I liked that Melko gave them more dimension than just being a transdimensional police force.
The characters of John Rayburn, John Prime, and Grace Home were the most developed. Prime continues to be my favorite character but Grace almost passed him in this one. The contrast between John Rayburn and John Prime drove the book along nicely. Grace really stepped up after what happened to her at the end of the first book.
It's not all peaches and gravy, though. I still don't get why all the Johns and all the Caseys wind up together. I'd much rather see John and Grace as a couple. My only other complaint is that I wanted more. There are still enough unanswered questions for at least one more book.
Note: I did an interview with Paul Melko about the Universe series here.
October 17, 2012
This was a fun book, one that was thrilling and read really fast as it proved quite the page turner for me. The main characters were interesting and engaging, I loved the setting (or settings, as it is about parallel universes), and though I think best read as a great adventure story, it did explore some fascinating concepts related to parallel universes.
I do need to point out to anyone reading this review that it is a sequel to the earlier book _The Walls of the Universe_ and that you if you haven’t read that, I would imagine you would be very lost. Ok, having said that, the book succeeds quite well as a sequel. The original book left a lot to explore, not just in terms of finishing up or continuing various plot lines and character arcs, but also with just general concepts.
The Alarians, the original bad guys of the first book, do figure into this work though they lack some of the punch that they had in _The Walls of Universe_. A minor complaint is that are hinted at being a bigger villain than they perhaps prove to be (some might even say it is a bit of mopping up from the plot of the first volume) but they are still very much a problem for the main characters. Interesting, they might even prove a source of information (or even “hostile ally” of sorts, like perhaps a hostile witness in a court of law or courtroom drama), as a far worse villain appears, one that the both hate; the Vig. I won’t say anything more about them other than they are a very worthy opponent and I enjoyed reading about them.
I love how the author took the concept of parallel universe and just went beyond anything else I had ever seen. Convinced that someone is a threat or a villain (or perhaps doing a background check)? Investigate him or her in a parallel universe, as perhaps that individual got caught for a crime in another universe. As neat as that is though, the author doesn’t stop there; how much does this really reflect the reality of every instance of an individual (of every doppelganger or dup, depending upon which terminology from the book you want to adopt)? If say in nine out of ten universes a person is a murderer, does that make him a murderer too in the tenth universe, even if there is no evidence? Do people have natural tendencies to perform certain actions, lacking only the means and opportunity? How different really are the “same” person across realities?
The differences (or lack thereof) between one universe’s instance of a person and another universe’s version is one of the central themes of the book. On the one hand, there are clearly similarities as the Pinball Wizards functions incredibly well as not only are the main characters – John, Casey, Henry, and Grace – very intelligent and resourceful people but they are supplemented by multiple versions of themselves. The various versions work well together, are able to predict the actions of other versions of themselves to an astonishing degree, and provide few surprises to even the other characters; know one version of Henry, you have a good handle on other versions of him. Though differences emerge – the Grace of the first book is clearly scarred by her experiences with the Alarians – they seem more alike than different. They fall for the same people again and again and they tend to gravitate towards the same roles in Pinball Wizards again and again.
Yet for all that one of the most interesting aspects if the original differences between John Rayburn and John Prime. Though they became allies in the first book, can they stay that way? Is John Prime’s past – still incompletely known to John Rayburn – so different that the two will never truly be alike? Or was something different at the outset? More to the point, can John Prime ever truly be trusted?
One thing I would like to note is that the book had a Golden Age feel to it. The characters came from universes that apparently lacked personal computers or of course the internet, something I found fascinating, but I also loved how they were characters who simply loved to explore and saw the positive in life. For them the science of parallel universe travel and its possibilities were good things, not something to be feared, regretted, or built up angst over (very nice), though towards the end they had reasons to believe there was a dark side indeed to parallel universe hopping (starting with but not finishing with the Vig).
I have really very few complaints. At times the various versions of the four central characters could be hard to tell apart but that wasn’t really a huge problem, as only a few versions ever really were main characters and those were the ones that needed to be focused on. The book did leave some obvious unfinished plotlines – the nature of the original owner of John Prime’s iaciorator and the culture and world he came from, the strange equipment that traveler carried and what it could do, what the Vig are going to do to Pinball Wizards among others – but I don’t see that as a problem as clearly this book is the setup for another sequel, one I am eager to read.
I do need to point out to anyone reading this review that it is a sequel to the earlier book _The Walls of the Universe_ and that you if you haven’t read that, I would imagine you would be very lost. Ok, having said that, the book succeeds quite well as a sequel. The original book left a lot to explore, not just in terms of finishing up or continuing various plot lines and character arcs, but also with just general concepts.
The Alarians, the original bad guys of the first book, do figure into this work though they lack some of the punch that they had in _The Walls of Universe_. A minor complaint is that are hinted at being a bigger villain than they perhaps prove to be (some might even say it is a bit of mopping up from the plot of the first volume) but they are still very much a problem for the main characters. Interesting, they might even prove a source of information (or even “hostile ally” of sorts, like perhaps a hostile witness in a court of law or courtroom drama), as a far worse villain appears, one that the both hate; the Vig. I won’t say anything more about them other than they are a very worthy opponent and I enjoyed reading about them.
I love how the author took the concept of parallel universe and just went beyond anything else I had ever seen. Convinced that someone is a threat or a villain (or perhaps doing a background check)? Investigate him or her in a parallel universe, as perhaps that individual got caught for a crime in another universe. As neat as that is though, the author doesn’t stop there; how much does this really reflect the reality of every instance of an individual (of every doppelganger or dup, depending upon which terminology from the book you want to adopt)? If say in nine out of ten universes a person is a murderer, does that make him a murderer too in the tenth universe, even if there is no evidence? Do people have natural tendencies to perform certain actions, lacking only the means and opportunity? How different really are the “same” person across realities?
The differences (or lack thereof) between one universe’s instance of a person and another universe’s version is one of the central themes of the book. On the one hand, there are clearly similarities as the Pinball Wizards functions incredibly well as not only are the main characters – John, Casey, Henry, and Grace – very intelligent and resourceful people but they are supplemented by multiple versions of themselves. The various versions work well together, are able to predict the actions of other versions of themselves to an astonishing degree, and provide few surprises to even the other characters; know one version of Henry, you have a good handle on other versions of him. Though differences emerge – the Grace of the first book is clearly scarred by her experiences with the Alarians – they seem more alike than different. They fall for the same people again and again and they tend to gravitate towards the same roles in Pinball Wizards again and again.
Yet for all that one of the most interesting aspects if the original differences between John Rayburn and John Prime. Though they became allies in the first book, can they stay that way? Is John Prime’s past – still incompletely known to John Rayburn – so different that the two will never truly be alike? Or was something different at the outset? More to the point, can John Prime ever truly be trusted?
One thing I would like to note is that the book had a Golden Age feel to it. The characters came from universes that apparently lacked personal computers or of course the internet, something I found fascinating, but I also loved how they were characters who simply loved to explore and saw the positive in life. For them the science of parallel universe travel and its possibilities were good things, not something to be feared, regretted, or built up angst over (very nice), though towards the end they had reasons to believe there was a dark side indeed to parallel universe hopping (starting with but not finishing with the Vig).
I have really very few complaints. At times the various versions of the four central characters could be hard to tell apart but that wasn’t really a huge problem, as only a few versions ever really were main characters and those were the ones that needed to be focused on. The book did leave some obvious unfinished plotlines – the nature of the original owner of John Prime’s iaciorator and the culture and world he came from, the strange equipment that traveler carried and what it could do, what the Vig are going to do to Pinball Wizards among others – but I don’t see that as a problem as clearly this book is the setup for another sequel, one I am eager to read.
November 14, 2013
In book 1 of this series, I noted that while the writing was not stellar, the ideas and the characters were interesting and compelling. This wasn't the standard time travel/parallel universe story line. It was thoughtful and well enough rendered to forgive the writer' slack of experience.
When I went for book 2, I found that my local library did not have it. I asked, How can you carry only one book in a series? The library kindly ordered a copy, and now I understand How.
In book 2, the writer's weaknesses come to full bloom. He muddies the storyline by mingling multiple worlds' doppelgängers, and then attempts to keep them straight first by number and then by contrived nicknames.
He further muddies the issue by making some doppelgängers quite identical, confusing even the protagonist, and making others quite morally and socially different, for no clear reason. He tries to raise the issue of "There, but for the grace of God, go I." But it never really gets developed, and what dies get developed is so divergent from the rest of the story that it seems more like a plot contrivance.
I can see some screenwriter picking this up and developing a sane story out of it. But in its current state, the author lacks both the experience and the editor to make this series believable, readable, and worth your time.
When I went for book 2, I found that my local library did not have it. I asked, How can you carry only one book in a series? The library kindly ordered a copy, and now I understand How.
In book 2, the writer's weaknesses come to full bloom. He muddies the storyline by mingling multiple worlds' doppelgängers, and then attempts to keep them straight first by number and then by contrived nicknames.
He further muddies the issue by making some doppelgängers quite identical, confusing even the protagonist, and making others quite morally and socially different, for no clear reason. He tries to raise the issue of "There, but for the grace of God, go I." But it never really gets developed, and what dies get developed is so divergent from the rest of the story that it seems more like a plot contrivance.
I can see some screenwriter picking this up and developing a sane story out of it. But in its current state, the author lacks both the experience and the editor to make this series believable, readable, and worth your time.
June 3, 2012
“How can he have no doppelgangers, if there are an infinite number of universes?”
“Because, first, maybe there aren’t an infinite number of universes and, second, once you start traveling between universes—me—or interacting with someone who does—you—you can no longer be parallel with any other versions of yourself.”
“What?”
“Travel between parallel universes pollutes the synchronicity of the universes. No other John Rayburn is experiencing anything of what I’ve experienced once Prime showed up with the device. My life took a radical divergence, because there can’t be any other universe where other versions of me traveled the same sequence of universes that I did. Once you start moving beyond your current universe, you become a meta-person, a meta-event, beyond what normal versions of me experience.”
***
Parallel universes—a staple of science fiction and comic book story telling. Perhaps not as ubiquitous as time travel stories, but thankfully less prone to repeating and recycling the old temporal-paradox chestnut. The cell-splitting of one universe into an unknown number is a potentially dangerous proposition—attempting to wrangle some modicum of plausibility from any contemporary science fiction narrative is difficult enough when set in one world. But managing to tightrope walk across dozens of worlds, iterating on similar themes, locations, and even characters—without completely getting lost along the way—is a feat in and of itself.
In The Broken Universe, Paul Melko takes the very wise route of using character to sell the science, and not the other way around. John Rayburn, together with friends Grace, Henry, and Casey, whom he is in love with, have a god key in their possession: an iaciorator—a device which allows them to cross back and forth between a so-far undefined number of parallel universes. Using their Pinball Wizards company as a publicly acceptable front, they recruit other Johns, Graces, Henrys, and Caseys from across the different universes to acquire wealth, help others, and stave off annihilation from the psychotic Gesalex and his Alarian associates—“singleton” exiles from another universe in which women are very much subjugated and dictatorship seems the norm. The Alarians look down on “dups”—men and women with doppelgangers spread across the parallel worlds. To be unique, a singular entity with no parallels, is, in the eyes of the Alarians, to be a superior being.
By focusing on John and his relationships to Grace and Henry, his love of Casey, and the painful other-side-of-the-coin relationship he has with John Prime—the John who first introduced him to the iaciorator device—Melko weaves an exciting, sometimes mind-bending tale of corporate deception, social justice, oppression, and in the end, war with an inter-universe Green Lantern-style police force known as the Vig.
The Broken Universe is actually the second book in a series. Having not read the first book, 2009s The Walls of the Universe, I was at an immediate disadvantage. Right off the bat, Melko tosses out specialized terminology and hypothetical concepts (and numbers—lots of numbers for too many universes to name). Instead of ramping up slowly, re-introducing the world and the science behind it in the opening chapters, he assumes readers have read the first book and are already up to speed. This is not a complaint. In fact, I admire the approach. It’s a sales gamble, to have a somewhat difficult to penetrate second book in hopes of persuading readers to step back and seek out the first in the series. In many ways, it pays off. I was able to gather enough of an understanding of the first book’s events to become entrenched in The Broken Universe’s plot and character interactions.
Where it stumbles, however, is that The Broken Universe feels very much like the middle chapter of a trilogy—the first half is spent wrapping up threads and detritus from the first book, while the second half paves the way for the confrontations that I imagine will dominate the third book in the series. This does not negatively impact The Broken Universe too much. The novel is an exciting page-turner that doesn’t wrap itself too tightly around any metaphysical lampposts, nor does it gloss over the inherent paradoxes that would inevitably present themselves if such technology were possible. Yes, I would have loved to know more about Visgrath’s villainous, torturous ways and to better understand the impact his actions in the first book had on our character’s lives, just as I would have preferred a less truncated, MacGuffin-inspired finale. But I’m not terribly frustrated by these details, because the ideas and characters presented are inventive enough to keep me on board, waiting to see what happens next.
I like to imagine Paul Melko’s office is wall-to-wall whiteboards of universe names and numbers—that even he struggles to keep the details separating each location intact. That is, perhaps, the greatest threat his story has: becoming so bogged down in its own details that it risks overwhelming new readers. A threat, absolutely, but this is also what makes Melko’s story so much fun—that he is willing to go so deep into the construction and layering of these universes that they become characterized within the novel, stepping away from simple numbers and nomenclature that define the individual universes early on.
The Broken Universe is a great deal of fun, and I’m excited to see where Melko goes next. However, I do recommend, if you are interested, picking up the first title before diving into this one. As much as I enjoyed the second chapter in Melko’s surprisingly down-to-earth epic, I know there is much that I’m missing.
“Because, first, maybe there aren’t an infinite number of universes and, second, once you start traveling between universes—me—or interacting with someone who does—you—you can no longer be parallel with any other versions of yourself.”
“What?”
“Travel between parallel universes pollutes the synchronicity of the universes. No other John Rayburn is experiencing anything of what I’ve experienced once Prime showed up with the device. My life took a radical divergence, because there can’t be any other universe where other versions of me traveled the same sequence of universes that I did. Once you start moving beyond your current universe, you become a meta-person, a meta-event, beyond what normal versions of me experience.”
***
Parallel universes—a staple of science fiction and comic book story telling. Perhaps not as ubiquitous as time travel stories, but thankfully less prone to repeating and recycling the old temporal-paradox chestnut. The cell-splitting of one universe into an unknown number is a potentially dangerous proposition—attempting to wrangle some modicum of plausibility from any contemporary science fiction narrative is difficult enough when set in one world. But managing to tightrope walk across dozens of worlds, iterating on similar themes, locations, and even characters—without completely getting lost along the way—is a feat in and of itself.
In The Broken Universe, Paul Melko takes the very wise route of using character to sell the science, and not the other way around. John Rayburn, together with friends Grace, Henry, and Casey, whom he is in love with, have a god key in their possession: an iaciorator—a device which allows them to cross back and forth between a so-far undefined number of parallel universes. Using their Pinball Wizards company as a publicly acceptable front, they recruit other Johns, Graces, Henrys, and Caseys from across the different universes to acquire wealth, help others, and stave off annihilation from the psychotic Gesalex and his Alarian associates—“singleton” exiles from another universe in which women are very much subjugated and dictatorship seems the norm. The Alarians look down on “dups”—men and women with doppelgangers spread across the parallel worlds. To be unique, a singular entity with no parallels, is, in the eyes of the Alarians, to be a superior being.
By focusing on John and his relationships to Grace and Henry, his love of Casey, and the painful other-side-of-the-coin relationship he has with John Prime—the John who first introduced him to the iaciorator device—Melko weaves an exciting, sometimes mind-bending tale of corporate deception, social justice, oppression, and in the end, war with an inter-universe Green Lantern-style police force known as the Vig.
The Broken Universe is actually the second book in a series. Having not read the first book, 2009s The Walls of the Universe, I was at an immediate disadvantage. Right off the bat, Melko tosses out specialized terminology and hypothetical concepts (and numbers—lots of numbers for too many universes to name). Instead of ramping up slowly, re-introducing the world and the science behind it in the opening chapters, he assumes readers have read the first book and are already up to speed. This is not a complaint. In fact, I admire the approach. It’s a sales gamble, to have a somewhat difficult to penetrate second book in hopes of persuading readers to step back and seek out the first in the series. In many ways, it pays off. I was able to gather enough of an understanding of the first book’s events to become entrenched in The Broken Universe’s plot and character interactions.
Where it stumbles, however, is that The Broken Universe feels very much like the middle chapter of a trilogy—the first half is spent wrapping up threads and detritus from the first book, while the second half paves the way for the confrontations that I imagine will dominate the third book in the series. This does not negatively impact The Broken Universe too much. The novel is an exciting page-turner that doesn’t wrap itself too tightly around any metaphysical lampposts, nor does it gloss over the inherent paradoxes that would inevitably present themselves if such technology were possible. Yes, I would have loved to know more about Visgrath’s villainous, torturous ways and to better understand the impact his actions in the first book had on our character’s lives, just as I would have preferred a less truncated, MacGuffin-inspired finale. But I’m not terribly frustrated by these details, because the ideas and characters presented are inventive enough to keep me on board, waiting to see what happens next.
I like to imagine Paul Melko’s office is wall-to-wall whiteboards of universe names and numbers—that even he struggles to keep the details separating each location intact. That is, perhaps, the greatest threat his story has: becoming so bogged down in its own details that it risks overwhelming new readers. A threat, absolutely, but this is also what makes Melko’s story so much fun—that he is willing to go so deep into the construction and layering of these universes that they become characterized within the novel, stepping away from simple numbers and nomenclature that define the individual universes early on.
The Broken Universe is a great deal of fun, and I’m excited to see where Melko goes next. However, I do recommend, if you are interested, picking up the first title before diving into this one. As much as I enjoyed the second chapter in Melko’s surprisingly down-to-earth epic, I know there is much that I’m missing.
May 20, 2013
It’s always a bit of a risk to jump into the middle of a series, but it’s particularly annoying when you start a book and then discover there was one (or more) before it.
That just happened to me with “The Broken Universe” (Tor, $27.99, 384 pages), and it wouldn’t have happened if there had been any hint on the cover that this was a sequel to “The Wall of the Universe.” Even worse, “The Broken Universe” isn’t that good, so not only did I not really grasp was what going on for much of the book, it turned out to be not worth the struggle.
First, Paul Melko has a very complex setup, involving multiple versions of the same character who inhabit parallel universes, and these versions have the same name and characteristics, so after a while it becomes almost impossible to separate John Prime from John Champ from John Farmboy – not to mention the various Caseys, Graces and Henrys. And then on top of that, Melko delivers his protagonists from their numerous dangerous encounters with very hard to swallow mistakes made by the bad guys (typing the wrong address on an eviction notice, etc.).
Then again, if you loved “The Walls of the Universe,” “The Broken Universe” will probably make you happy – but the unwary should not be fooled. “The Broken Universe” is a volume two, and not necessarily a good one.
That just happened to me with “The Broken Universe” (Tor, $27.99, 384 pages), and it wouldn’t have happened if there had been any hint on the cover that this was a sequel to “The Wall of the Universe.” Even worse, “The Broken Universe” isn’t that good, so not only did I not really grasp was what going on for much of the book, it turned out to be not worth the struggle.
First, Paul Melko has a very complex setup, involving multiple versions of the same character who inhabit parallel universes, and these versions have the same name and characteristics, so after a while it becomes almost impossible to separate John Prime from John Champ from John Farmboy – not to mention the various Caseys, Graces and Henrys. And then on top of that, Melko delivers his protagonists from their numerous dangerous encounters with very hard to swallow mistakes made by the bad guys (typing the wrong address on an eviction notice, etc.).
Then again, if you loved “The Walls of the Universe,” “The Broken Universe” will probably make you happy – but the unwary should not be fooled. “The Broken Universe” is a volume two, and not necessarily a good one.
August 1, 2015
Alternative realities, parallel universes, crosstime continua—whatever your preferred phrase may be, they are like catnip for me. I love reading about what might have been—and, of course, I'm not alone.
Paul Melko is obviously of much the same mind, at least in this continuum... most of his published fiction involves such counterfactuals, in fact, including several of the stories collected in Ten Sigmas & Other Unlikelihoods, and all of The Walls of the Universe, which you should read before The Broken Universe anyway, since the former is the first book in this open-ended series.
And it is definitely open-ended. The Broken Universe is a sequel which does not so much wrap up its plot threads as knot them and begin new ones in the middle. I was half-convinced that I'd missed an installment somewhere, in fact, since this entry starts so much in medias res—and ends in much the same way, which may be a concern for some readers, given that this book came out in 2012 and there has as yet been no word of another sequel as far as I can tell.
In case you haven't read The Walls of the Universe, I won't go into too many details about the plot of The Broken Universe. Suffice it to say that it starts with John Rayburn (or one of him anyway) and Grace Shisler (ditto) transferring into a universe where John's parents have been killed by the Alarians, the arrogant crosstime aristocrats-in-exile whom we met about midway through the first book. Dealing with the Alarians and their attitude takes up at least half of the current installment.
That's about all I'm comfortable spilling about this one, but I do also want to note that this series is one of many such which assume—for the sake of convenience if nothing else—that travel across timelines is inherently linear: that Universe 7650 must fall in some sense between Universes 7649 and 7651, and that there is at least some relationship among them that means universes with adjacent numbers usually (albeit not always) have similar characteristics, similar histories, but for a few striking differences.
This seems unlikely to me. Granting that this is all a fictional construct anyway, it nevertheless seems more realistic to consider alternative universes as comprising a multidimensional weave, not just points on a line but threads in a tangle that could never be navigated so easily—especially since (it seems to me) that universes that aren't very different must sometimes merge as well. This would at least explain why universes that appear adjacent differ so visibly... if every single atom's every single binary choice resulted in a different universe, all stretched out in a single line, you would need to go through billions of them to find one that differed from your original one in any obvious way. The intuitive answer is that most of those alternatives simply merge again, instantly and without fanfare, their subatomic differences erased before becoming observable.
Melko's books do not delve quite so deeply into the mechanics of crosstime travel—at least, not yet. But they are fast-paced, enjoyable adventures, internally consistent and with a host of likeable, well-differentiated characters (the conflicts between John Prime and John Home, for example, are plausible in context and provide much of the internal tension in these novels).
You could make a much worse choice than to read these books, despite their lack of conclusion, in this or any universe in which they appear...
Paul Melko is obviously of much the same mind, at least in this continuum... most of his published fiction involves such counterfactuals, in fact, including several of the stories collected in Ten Sigmas & Other Unlikelihoods, and all of The Walls of the Universe, which you should read before The Broken Universe anyway, since the former is the first book in this open-ended series.
And it is definitely open-ended. The Broken Universe is a sequel which does not so much wrap up its plot threads as knot them and begin new ones in the middle. I was half-convinced that I'd missed an installment somewhere, in fact, since this entry starts so much in medias res—and ends in much the same way, which may be a concern for some readers, given that this book came out in 2012 and there has as yet been no word of another sequel as far as I can tell.
In case you haven't read The Walls of the Universe, I won't go into too many details about the plot of The Broken Universe. Suffice it to say that it starts with John Rayburn (or one of him anyway) and Grace Shisler (ditto) transferring into a universe where John's parents have been killed by the Alarians, the arrogant crosstime aristocrats-in-exile whom we met about midway through the first book. Dealing with the Alarians and their attitude takes up at least half of the current installment.
That's about all I'm comfortable spilling about this one, but I do also want to note that this series is one of many such which assume—for the sake of convenience if nothing else—that travel across timelines is inherently linear: that Universe 7650 must fall in some sense between Universes 7649 and 7651, and that there is at least some relationship among them that means universes with adjacent numbers usually (albeit not always) have similar characteristics, similar histories, but for a few striking differences.
This seems unlikely to me. Granting that this is all a fictional construct anyway, it nevertheless seems more realistic to consider alternative universes as comprising a multidimensional weave, not just points on a line but threads in a tangle that could never be navigated so easily—especially since (it seems to me) that universes that aren't very different must sometimes merge as well. This would at least explain why universes that appear adjacent differ so visibly... if every single atom's every single binary choice resulted in a different universe, all stretched out in a single line, you would need to go through billions of them to find one that differed from your original one in any obvious way. The intuitive answer is that most of those alternatives simply merge again, instantly and without fanfare, their subatomic differences erased before becoming observable.
Melko's books do not delve quite so deeply into the mechanics of crosstime travel—at least, not yet. But they are fast-paced, enjoyable adventures, internally consistent and with a host of likeable, well-differentiated characters (the conflicts between John Prime and John Home, for example, are plausible in context and provide much of the internal tension in these novels).
You could make a much worse choice than to read these books, despite their lack of conclusion, in this or any universe in which they appear...
June 5, 2012
Broken Universe is the sequel to alternate universe novel The Walls of the Universe. In The Walls, Farmboy John’s doppelganger (himself, from an alternate universe; John Prime), gave him a device that would allow him to move from one alternate universe to another (the universes being identical but for different decisions made, with small or large consequences), but wouldn’t allow him to move back, including to his home. The Walls ended with Farmboy John figuring out how to build a gate of his own to allow backward travel between the universes. Farmboy John, Grace, Henry, and their doppelgangers begin to use the device and its replicas to begin building a cross-universe business empire. Complications predictably ensue.
I can’t exactly say that Broken Universe picks up where The Walls of the Universe drops off, because it changes the last scene of The Walls, without explanation and without need. Presumably it was done to inject some oomph into Broken’s open, but it was jarring to read directly after finishing The Walls. It’s also just lazy writing; Melko could have easily created the desired emotion without rewriting his earlier work. This is, unfortunately, a significant complaint for Broken. Plot, logic, and scientific holes abound.
The first half of Broken is, like the middle third of The Walls, heavy on the nuts-and-bolts of cross-universe business. I think I enjoyed it more than most in The Walls, given my general interest in business and in entrepreneurship in particular, and it continues to raise interesting questions (Is there anything wrong with stealing an idea from one universe and making money off of it in another? After all, they’re creating value in the new universe by giving them something they presumable want and would not otherwise have, and they’re doing it using technology only they have.), but much of the suspense of The Walls is lacking. When antagonists arrive offering threats to more than their business interests, they’re somewhat disappointing. On the other hand, the action sequences in the second half of the book are pretty good, and Melko doesn’t pull any punches.
I would recommend Broken to anyone who thoroughly enjoyed The Walls. If you finished The Walls unsure whether you wanted to continue, you can probably live without Broken. Melko does answer a lot of the questions left from The Walls, albeit not all, and there is no obvious sequel hook. He also explores a lot of the themes of The Walls and implications of alternate universes in greater depth.
Disclosure: I won an ARC of Broken Universes through a Tor.com sweepstakes.
I can’t exactly say that Broken Universe picks up where The Walls of the Universe drops off, because it changes the last scene of The Walls, without explanation and without need. Presumably it was done to inject some oomph into Broken’s open, but it was jarring to read directly after finishing The Walls. It’s also just lazy writing; Melko could have easily created the desired emotion without rewriting his earlier work. This is, unfortunately, a significant complaint for Broken. Plot, logic, and scientific holes abound.
The first half of Broken is, like the middle third of The Walls, heavy on the nuts-and-bolts of cross-universe business. I think I enjoyed it more than most in The Walls, given my general interest in business and in entrepreneurship in particular, and it continues to raise interesting questions (Is there anything wrong with stealing an idea from one universe and making money off of it in another? After all, they’re creating value in the new universe by giving them something they presumable want and would not otherwise have, and they’re doing it using technology only they have.), but much of the suspense of The Walls is lacking. When antagonists arrive offering threats to more than their business interests, they’re somewhat disappointing. On the other hand, the action sequences in the second half of the book are pretty good, and Melko doesn’t pull any punches.
I would recommend Broken to anyone who thoroughly enjoyed The Walls. If you finished The Walls unsure whether you wanted to continue, you can probably live without Broken. Melko does answer a lot of the questions left from The Walls, albeit not all, and there is no obvious sequel hook. He also explores a lot of the themes of The Walls and implications of alternate universes in greater depth.
Disclosure: I won an ARC of Broken Universes through a Tor.com sweepstakes.
October 3, 2013
The first book in this series had this thing going on where it really interested me when it was all about this displaced guy and his new friends building up a company and establishing themselves in strange circumstances. It was like Ghostbusters, if Ghostbusters was more like Sliders.
Broken Universe picks up maybe one scene and six months after the last one left off, and is... well, more of that. It's got a lot of these cool character moments, and a bunch of fun stuff about how to manage and maintain a business that spans multiple dimensions. Also, interdimensional romance! Which I got a kick out of, because one set of characters fairly closely mirrors how I believe I'd act in the same situation.
Where the story falls short, and the reason that it's getting a three-star rating instead of something more, is the action scenes. They just don't feel very... well, action-y. The stakes never seem that high, the main John never bothers to practice any kind of combat despite the fact that it continues to happen to him at a rate that approaches the absurd, and when it comes time to actually tell the part of the story where bullets fly and the proverbial shit hits the equally proverbial fan, the author just doesn't seem to have the words.
Which is a huge shame, because the rest of the book is pretty good! I kind of wish that it had been primarily boardroom stuff and transdimensional business shenanigans, with the action taking a back seat. Because it reads like that's how it was supposed to be in the first place, but there were more lackluster gunfights shoehorned in.
Overall, I recommend Broken Universe if you liked The Walls of the Universe. It's got some good plot twists, and a lot of good character drama. Just... get used to tracking a lot of characters. Because when you've got a dozen copies of four people, each with slight divergences, it can get a little sticky. Fortunately, as copies, they're similar enough that it can be safely ignored in favor of the plot most of the time.
Broken Universe picks up maybe one scene and six months after the last one left off, and is... well, more of that. It's got a lot of these cool character moments, and a bunch of fun stuff about how to manage and maintain a business that spans multiple dimensions. Also, interdimensional romance! Which I got a kick out of, because one set of characters fairly closely mirrors how I believe I'd act in the same situation.
Where the story falls short, and the reason that it's getting a three-star rating instead of something more, is the action scenes. They just don't feel very... well, action-y. The stakes never seem that high, the main John never bothers to practice any kind of combat despite the fact that it continues to happen to him at a rate that approaches the absurd, and when it comes time to actually tell the part of the story where bullets fly and the proverbial shit hits the equally proverbial fan, the author just doesn't seem to have the words.
Which is a huge shame, because the rest of the book is pretty good! I kind of wish that it had been primarily boardroom stuff and transdimensional business shenanigans, with the action taking a back seat. Because it reads like that's how it was supposed to be in the first place, but there were more lackluster gunfights shoehorned in.
Overall, I recommend Broken Universe if you liked The Walls of the Universe. It's got some good plot twists, and a lot of good character drama. Just... get used to tracking a lot of characters. Because when you've got a dozen copies of four people, each with slight divergences, it can get a little sticky. Fortunately, as copies, they're similar enough that it can be safely ignored in favor of the plot most of the time.
June 3, 2012
What if you could really see what would have happened with your life if you had made different decisions? Everyone has imagined this; well Paul has managed to give it to us, with a difference. Instead of an international company, he has given us an interdimensional company, run by the same group of people in each multiverse. They are mostly the same, but with differences brought about by their individual choices in each of their individual universes. There are also two other dimension hopping groups introduced, one of which wants to wipe out our heroes because they are not individual, but just duplicate trash. Then there is another group that wants to wipe out our heroes, because they dimension hop. After all, only the Vig are allowed to dimension hop (for the good of the multiverse). The Vig have wiped out entire worlds for this “crime”. Keep in mind, these are individual people (even if they are all named John, Grace, Henry and Casey) and not all of them are good people. There is one version that is definitely working on being a bad guy. Luckily, most of the versions want to do the right thing and are trying to. Even when it involves threatening the Vig with nukes. This was well done with a subject that could have become very confusing in short order. I did receive this book to review.
June 15, 2012
The sequel to last year's "The Walls of the Universe" is an adventure that is essentially 2 stories in one. In the first half of the "Broken Universe", Melko resolves the issue of the Alarians & their thwarting of things within Grauptham House & the pinball company. The second half involves a threat to the various aspect of the multiverse & a police force. This time around we have more versions of John, Casey, Henry & Grace & the differences in the universes gets simplified as the attempts to gain access to money for a takeover of Grauptham takes them across multiple various universes. The stories themselves merge seamlessly across each other & the additional universes we encounter while being confusing at times add to the flavor of this story. Overall, Melko has done another excellent job with this character set & the threats to the universes themselves. There's also a possibility of a 3rd entry in this series which this reader would gladly welcome.
April 13, 2013
Broken Universe is the continuing story of John and Prime along with their friends and their alternate universe selves. Yep, lots of the same characters, yet all are somewhat unique by being from slightly different universes. In the book, the group must face down the threat of their enemies of the first book and then there comes another enemy - a group the first group doesn't like either - the Vig. There are many twists and turns as the group figure out how to deal with the issues that arise with universe travel. Very well written. Melko goes into more development of the characters, going deeper into the psychology of many of the characters. Overall, an amazing sequel in the Broken Universe trilogy.
October 2, 2012
An eagerly aweaited novel that disappoints. There are so many plot bits that are jammed in and given short shrift, it makes me wonder whether this woudn't have worked much better as a series of short stories (a format with which Melko has had much more success).
June 22, 2022
Though I found the first book in this duology The Walls of the Universe more fun and a quicker read, this book is still a very good book. After defeating the Alarians (Visigoths from another parallel universe) and rescuing his friends, John Rayborn begins unraveling the multiverse. Whereas the first time I picked up this book, I felt I was being thrown in the deep end, this time I can see that actually summerizes the previous book rather well.
This was still a fun read and a good book, but it's darker book that deals with more serious themes. John and his friends recruit themselves in other universes and create Pinball Wizards, Transdimmensional. The first half of the book deals with the aftermath of the finale of the previous book before moving to the greater multiverse. Things are looking up, John and his friends found a settlement in an empty Pleistocene universe for refugees from other universes, John proposes to his girlfriend, the Wizards work to exploit the multiverse for material gain. However, things start to unravel when their actions are noticed by the Vigilari.
There are interesting ideas explored here about identity. A rape in the Pleistocene settlement that's proven by using information from other universe to coerce a confesion causes John to wonder where a person's experiences affect your morality or if one instance of a person is guilty does that make all instances guilty of the same crime. John's relationship with John Prime (the John who gave our main John the travel device that started all this) is a big factor. John Prime is greedy, cunning, selfish and generally amoral. His secret experiments and travels are what sets the Vig onto them at least in part. John Prime's visit to a plague world nearly dooms everything.
The finale comes down to a showdown with the Vig, who fancy themselves the police of the multiverse, after they begin cauterizing the wounds to the multiverse in an explosive manner. And then a showdown between the two Johns after the plague begins to spread. All this leads to a rather bittersweet, melencholy ending. This is a really good book that reads fast, but by the end it a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. It gives you a lot to think about. Still, it's definitely worth reading and a really good, enjoyable piece of sci-fi.
This was still a fun read and a good book, but it's darker book that deals with more serious themes. John and his friends recruit themselves in other universes and create Pinball Wizards, Transdimmensional. The first half of the book deals with the aftermath of the finale of the previous book before moving to the greater multiverse. Things are looking up, John and his friends found a settlement in an empty Pleistocene universe for refugees from other universes, John proposes to his girlfriend, the Wizards work to exploit the multiverse for material gain. However, things start to unravel when their actions are noticed by the Vigilari.
There are interesting ideas explored here about identity. A rape in the Pleistocene settlement that's proven by using information from other universe to coerce a confesion causes John to wonder where a person's experiences affect your morality or if one instance of a person is guilty does that make all instances guilty of the same crime. John's relationship with John Prime (the John who gave our main John the travel device that started all this) is a big factor. John Prime is greedy, cunning, selfish and generally amoral. His secret experiments and travels are what sets the Vig onto them at least in part. John Prime's visit to a plague world nearly dooms everything.
The finale comes down to a showdown with the Vig, who fancy themselves the police of the multiverse, after they begin cauterizing the wounds to the multiverse in an explosive manner. And then a showdown between the two Johns after the plague begins to spread. All this leads to a rather bittersweet, melencholy ending. This is a really good book that reads fast, but by the end it a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. It gives you a lot to think about. Still, it's definitely worth reading and a really good, enjoyable piece of sci-fi.
December 4, 2017
The Broken Universe is the sequel to Paul Melko’s first book in this series, The Walls of the Universe. Like the first I really enjoyed it.
This book continues the adventure of a group of college age friends and their duplicates from other universes as they take their knowledge of traveling between universes, forwards. They expand their reach, and they settle on a goal on what to do with this gift that fell into their laps.
Yes, they need to make money to fund their plans, but that’s the easy part, it only gets tougher when the “bad guys” show up to kill them all! Just another day in the multiverse!
I don’t want to say much more as to not spoil the book. Though maybe another Louis in another universe did so with his review. But I’ll try not to repeat his mistake.
A sign of a good science fiction book for me is, does the idea stick with me when I’m not reading it? Do I wonder what I would do with the same opportunities as the characters? Well, yes. This book delivers in spades. As I read it, I would have running in my head a parallel story of what I’d do if I was with them, or if I was the lead.
My final thought? I hope I'm in the universe where the author will make this a trilogy and give me one more novel... There's more to say here.
If you are looking a for a fast and light adventurous read in this genre, definitely give it a try. I’m sure that most of your parallel selves will enjoy it.
This book continues the adventure of a group of college age friends and their duplicates from other universes as they take their knowledge of traveling between universes, forwards. They expand their reach, and they settle on a goal on what to do with this gift that fell into their laps.
Yes, they need to make money to fund their plans, but that’s the easy part, it only gets tougher when the “bad guys” show up to kill them all! Just another day in the multiverse!
I don’t want to say much more as to not spoil the book. Though maybe another Louis in another universe did so with his review. But I’ll try not to repeat his mistake.
A sign of a good science fiction book for me is, does the idea stick with me when I’m not reading it? Do I wonder what I would do with the same opportunities as the characters? Well, yes. This book delivers in spades. As I read it, I would have running in my head a parallel story of what I’d do if I was with them, or if I was the lead.
My final thought? I hope I'm in the universe where the author will make this a trilogy and give me one more novel... There's more to say here.
If you are looking a for a fast and light adventurous read in this genre, definitely give it a try. I’m sure that most of your parallel selves will enjoy it.
October 28, 2025
Good, but darker than the first novel
This novel is a bit darker than the first one. It includes pandemics, nukes, death, execution, and rape. But overall it’s pretty good, goes to some interesting places, and comes to a good conclusion. Although how the author managed to wrap up as many things as he did in the last hundred pages is still a bit of a puzzle to me.
The protagonist’s never-ending guilt and tendency to blame himself for anything that goes wrong anywhere is a bit annoying, but the author pokes a bit of fun at it by having the other characters calling him out on it.
Unfortunately the series ends here. The author left it open enough at the end that there could be more books to follow, but there haven’t been any in more than 10 years. I’d like to have seen what he could come up with.
Recommended. I give it 4/5 stars.
This novel is a bit darker than the first one. It includes pandemics, nukes, death, execution, and rape. But overall it’s pretty good, goes to some interesting places, and comes to a good conclusion. Although how the author managed to wrap up as many things as he did in the last hundred pages is still a bit of a puzzle to me.
The protagonist’s never-ending guilt and tendency to blame himself for anything that goes wrong anywhere is a bit annoying, but the author pokes a bit of fun at it by having the other characters calling him out on it.
Unfortunately the series ends here. The author left it open enough at the end that there could be more books to follow, but there haven’t been any in more than 10 years. I’d like to have seen what he could come up with.
Recommended. I give it 4/5 stars.
October 7, 2017
I rated the first one 5* so I was a bit surprised to not like this one nearly as much. Good first and last acts, but it meandered a bit in the middle.
World building is getting better, but the cognitive dissonance of all the operations logistics dragged a bit, and oddly I really like that. Maybe the third (if ever there is one) will be better.
My average rating on Goodreads is 3.01 at the time of this review. I grade on a normal curve.
World building is getting better, but the cognitive dissonance of all the operations logistics dragged a bit, and oddly I really like that. Maybe the third (if ever there is one) will be better.
My average rating on Goodreads is 3.01 at the time of this review. I grade on a normal curve.
September 29, 2017
I didn't like this book. The first book wasn't great, but it was promising; it put the "ok" in "book." This sequel is neither. If you liked the first book, then you best avoid this one. If you didn't like the first book, then you should really avoid this second book.
It puts the "boo" in "book."
It puts the "boo" in "book."
June 14, 2021
I liked Universe #1 better than Universe #2. And I don;t really know why
June 8, 2013
Loved it! Just finished it last night and although it didn't have the ending I'd expected, it had a very satisfying conclusion and I was not disappointed.
Yes, this is a sequel, and overall I'd really recommend reading the Walls of the Universe first. It is NOT essential to reading this one. But ... it would be helpful.
Melko did a remarkable job of populating a book with multiples of the same characters (about 5 or more Johns, Caseys, etc.). One reason they do NOT becoming confusing is because there are really only John Farmboy and John Prime as the main characters. And although there are multiple other Johns, they blend like a backdrop. The same for the other multiples: only a couple of them become major players. So don't be put-off by that idea.
The book does develop the first half with one adversary and purpose and then grows into greater challenges in the second half. This is not a problem to me (as it was to one reviewer) but shows the growth of the story's entire concept. It created a stronger novel feel by the author recognizing and exhibiting the next level of dangers for this young group of travelers. A thrilling ride through multiple universes!
Yes, this is a sequel, and overall I'd really recommend reading the Walls of the Universe first. It is NOT essential to reading this one. But ... it would be helpful.
Melko did a remarkable job of populating a book with multiples of the same characters (about 5 or more Johns, Caseys, etc.). One reason they do NOT becoming confusing is because there are really only John Farmboy and John Prime as the main characters. And although there are multiple other Johns, they blend like a backdrop. The same for the other multiples: only a couple of them become major players. So don't be put-off by that idea.
The book does develop the first half with one adversary and purpose and then grows into greater challenges in the second half. This is not a problem to me (as it was to one reviewer) but shows the growth of the story's entire concept. It created a stronger novel feel by the author recognizing and exhibiting the next level of dangers for this young group of travelers. A thrilling ride through multiple universes!
September 14, 2014
I love this books. Since I first read the short tale Walls of the Universe which introduced John Rayburn, the traveller of the parallel universes, I fell in love with concept. Parallel universes where each of us might have a twin brother, identical (up to a point, somehow) and with a similar history and just a few small changes.
And to be able to travel these universes. Oh what a concept, I do not believe anybody before actually explored the same idea.
Well, in this book, the sequel to the prior one, the Johns Rayburn and the Graces and the Henrys all finish the war with the Alarians and tackle the Vig
They discover a few more universes where they travel and the story evolves. The personalities of the characters evolve as well, and the Johns are always in love with the Caseys and the Henry's with the Graces.
No need to give you some spoiler, the book is solid, with a few surprises, pleasant ones, Paul Melko knows how to write a good story.
Please, give us more !!
And to be able to travel these universes. Oh what a concept, I do not believe anybody before actually explored the same idea.
Well, in this book, the sequel to the prior one, the Johns Rayburn and the Graces and the Henrys all finish the war with the Alarians and tackle the Vig
They discover a few more universes where they travel and the story evolves. The personalities of the characters evolve as well, and the Johns are always in love with the Caseys and the Henry's with the Graces.
No need to give you some spoiler, the book is solid, with a few surprises, pleasant ones, Paul Melko knows how to write a good story.
Please, give us more !!
July 10, 2012
Another great book from Paul Melko. The Broken Universe picks up right where The Walls of the Universe left off (literally!) and takes the story in crazier directions across the multiverse. Like the first book, it's surprisingly dark at times, but still a very light read. I really enjoyed this book a lot, and hope Melko has a third volume planned. Highly recommended!
August 24, 2014
Strike One: The beginning of the book retcons the ending of the first book for no reason that I can see.
Strike Two: The dialogue is insipidly awful.
Strike Three: The main character starts the novel by losing surrogate parents and getting into a gun fight with people who will probably stop at nothing to kill him so he does the next logical thing: goes on a dinner date.
Yeah, no thank you. I have other books to read.
Strike Two: The dialogue is insipidly awful.
Strike Three: The main character starts the novel by losing surrogate parents and getting into a gun fight with people who will probably stop at nothing to kill him so he does the next logical thing: goes on a dinner date.
Yeah, no thank you. I have other books to read.
December 26, 2013
Strike One: The beginning of the book retcons the ending of the first book for no reason that I can see.
Strike Two: The dialogue is insipidly awful.
Strike Three: The main character starts the novel by losing surrogate parents and getting into a gun fight with people who will probably stop at nothing to kill him so he does the next logical thing: goes on a dinner date.
Yeah, no thank you. I have other books to read.
Strike Two: The dialogue is insipidly awful.
Strike Three: The main character starts the novel by losing surrogate parents and getting into a gun fight with people who will probably stop at nothing to kill him so he does the next logical thing: goes on a dinner date.
Yeah, no thank you. I have other books to read.
March 10, 2015
OK. I love this type of book, but somehow, this didn't quite hit the spot. I would of loved the story to concentrate more on the differences between world's, I.e. the butterfly effect. where one tiny difference can cause everything to be totally different. instead it was all about building the machine's and a build up to meeting a superior race called the vig which was a huge disappointment. why didn't they visit universe 0000?
October 26, 2013
With a well establish set of characters, it is easy to get back in the story. However, I find the amount of dups a little tedious. Instead of making for a richer story, it just makes it heavier. The main plot is worth the book, I just find that we could have looked at the forest instead of learning about the individual trees...
August 12, 2016
Another good read. And I hope the series isn't finished, because Mr. Melko's got some 'splaining to do.
But otherwise, it's more of the people you liked before (although I admit I had trouble telling the duplicates apart), and different things that could happen in the multiverse, and, well, enjoyable.
But otherwise, it's more of the people you liked before (although I admit I had trouble telling the duplicates apart), and different things that could happen in the multiverse, and, well, enjoyable.
April 5, 2015
Again, this book begs the question as to why it hasn't been turned into a movie yet. It may have started off like an old friend trying to catch up with the nonsensical everyday stuff, but the deeper you go, the more amazing it becomes. Having read sequels which fall so far from the first book, this one here, turns out to be one of those which leaves you feeling you want more from the franchise.
December 12, 2016
This book and its predecessor "The Walls of the Universe" are absolutely fantastic. They're among my favorite parallel universe stories. Read this.
March 25, 2013
sequel to alternate universe novel The Walls of the Universe.
Very fun read, though it gets a little confusing near the start (inevitable when you have ten copies of the main character, 7 copies of his best friend, etc).
Very fun read, though it gets a little confusing near the start (inevitable when you have ten copies of the main character, 7 copies of his best friend, etc).
July 25, 2012
This book was a sequel to Walls of the Universe in which the main character John is given a device that lets him move between universes. This one wasn't as well written as the first book, but it was interesting enough.
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