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Archive of Unknown Universes: a literary debut about family, history and timeless love
From the author of
There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven
, this piercing, genre-bending debut follows two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran civil war in a stunning exploration of displacement, the mechanisms of fate, the gravity of the past, and the endurance of love.
Cambridge, USA 2018. Ana and Luis's relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including mothers that both fled El Salvador during the war. In her search for answers, Ana uses The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives. What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been can fix what is.
Havana, Cuba 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army. The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism. When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever.
Cambridge, USA 2018. Ana and Luis's relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including mothers that both fled El Salvador during the war. In her search for answers, Ana uses The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives. What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been can fix what is.
Havana, Cuba 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army. The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism. When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever.
292 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 21, 2025
1 person is currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Ruben Reyes Jr.
4 books147 followersRuben Reyes Jr. is the son of two Salvadoran immigrants and the author of the story collection, There is a Rio Grande in Heaven, which was named a finalist for The Story Prize. He holds degrees from Harvard College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop His writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, AGNI, BOMB Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, LitHub, and other publications. Originally from Southern California, he lives in Queens. Archive of Unknown Universes is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 22, 2025
Idk how I was able to read this before the release date but it was at a book store! This was a beautiful book that combined love stories, loss stories, and what could have been, all while countries faced turbulent times.
November 19, 2025
Archive of Unknown Universes is a breathtaking literary debut that intertwines history, speculative possibility, and the unbreakable threads of love and memory. Ruben Reyes Jr. crafts a novel that feels at once intimate and expansive, blending alternate timelines, political upheaval, and deeply personal journeys into a sweeping narrative that lingers long after the final page.
At its core, this is a story about origins, how family histories shape identity, how inherited trauma echoes across generations, and how the past continues to ripple through the present in ways both mysterious and profound. The novel’s structure is ambitious, moving between two timelines separated by decades and geography, yet bound by the weight of the Salvadoran civil war and the people whose lives were irrevocably shaped by it.
In the 2018 timeline, Ana’s desperation to understand her mother’s flight from El Salvador leads her to The Defractor, a brilliant speculative device that allows glimpses into alternate versions of one’s life. These sequences are imaginative, cinematic, and emotionally charged, deepening the themes of destiny, choice, and the parallel lives we never get to live. Her journey with Luis strained yet hopeful, becomes a powerful exploration of connection, inheritance, and healing.
The 1978 Havana timeline is equally compelling, following Neto and Rafael, two revolutionaries whose forbidden love unfolds against the backdrop of political tension, activism, and danger. Their tenderness, vulnerability, and courage give the novel its emotional backbone. Their correspondence, filled with longing and conviction, becomes a testament to how love persists even in the shadow of war.
Reyes Jr. writes with lyrical precision and historical depth, offering readers a rare blend of speculative fiction, political commentary, queer love story, and multigenerational drama. It’s a novel that challenges, inspires, and above all remembers. Readers who appreciate thoughtful literary fiction, diasporic narratives, and stories about how the past shapes the present will find this debut unforgettable.
At its core, this is a story about origins, how family histories shape identity, how inherited trauma echoes across generations, and how the past continues to ripple through the present in ways both mysterious and profound. The novel’s structure is ambitious, moving between two timelines separated by decades and geography, yet bound by the weight of the Salvadoran civil war and the people whose lives were irrevocably shaped by it.
In the 2018 timeline, Ana’s desperation to understand her mother’s flight from El Salvador leads her to The Defractor, a brilliant speculative device that allows glimpses into alternate versions of one’s life. These sequences are imaginative, cinematic, and emotionally charged, deepening the themes of destiny, choice, and the parallel lives we never get to live. Her journey with Luis strained yet hopeful, becomes a powerful exploration of connection, inheritance, and healing.
The 1978 Havana timeline is equally compelling, following Neto and Rafael, two revolutionaries whose forbidden love unfolds against the backdrop of political tension, activism, and danger. Their tenderness, vulnerability, and courage give the novel its emotional backbone. Their correspondence, filled with longing and conviction, becomes a testament to how love persists even in the shadow of war.
Reyes Jr. writes with lyrical precision and historical depth, offering readers a rare blend of speculative fiction, political commentary, queer love story, and multigenerational drama. It’s a novel that challenges, inspires, and above all remembers. Readers who appreciate thoughtful literary fiction, diasporic narratives, and stories about how the past shapes the present will find this debut unforgettable.
August 18, 2025
This book was super ok! It was a quick read which was nice and a cool idea exploring what life would be like if one thing happened and another didn’t but it was missing something. For a historical fiction I wish I had learned a little more - my family lived in El Salvador so I was excited to be able to connect to the book in that capacity, but it really didn’t dive into the historical elements all that much other than generic information about revolutionary activities. I enjoyed the love story of it all, but as a whole I think the book was missing a little something I can’t put my finger on. I gave it a B-
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews