Branches

by Adam Peter Johnson

SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE THE WORLD TOOK A WRONG TURN … WHAT IF IT DID?

For one man, the past few years have been a downward spiral. A series of debilitating seizures. The sudden loss of his mother. The rise of a fascist leader and a successful coup to retain power—a nightmare that unfolds through endless doomscrolling online and threatens the safety of his suburban middle-class family.

After a series of tests, he’s shocked to discover the explanation for his seizures: he’s been living in the wrong universe. A drug trial promises to return him to the timeline where he belongs. With his job gone and tanks in the streets, he jumps at the opportunity.

“A powerful piece of inventive and topical science fiction [that] will undoubtedly resonate with readers in a way that many stories reach for, but few achieve.” –The BookLife Prize

“Rings frightfully true. A precision hit on a raw nerve.” –Stella Jorette, author of Harmony Lost

This mind-bending bestseller will make you question everything you know, and is perfect for fans of thought-provoking authors like Blake Crouch, Matt Haig and Margaret Atwood.

Take a trip through alternate timelines filled with surprises and second chances. Travel paths not taken. Question the nature of fate. And search for an answer to the biggest question of all: in a world that feels like it’s spinning out of control, is it possible for one person to make a difference?

Now an international Amazon bestseller, Branches is a story about facing the constant anxieties of the twenty-first century, the thin line that separates comfort from chaos, and the role we play in determining our fate.

REVIEWS

“Branches by Adam Peter Johnson is a unique piece of time travel fiction, and for a first novel, it’s essentially a masterpiece. … If you’ve enjoyed Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, or are looking for a science-fiction book dealing with alternate histories and time travel, then I think you’ll fall in love with this novel.” –Bookwormex

“This book gave me an existential crisis, but in a good way. It's incredibly thoughtful sci-fi.” –Kevin E. Carlson, author of Jade Fall

“Several weeks later, the book has stayed with me. Especially the ending, which the author gets absolutely right. He has something important to say.”  –Paul Clark, author of The Price of Dreams

“Part dystopian, part all-too-familiar reality … walks an imaginative line between what we think we know and what actually is.”  –Stories on Stage Davis

“Lovers of alternate histories will find much that fascinates [in] this bold experiment in timelines and trauma.”  –BookLife

“This is sci-fi with both brains and a heart. … A brilliantly insightful debut. ★★★★★”  –BookBub review

“I did not want to put it down, and I did not stop thinking about it after. ★★★★★”  –Amazon review

“If you were a fan of Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter, this is for you. ★★★★★”  –GoodReads review

Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction, Thriller, Amazon, Ebooks, Novels

204 pages, ebook

First published October 21, 2020

About the author

Adam Peter Johnson lives in Minnesota with his wife, son and a dog that always acts like she hasn't eaten in days—but I assure you, she has. Before becoming an author, Adam worked as a newspaper reporter and editor in the United States and Australia. He's drawn to stories that serve as funhouse mirrors for our world. Every time travel story is really a story about regret. Every dystopian tale is always about the here and now.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real Rating: 2.5* of five, rounded up because I like this story a lot

The Publisher Says: A mindbending page-turner in the tradition of Dark Matter and The Midnight Library, this surprise bestseller will make you question everything you know.

SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE LIFE TOOK A WRONG TURN … WHAT IF IT DID?

This isn’t your life.
This isn’t your reality.
And there’s a way out.

For one man, the past few years have delivered one shock after another. The election of an authoritarian president. The sudden loss of his mother. A series of debilitating seizures. Now, as America descends into a nightmare, he’s shocked to discover the explanation for his seizures: He’s in the wrong universe.

A drug trial promises to return him to the timeline where he belongs. With his family life strained, his job gone and tanks in the streets, he jumps at the opportunity. But what will he find on the other side?

Take a reality-bending trip filled with surprises and second chances. Visit alternate timelines where life played out differently. Explore the roads not taken. Question the nature of fate. And find an answer to the biggest question of all: in a world that feels like it’s spinning out of control, what would it take for one person to make a difference?

Now an international bestseller, Branches is at once a twisty cerebral drama and a deeply personal journey through fear, grief and redemption.

First in a series.

I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT FROM THE PRIME READING LIBRARY.

My Review: This one hurts. I love this idea. I suspect this is, in fact, reality and we haven't discovered it yet because there's just no way to test it scientifically.

And I bailed. Because the way the author has his PoV character handle the discovery process is...by phone: "I have more questions but the call drops. I try again, but after letting it ring for several minutes with no answer, I give up."

By phone, the calls drop, important words are obscured...in a multiverse-travel story. And we're already on Tuesday of the week we're spending in the story. I take exception to this, since it feels oh-so-conveniently deployed...and pat...and that leaves me wondering why, if I could write this for/with him, why I am spending my time.

Short answer: I'm not. And I really wanted to.

[OldBird · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a complete and utter surprise of the astoundingly good variety. The blurb keeps things a little vague and nebulous, offering a tease about alternate realities and contemporary political commentary. It does cover those themes (hardcore Republicans may want to give this one a miss for now, at least until 2020 has simmered down a little), but at its heart it's the story of one man and his family, and how all the variables in the multiverse can - and can't - make a difference. It is a story of emotional discovery and depth that left me breathless by the last fateful word.

Imagine if you will an America in turmoil. In some ways better (no pandemic - yay), others worse (severe civil unrest, tanks on the streets and disappearances). In this world lives a liberal man with an unhappy life, crushed by how the presidential election has played out. He lives his life on his phone, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, like an unhappy mindless hashtag activist while his wife and kid just get on with life. Then he's told he's got a problem: scientists have discovered he isn't from that branch of reality at all. He could take part in a medical trial, slide through realities back to his original one. A few pills over the course of a week and he'll be "home", whatever that is. Same time, same place, just different variables. Desperate for some kind of happiness, maybe a world where things turned out differently (the election especially), he takes the pills and takes his chances. But be it physics or fate, he's got a lot to learn about what makes a person content with their lot, and opens his eyes to possibilities he never even considered.

This was one unpredictable ride. It's thoughtful, grown up, and above all, intelligent. The sci-fi is light and simple - reality-hopping parasites and drugs - but the message is complex. Deep. Emotional. As we flow through the different realities, some good, others less so, we learn more about the narrator's life and relationships. He encounters different versions of everyone he knew, and different variables mean every interaction is a minefield of possibilities.

I adored that it wasn't your usual young guy messes with realities and sets the world on fire to prove (or disprove) the butterfly effect. Our narrator is a proper adult with a wry sense of humour and a self-awareness that's rare, especially in indie published books. Where he starts off - blaming the election of "Him" (a name never mentioned, but c'mon, you know who he means) for all his woes - and where he ends up is a slow and steady unravelling of beliefs that at times can be heartbreaking to watch.

His relationships with his wife Meredith, his son, his parents and colleagues all get explored, as do new encounters with characters that highlight problems in Western society and low-level simmering of tensions and resentment. It's all very topical, and handled in such a deft way that doesn't feel like you're being bludgeoned by the author's morals. Being an adult book, it deals with some pretty dark things, and there's always the possibility that things won't turn out well just because it's a work of fiction. Not all stories can have a happy ending.

I did get a tiny bit confused at an inconsistency or two like how he knew Anton's name moments before picking up his business card on their first meeting, or how after his "blackout" in the office bathrooms he just seemed to know he was back in the "you're fired" reality without getting confused by either how he knew or how others reacted to him, but later on some are definitely intentional. The perils of crossing over multiple realities in a few seconds will probably do that to you (stepping through "branches" isn't like a portal, it just happens randomly).

This is sci-fi with both brains and a heart. It's clever and sad and deeply reflective of time times we live in, as good science fiction should be. It's through the mirror darkly, and makes you stop to think. There may be variables in this world you can't change, things that make you unhappy. But there message here is that maybe, just maybe, we should look for the constant and try to change that instead.

A brilliantly insightful debut novel.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting thriller about quantum theory and the choices we make and how those choices eventually grow to become major alternative life disruptions. If you had an opportunity to change a point in your life, or go back to a previous moment to make changes despite the consequences, would you take it? For his first novel, I am thoroughly impressed. While some aspects of the writing appeared to be a little stretch to connect some aspects, the overall story was extremely captivating. Also some of the writing style is a little difficult to handle, and makes you feel as the reader that you are dealing with these same circumstances as our unnamed main character. Definitely worth the read.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is such an interesting premise and I was engaged with the story the whole way through. I didn't think the main character was super likeable. It took him way too long to realize the reason his wife was leaving him in different timelines was because of his actions and that he was fucking things up for his other selves by screwing people over at his work and whatnot.

I liked this book. But it did let me down a bit. It's ultimately a story about being present for yourself and your loved ones, even while the world falls apart around you. Is this a positive moral? As someone who has actively been trying to use less social media as the years go on, I'm not exactly unbiased in my opinion. That said, I would like to believe there's another option outside of aware-and-depressed or naive-and-happy. That alternative is not offered in this book.

I personally think the more interesting interpretation of this story is that we're following the thoughts of a man who is having a nervous breakdown because the world is so shitty. Doom-scrolling can be addictive. It's clear that the main character is addicted to at least his phone, if not social media. Maybe it's a book how important it is to step away from our screens once in a while. Stop and smell the roses, as it were.

I definitely think this is worth a read if it sounds interesting to you. And, coming up on another election year, it might be even more relevant than it was in 2020.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This science fiction novel is a fast-paced page turner that artfully reveals its mystery with a new hook every few pages. I did not want to put it down, and I did not stop thinking about it after I finished it.

The action of the novel initially revolves around the re-election of an unnamed but recognizable bombastic leader pulling the country rapidly into authoritarian dystopia. The cerebral protagonist obsessively weaponizes social media as his primary tool to impotently rage against the indifference of all those who quietly acquiesce to or actively participate in the rapid deterioration of democratic freedoms and the militarization of the police. It is a fiction that hit very close to home. (The pandemic also makes a brief, but entertaining, cameo appearance.)

The science fiction of the story centers on the main character's dizzying journey through a series of alternate realities in which events have played out differently from the reality he has known. With each reveal of a new reality come new chances for the hero to discover truths about how his own choices have interacted with external events in shaping the contours of life for himself and his family. These insights in turn lead to surprising and inspired decisions about what is worth pursuing in this life. It contains a profound lesson for those who spend time wishing things were different from what they are.

All in all, this is a gripping story that is very relevant to the present day. I highly recommend this work and look forward to reading what this author does next.

[Miya (severe pain struggles, slower at the moment) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this in a giveaway. It arrived super fast which was nice. It was outside my normal reading, and I liked that. I like variety and I like weird. This was a heavy hitting read for 2020. Reading this while we are going through so much is very whoa. I imagine in a few years this will really be that 2020 book. So much to process. I do like books that make me think and question things, and this is one for sure. It can be uncomfortable, overwhelming, and controversial at times, but also interesting and thought provoking. Scifi/political/thriller lovers should enjoy it!

[Stella Jorette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still reeling from the loss of his mother, a man dives into the social media black hole surrounding an unnamed right wing president. But his obsession isn't entirely unwarranted. In his alternate timeline, the worst has happened and the country is descending into fascism. Then, a shadowy company extends a bizarre offer that allows him to shift timelines. Can he find peace in the multiverse?

So right off the bat, certain readers, including avid Trump supporters, social conservatives, and racists, will struggle with this novel. Those readers might want to lay aside their prejudices or give this book a miss.

But I highly recommend this book to those of you that can lay aside politics and the other factors that divide society. Because this book is not actually about those issues. It's about a more insidious problem in our society. It's about becoming lost in adulthood and missing one's own life. The last five years, packed with hatred and anxiety, have given many excuses to lose themselves. I hope this novel gives some the insight to get back on track.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two possibilities here. Either this is, as the book’s cover suggests, a science fiction tale about a man caught in an endless loop through innumerable possible timelines in the multiverse. Or it’s a story of a man having a nervous breakdown. Journey through the multiverse? Nervous breakdown? I’m not sure there’s any meaningful difference. And, after reading the book, I don’t especially care. The story fails as science fiction, grounded as it is on an absurd premise no self-respecting author in the genre would ever dare to use.

A LAUGHABLE PREMISE
Don’t believe me? Try this on for size. At age 38, the unnamed man who is the book’s protagonist begins having occasional seizures. Why? Because a parasite has infected his brain and somehow propels him through a succession of parallel worlds, each of them different in ways that may be either big or small. And to stop the process, he must take a series of pills over the course of a week to weaken and then kill the parasite. A parasite triggering a journey through the multiverse? Who could possibly take that seriously?

DONALD TRUMP IS THE CULPRIT
So, what’s really going on here? Truth to tell, Donald Trump has driven this man totally round the bend. Yes, he’s having a nervous breakdown fantasizing about the fascist state the President will inevitably inaugurate when he’s reelected. Oh, Trump is never named in the novel. He’s identified only as “He” and “Him” with a capital H.

So, even if Adam Peter Johnson never intended to suggest his protagonist is nuts, it’s pretty clear he is no matter what the sci-fi window-dressing. Because in several of the innumerable timelines he visits, “He” has opened concentration camps for “radicals” and unleashed cops and soldiers to harass and even kill African-Americans and others “He” views as undesirable. Many of us Americans may well have had nightmares of this sort. But they’re nightmares, not reality. Not a journey through the multiverse. And any sober assessment of the likely outcome of a continued surge to the Right is likely to conclude that such scenes are unlikely. Possible, perhaps. But unlikely. After all, things are crazy enough these days, no? And, given the mounting climate catastrophe, we’ve got worse things to worry about.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Peter Johnson‘s bio on Amazon reads in full: “Adam Peter Johnson lives in Minnesota with his wife, son and golden basset. Before becoming an author, he worked as a newspaper reporter and editor in the United States and Australia. He’s drawn to science fiction stories that serve as funhouse mirrors for everyday life. Every time travel story is really a story about regret. Every dystopian tale is really about the here and now.”

[Gavin Broom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I asked the Twitterverse what book I should read next and the author was kind enough to suggest his own. I felt in a mood to take a chance, and I’m pretty glad I did.

The author likened Branches to Dark Matter by Blake Crouch which I read a few years ago and didn’t really care for, but it was described to me as more character orientated.

This is true. So far, the author has proven himself to be trustworthy.

Branches is an exploration of the multiverse theory where every decision we make, creates a new version of ourself. With passing minutes, dozens, hundreds, millions, billions of alternate realities are created. Most will be fairly similar but eventually, different branches and paths will lead to some very different realities.

Our narrator has been told my some scientist types that he is in the wrong branch and he is meant to be elsewhere on a different path where different decisions have been made. This is done on the backdrop of an exaggerated present where a certain president is in power and tanks are rounding up radicals. Our narrator spends his days scrolling through social media, sharing, commenting, forwarding, while life goes on around him. He takes little convincing to agree to take revolutionary medication to drag him back to his destination branch and over the course of a week, he’ll visit countless other realities, where his marriage is in various stages of destruction, where his son’s scar fades or deepens, where his job didn’t fire him, and a music store in a bad part of town will attempt to fix his mother’s metronome.

Adam Peter Johnson avoids much of the finer detail of the science in this, his debut novel, focusses on the fiction, and it’s a wise decision. Instead, he focuses on what it means to be us. What makes you you? And he does this with a small cast of characters who play the variables in the narrator’s life, the embodiment of his decisions.

If you’ve ever questioned reality, wondered how others perceive their reality, question if nothing in your life has even really happened and every memory you possess is false, you’ll definitely get a kick out of this book. Low 4, high 3 but more than happy to round up.

[Jodie Reneé · Rating 5 out of 5]

Topical Sci-Fi

The tale of a man who is faced with an impossible choice: play it safe and keep the life you’ve always known but aren’t happy with, or take a chance on fate to find a different life, the one meant for you. The catch? It may not be a better life and it could possibly be a whole lot worse. This is a great concept like hybrid love child of The Matrix, Groundhog Day and The butterfly Effect.

This also felt very politically current. Albeit just slightly heavy on the political side so if you’re a Trump fan, you might want to keep on searching for your next read, but for everyone else this could be a great read for you!

The high point for me was I was not sure where this was going to go and that kept me invested. Johnson peppers his novel with clues that keep me diverting along lots of different branches of possibility much like his protagonist. I also sensed a good few clues about what may be in store for book two that have me hooked!

All in all, a great little indie gem that made me hug my husband and son a little more tightly tonight!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much in the vein of The Midnight Library with some darker themes, this book goes into what it might be like to live in the parallel lives that branch out with every small decision we make. I found the layout of the book really interesting and refreshing, although on occasion the unanswered questions became frustrating. Overall, I really enjoyed it and would recommend

[Becki · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 3 and a half star rating, but still pretty good. I'm glad I picked it up and am looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.

[Brie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Won inGoodreads First Reads contest.

Passed on to a friend to read.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many twist and turns and never let up even at the end!

First book in a long time, that I look forward to the 2nd book…will be waiting somewhat patiently for the release

[Mark Smeltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good. Both timely and compelling on its own terms, which (in my experience, at least) is difficult to get just right.

[Tracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a strange one for sure. I gave it five stars because it kept my interest enough to finish it. I would recommend it.

[Filip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent idea for a book. Keeping the reader on his toes with twists in the action.

[David Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is well written and you cannot argue with Johnson's skills as a writer. I thoroughly enjoyed his prose and the way he unfurled this story. I felt that for the first half of the story his wife and child were a bit too 2 dimensional, but that they were fleshed out as it went. It's difficult to ignore just how much the President lives rent free in the main characters head. I thought it could have been more optimistic (as it's set in Jan 2021) post Trump, but our lead character is still very burdened by the events of the past four years. I enjoyed the sci fi elements, especially as we learn more about the company in the latter parts of the novel. I'd be interested to see what happens next as it's got good emotional stakes and overall I enjoyed it.

[B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a copy of this one in a Goodreads giveaway. There's a lot to unpack with this one. On one hand - yes, the sci-fi elements are well done. (This is more of a soft sci-fi as opposed to a hard sci-fi for those who are curious.) That being said, I wanted to throw it across the room. I'm so sick to death of hearing about the Orange Idiot. The election's just recently over. We've been blasted with this asinine crap for months, and I don't want it in my fiction, not right now, not for the foreseeable future. There's a reason why pandemic books that weren't already scheduled for production prior to the pandemic's start aren't getting published right now. Fatigue. And finding the right time to publish, particularly when self-publishing, is super important. I wouldn't say now is the right time for this one. I'm not even sure if it would be in 6-8 months. Yes, I get it, the author wanted to do a social commentary, and yes, it does work in that regard, but this is why publishing works the way it does. All this is going to do is alienate the target audience if it's published right now, IMO.

[A.D. Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Multiverse, alternate reality with a pill

Phew, okay here goes. I picked this up as part of our Indie Book Club monthly read. I like dystopian fiction and the premise of the book intrigued me.

This is the story of a man who is struggling with headaches and finds out that they are a result of him being in the wrong multiverse. He has been drifting for months through hundreds, maybe thousands of an infinite number of multiverses each subtly different but the change so gradual, so close to his own he never really noticed.

By taking a pill each day for a week he can drift back to his ‘own’ multiverse and be where he is meant to be. The thing is he is not sure if that will be better or worse than where he is now – or if indeed there might be a multiverse more appealing than his own. A world where things are more positive and his life better. Maybe it could end up a whole lot worse?

Okay, admit it, that does sound intriguing right? The trouble is I found it a struggle to read and DNF’d it at about 60% in. Now it is unusual that I would review a book I DNF’d but since it is part of my Indie Book Club review I feel I needed to make an exception.

It is a shame the book did not gel for me because it is well written. APJ can write that is for sure. It is told in an over the shoulder kind of first-person narrative. I enjoyed the structure and the language of it, it was just that I found the story dragged. It did not hold my attention and I think that is because I just did not care for the main character. I couldn’t even tell you his name or recall if it is mentioned at all.

The MC is intelligent but is like Joe Mundane. In other words boring. He has an overriding obsession against ‘Him’ Him being Donald Trump and the different multiverses we get to experience him in, from a police state-like oligarch to deposed president. I found it was like a stuck record only every time I unstuck the record it played the same song in a different bar. I didn’t much care for it and found the whole thing one long, never-ending crisis of monotony.

I felt more affinity for Meredith his wife and his young son. His dead mother taught him the values of standing up and choosing aside, of being morally present, yet he displays none of those traits in my view.

Now before I get all doom and gloomy you must remember. This is just how I feel. I don’t like Oreo biscuits but my wife loves them. That is the same as any book. There will be those a story appeals to and those that it does not. So I would urge anyone to make up their own mind. The writing is professional and well constructed so this book may well appeal to you and I would urge you if the premise sounds like your kind of ‘Oreo’ that you to ‘Take a Look Inside’ and decide for yourself.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because the description compared it to Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, which is one of my all-time favorite books. There are definitely some similarities between the two multiverse novels, but Branches is different enough that it still felt fresh and interesting.

With the re-election campaign of an unnamed male authoritarian president shaping the events in Branches, this novel has a more political undercurrent than Dark Matter. However, its primary focus is on a family of three, and how different decisions could change their fates.

The science doesn’t get too technical and, with its contemporary setting, there isn’t a lot of world-building in this novel. This well-written story focuses on the decisions of one man – a husband, father, and son – and his slow realization of the impact his choices have on the people he loves.

Branches was intriguing, observant, confusing, repetitive, and even funny (the paint colors!) at different points. One thing it never was: boring. It held my attention and made me think and feel.

I recommend this for science fiction, semi-dystopian, and political thriller connoisseurs. Fans of Blake Crouch and of a story told across multiple timelines will enjoy this one.

However, if you don’t want reminders of the 2016/2020 presidential elections embedded in your fiction, you may want to hold off on this one for now. As for me, I will definitely be picking up the second installment of this series.

This review and many others are also published on my blog, www.bookpicksandpics.com.

[Estibaliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and the author of 'Branches', Adam Peter Johnson, for providing me with a free copy of the novel. Here is my honest review in exchange...-

Yay! I'm finally done with this one, and about time, indeed. And don't get me wrong, this is not a bad novel, just not my cup of tea and, certainly, not what I was expecting from the blurb.

Blurb that turns out to be, along with the whole sci-fi background and the though-provoking premise, not much more than the proverbial 'mcguffin', for what it ends up being a philosophical story, with its correspondent moral, more than anything else.

And, as such, it doesn't offer anything particularly new or eye-opening, but more of the same old, same old: we are our own worst enemy, fate is what we made out of live, 'carpe diem', we don't know what we have until we lose it... All of it personified in a main character that never succeeded in catching my attention with all his whining and trouble, and that family of his that doesn't have a lot of charm either.

So yep, this took me a long while to finish, not because life got specially busy or in the way (though it did at times in these long four months), but because the novel itself never really got my attention and I had to put some intended effort on the reading.

Glad it's over, 2.5 stars.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gave this Book’s Revie 3 stars, but really deserves closer to 2-stars

Yes, this is a SciFi book — but, disappointingly, only peripherally. For THAT, I would give this book a whopping 2-stars; it doesn’t deserve more.

This is really just a book about life, though — and written in a very confusing manner. Ugh! But THIS subject is enuf to drag my Review to 3-stars — but only begrudgingly.

The Book’s title is appropriate, as it describes multi-verses and parallel universes and trees and life … there are so many different options (branches!) for each of them, and it’s nearly impossible to distinguish one from another, or follow where one branch begins and another ends — or, perhaps, new branches will grow.

All in all, I would wholeheartedly recommend NOT taking the time to read “Branches” — it’s very difficult keeping up with The Author’s jumbled thought patterns, and also difficult to want to read this Book to it’s end.

[Darren Morrissey · Rating 4 out of 5]

How far would you go to change your life? The main character in the book is asked the same question. Suffering from headaches, seizures, and hallucinations, as well as a general disgust with politics and society, he is told that his illness is caused by a parasite living in his brain that is dragging him through different alternate realities. A series of pills can bring him back to his reality where it should be more "normal". As he moves through realities he runs into the same people in different situations. Through this he is forced to examine his life and how he ended up where he is/was.

I love alternate reality books and this one is very good. Some have complained that the book is slow. I would counter that it's not an action book, but a look at how our decisions affect our lives and others. Definitely a good read.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

BRANCHES follows one man's own personal journey through the destruction of his own life, at his own hands, allowing him the perspective of the ramifications of different choices he might of made--other choices other versions of himself did, in fact, make. Artfully done, the narrative moves forward while he traces his own path backwards, determining junctures where he allowed himself to be distracted and destroyed by demons, external and internal, real or perceived, ever chasing the greener grass. Fast-paced but never frenetic, this grounded take on the multiverse theory incorporates ripped-from-the-headlines occurrences with timeless themes. Highly recommend.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Received this as a goodreads First Reads.*

Overall, this was a good book that poses a lot of interesting questions and observations to the reader, some of which is quite topical. I found the premise certainly very interesting, I found the development of the story interesting (although I admit it was a tad confusing in one or two parts, but of course, given the subject, some of that could be expected. I found the ending a bit unsatisfying, personally, but I'm sure some people will like it.

[Jana Keir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Brilliant thought experiment of what it would be like to travel through different multiverses. The descriptions of parenting were spot-on. There was something so forthright and emotional about the main character’s relationships- he is always seeking connection, even if he doesn’t know that.

Returning to the same places and people again and again was not repetitive like it can be in other books, and each scene built up into the (shocking) finale.
Enjoyed the mind bending explanation of multiverses.
An inspiration for my own writing.

[Scribbling Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on the concept of many parallel timelines.
The main character could be seen as a stand-in for any left leaning white person. He is vaguely aware of racism etc., yet anytime he encounters it, he seems baffled.
Very political. The more he jumps around in timelines, the more fascist the world around him gets. This is mostly in the background though, he is too busy with family matters to tangle with that as well.
The MC is obsessed with politics (and social media), but eventually realises that his own problems were never caused by the world around him.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Branches is an interesting take on timeline travel. I liked the story, though I'm a little surprised at how it ended, I didn't expect the main character to make the decision he did, but I suppose it was inevidable. A rather unique perspective on time travel, and a good story to boot, so if you're a fan of alternate timelines, time travel, or just multiverse stories, feel free to give this one a try.

[Rebekah · Rating 1 out of 5]

**Goodreads giveaway recipient**

Premise of butterfly effect/multiverse should’ve had me hooked. I love stories like that! The idea is so intriguing to me.

However, too many pet peeves happening in the first 50 pages just turned me off. Meh, I hold no love for Midnight Library either, and the two books are similar, so…maybe it’s me? I don’t care enough.

I also don’t care enough to waste my time and energy reading this. One star on DNF basis, although the writing/sentencing isn’t terrible in-and-of itself…but not great either.

ehhhhh….