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A Fractured Infinity
Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner – a mysterious device that can predict the future.
Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf… as his husband.
As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple's story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf's life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf.
With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space - soon he will have to decide how much he’s willing to pay to save the love of his life.
Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf… as his husband.
As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple's story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf's life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf.
With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space - soon he will have to decide how much he’s willing to pay to save the love of his life.
368 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2022
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4157 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
December 30, 2022
The Publisher Says: A thrilling race across the multiverse to save the infinite Earths—and the love of your life—from total destruction for fans of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, The Time Traveller's Wife and Rick and Morty.
Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner—a mysterious device that can predict the future.
Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf...as his husband.
As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple's story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf's life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf.
With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space—soon he will have to decide how much he’s willing to pay to save the love of his life.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Likeable people can be reprehensible. Gay men who will do literally...literally...anything for the men they love can be villains. Because, you realize as Hayes perpetrates some truly terrible actions while retaining the same charm and winning ways as led you to invest in him from the beginning, the world doesn't have that many univalent monsters.
What I love best about stories with flawed protagonists is how relatable they are. We're all flawed. And Hayes, he's flawed enough to make him a menace, what he does...causes...to be the engine of this exciting and action-heavy multiverse thriller. Being awakened to an undreamt-of reality, to be chucked into a world that one never once thought might be real, to have the shocking and sudden revelation that someone until now a stranger is, in fact, The One...that's just the first few pages! This script is gonna keep the butts in the seats with no popcirn trips for sure!
Well...okay, that's a small exaggeration. It's not quite that action-packed but it sure as hell feels as though it is. The strangeness of a filmmaker being the one and only person who could resolve the problem of how to use, whether to believe, a fortune-telling device was, honestly, short-changed. It's a point raised, dealt with by saying, "yep that's how it is" and we're off to the races! In fact, there is a lot of the world-building that is treated in this "just the facts, ma'am" laconic way and then it's Gospel.
You did notice the absence of a fifth star...now you know (most of) why.
The merry chase that Hayes and Yusuf, the inamorato, go on across the dimensions is like reading a spec script from a super-excitable young person with not clue one what "budget" means. What makes that fun is the budget is your mind's dopamine-reward system. What makes that sometimes wearing is the film metaphor is the spine of the book...it is literally holding every scene in the story up, leading them together, and the casting of the characters is exactly that: Casting. It's going to be a rough ride for some. I am one. But the roughnss of the ride isn't a deal-breaker because the way this sled handles is *chef's kiss*
Think of Boston. English people, think of Oxford. Got the picture set? Now...change the color of the streetlights and make the roofs green. That's the experience of traveling in Hayes's multiverse...it really is his, he (one of him) is the inventor of the device that enables all this traveling that we're here talking about. And that Hayes, whom the characters we're following most closely refer to as "Figueiredo" to be clear that they mean the evil SOB who wants (for perfectly understandable reasons) to blow the multiverse up one strand at a time, even he isn't a caricature. Insane. Lost to Humanity. But not ever a risible over-the-top cartoon villain.
But those green-roofed mercury-vapor-lit alt-timelines are real, and he's made it impossible for "our" Hayes and Yusuf not to know, and deal with knowing, what it costs to stay alive in a truly random quantumverse. It changes a person to realize what carnage they've left in their wake through this one "wild and precious life" that Mary Oliver so beautifully committed poetry to describe. Now...think about this...there's a lot more than one, and you now know because you can't not know exactly what carnage you've left behind in it all.
It's damned hard to believe this is Author Tavares's first novel. The economy with which he built the pyre of stakes for each strand of the multiverse...and the aplomb with which he lights the stakes into an inferno of loss and rage and gut-hollowing sadness...usually come to a later-career novelist. It takes time to build faith and willingness to go all in and all out at the looming obstacles armed only with one's talent. Yet here he is, attempting and succeeding first time out.
So maybe a few details fell under the table. A last serving of your favorite dish disappeared and you don't have a dog to blame. Big fat deal! You're in great hands as a truth gets told you: Gay men love hard, care deeply, and fight dirty to protect their man.
Even when it's not pretty.
This is what I look for. It's what I want more of. And it's only his first novel! What a great way to celebrate a new year: Read a high-delivery first novel.
Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner—a mysterious device that can predict the future.
Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf...as his husband.
As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple's story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf's life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf.
With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space—soon he will have to decide how much he’s willing to pay to save the love of his life.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Likeable people can be reprehensible. Gay men who will do literally...literally...anything for the men they love can be villains. Because, you realize as Hayes perpetrates some truly terrible actions while retaining the same charm and winning ways as led you to invest in him from the beginning, the world doesn't have that many univalent monsters.
What I love best about stories with flawed protagonists is how relatable they are. We're all flawed. And Hayes, he's flawed enough to make him a menace, what he does...causes...to be the engine of this exciting and action-heavy multiverse thriller. Being awakened to an undreamt-of reality, to be chucked into a world that one never once thought might be real, to have the shocking and sudden revelation that someone until now a stranger is, in fact, The One...that's just the first few pages! This script is gonna keep the butts in the seats with no popcirn trips for sure!
Well...okay, that's a small exaggeration. It's not quite that action-packed but it sure as hell feels as though it is. The strangeness of a filmmaker being the one and only person who could resolve the problem of how to use, whether to believe, a fortune-telling device was, honestly, short-changed. It's a point raised, dealt with by saying, "yep that's how it is" and we're off to the races! In fact, there is a lot of the world-building that is treated in this "just the facts, ma'am" laconic way and then it's Gospel.
You did notice the absence of a fifth star...now you know (most of) why.
The merry chase that Hayes and Yusuf, the inamorato, go on across the dimensions is like reading a spec script from a super-excitable young person with not clue one what "budget" means. What makes that fun is the budget is your mind's dopamine-reward system. What makes that sometimes wearing is the film metaphor is the spine of the book...it is literally holding every scene in the story up, leading them together, and the casting of the characters is exactly that: Casting. It's going to be a rough ride for some. I am one. But the roughnss of the ride isn't a deal-breaker because the way this sled handles is *chef's kiss*
Think of Boston. English people, think of Oxford. Got the picture set? Now...change the color of the streetlights and make the roofs green. That's the experience of traveling in Hayes's multiverse...it really is his, he (one of him) is the inventor of the device that enables all this traveling that we're here talking about. And that Hayes, whom the characters we're following most closely refer to as "Figueiredo" to be clear that they mean the evil SOB who wants (for perfectly understandable reasons) to blow the multiverse up one strand at a time, even he isn't a caricature. Insane. Lost to Humanity. But not ever a risible over-the-top cartoon villain.
But those green-roofed mercury-vapor-lit alt-timelines are real, and he's made it impossible for "our" Hayes and Yusuf not to know, and deal with knowing, what it costs to stay alive in a truly random quantumverse. It changes a person to realize what carnage they've left in their wake through this one "wild and precious life" that Mary Oliver so beautifully committed poetry to describe. Now...think about this...there's a lot more than one, and you now know because you can't not know exactly what carnage you've left behind in it all.
It's damned hard to believe this is Author Tavares's first novel. The economy with which he built the pyre of stakes for each strand of the multiverse...and the aplomb with which he lights the stakes into an inferno of loss and rage and gut-hollowing sadness...usually come to a later-career novelist. It takes time to build faith and willingness to go all in and all out at the looming obstacles armed only with one's talent. Yet here he is, attempting and succeeding first time out.
So maybe a few details fell under the table. A last serving of your favorite dish disappeared and you don't have a dog to blame. Big fat deal! You're in great hands as a truth gets told you: Gay men love hard, care deeply, and fight dirty to protect their man.
Even when it's not pretty.
This is what I look for. It's what I want more of. And it's only his first novel! What a great way to celebrate a new year: Read a high-delivery first novel.
November 30, 2022
I love sci-fi and I love queer stories, so this should be completely my jam. And to an extent it was. I loved the concept, I found it very intriguing and it was decently well done. It was a thrilling ride and I was compelled to read on to see how it was all going to resolve.
There were a couple of things that hampered my enjoyment. Firstly - there were a lot of film references. Like a lot - not of actual films, but things like referring to scenes being a film montage. I think it was supposed to be funny, but I just found it annoying because it happened throughout the book. Secondly - while I appreciated the fact that the main characters were gay, their relationship didn't feel fully developed. It was very much told that they had a nice relationship and loved each other rather than being shown. I was just not invested in the relationship and the plot very much hinged on us believing that these main characters couldn't live without each other.
However, aside form these things, I did think it was well written and if this is the direction that the author continues to go in for future books I will certainly be reading more.
The audiobook was kindly provided by the publisher and Netgalley. The narration was very well done and felt like a high quality production.
There were a couple of things that hampered my enjoyment. Firstly - there were a lot of film references. Like a lot - not of actual films, but things like referring to scenes being a film montage. I think it was supposed to be funny, but I just found it annoying because it happened throughout the book. Secondly - while I appreciated the fact that the main characters were gay, their relationship didn't feel fully developed. It was very much told that they had a nice relationship and loved each other rather than being shown. I was just not invested in the relationship and the plot very much hinged on us believing that these main characters couldn't live without each other.
However, aside form these things, I did think it was well written and if this is the direction that the author continues to go in for future books I will certainly be reading more.
The audiobook was kindly provided by the publisher and Netgalley. The narration was very well done and felt like a high quality production.
September 30, 2022
3.0 stars
This was a fun sci fi thriller with lots of twists and turns. For such a short book, there was so much packed in. While I normally love a fast pageturner, I actually think this one would have benefited from slowing down the pace of the story. I liked a lot of the elements within the story (multiverses, queer romance, etc) but this book felt overstuffed with ideas and plot twists. Despite the uneven narrative, I would still recommend this one to readers who love sci fi thrillers and are looking for a new pageturner.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This was a fun sci fi thriller with lots of twists and turns. For such a short book, there was so much packed in. While I normally love a fast pageturner, I actually think this one would have benefited from slowing down the pace of the story. I liked a lot of the elements within the story (multiverses, queer romance, etc) but this book felt overstuffed with ideas and plot twists. Despite the uneven narrative, I would still recommend this one to readers who love sci fi thrillers and are looking for a new pageturner.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
November 30, 2022
On my blog.
Rep: gay mc with depression, Egyptian Muslim gay li, Japanese side character
CWs past overdose, mentions of suicide, violence
Galley provided by publisher
A Fractured Infinity is a fast-paced and thrilling book, centred around the question of what one man will do to save the person he loves. It was a book I read in just a few sittings and one that I didn’t want to put down at any point.
The story follows Hayes, who is picked up out of his hideaway beach hut by mysterious strangers and spirited away to a secret laboratory where it transpires that he could be the key to understanding a machine that can tell the future, a machine that appears to have been made by him. In the process of examining this machine, he falls in love with Yusuf, leading to the aforementioned “what will he do when it turns out that saving Yusuf’s life risks the lives of billions of other people” question.
Probably what I enjoyed most about this one was Hayes. This is a book that presents itself to you as Hayes recounting the story to a camera, documenting everything before one last act. He is, in some respects, a not wholly reliable narrator, but at the same time, he doesn’t shy away from his flaws and mistakes he has made. To him, in the calculus of Yusuf’s life compared to billions, he’ll always fall on the side of Yusuf. This, to me, makes him a fascinating character. He’s willfully selfish and obviously not doing what he’s doing out of any altruism. He admits this to himself, even as he doesn’t to Yusuf. So you are, in part, left asking the question of who is the real villain here? Hayes, Figueiredo, or Nakamori? Is anyone?
For all that Hayes is selfish and thinking most only of himself, he is still a likeable character, which is why the book, with this as its premise, actually works. You like both Hayes and Yusuf so you can’t help but root for them to somehow find a way out of things, even as you realise the question is basically one life versus many (and also, in that respect, the ending is an interesting question of does Hayes remain sympathetic to you?).
As I said at the start, this was a fast-paced read and that’s possibly where my one point of contention lay. There was a lot of worldbuilding that was expanded on, and then left by the wayside. Not all of it was needed for the plot, I’ll allow, in which case, why introduce it in such depth? Maybe I’m nitpicking here—overall I really enjoyed this book, and this isn’t really much of an issue. But it’s a point I noticed.
However, if you’re looking for more universe-hopping science fiction, featuring gay characters, then this is the book for you!
Rep: gay mc with depression, Egyptian Muslim gay li, Japanese side character
CWs past overdose, mentions of suicide, violence
Galley provided by publisher
A Fractured Infinity is a fast-paced and thrilling book, centred around the question of what one man will do to save the person he loves. It was a book I read in just a few sittings and one that I didn’t want to put down at any point.
The story follows Hayes, who is picked up out of his hideaway beach hut by mysterious strangers and spirited away to a secret laboratory where it transpires that he could be the key to understanding a machine that can tell the future, a machine that appears to have been made by him. In the process of examining this machine, he falls in love with Yusuf, leading to the aforementioned “what will he do when it turns out that saving Yusuf’s life risks the lives of billions of other people” question.
Probably what I enjoyed most about this one was Hayes. This is a book that presents itself to you as Hayes recounting the story to a camera, documenting everything before one last act. He is, in some respects, a not wholly reliable narrator, but at the same time, he doesn’t shy away from his flaws and mistakes he has made. To him, in the calculus of Yusuf’s life compared to billions, he’ll always fall on the side of Yusuf. This, to me, makes him a fascinating character. He’s willfully selfish and obviously not doing what he’s doing out of any altruism. He admits this to himself, even as he doesn’t to Yusuf. So you are, in part, left asking the question of who is the real villain here? Hayes, Figueiredo, or Nakamori? Is anyone?
For all that Hayes is selfish and thinking most only of himself, he is still a likeable character, which is why the book, with this as its premise, actually works. You like both Hayes and Yusuf so you can’t help but root for them to somehow find a way out of things, even as you realise the question is basically one life versus many (and also, in that respect, the ending is an interesting question of does Hayes remain sympathetic to you?).
As I said at the start, this was a fast-paced read and that’s possibly where my one point of contention lay. There was a lot of worldbuilding that was expanded on, and then left by the wayside. Not all of it was needed for the plot, I’ll allow, in which case, why introduce it in such depth? Maybe I’m nitpicking here—overall I really enjoyed this book, and this isn’t really much of an issue. But it’s a point I noticed.
However, if you’re looking for more universe-hopping science fiction, featuring gay characters, then this is the book for you!
November 30, 2022
*I received an audio copy of this book via NetGalley. This has not influenced my review.*
I went into this expecting a fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi thriller. Instead, it turned out to be a rather slow-paced, character-focused, internal thoughts/emotions kinda book. The whole first half was basically the main character finding out about this future telling machine and alternate realities, falling in love, and realizing how those things were changing him, plus some explanations about things from his past that affected him. Even when they started jumping to different realities, there’d be a brief bit of action or excitement, then an expanse of relative calm as they learned about the situation in the new place and tried to figure out what they were gonna do. This isn’t a bad thing though! I enjoyed being able to actually get to know the main character and understand how everything was affecting him.
I also enjoyed having a protagonist who was flawed but still someone I could root for. He’d made mistakes in his past. He’d hurt people. He was selfish sometimes. He made some questionable decisions. But there were people he cared deeply for. He seemed to try and look for the best in people. He could reflect on his own actions and feelings and realize when he’d done wrong. He wasn’t perfect. But he wasn’t bad either. At least, I don’t think he was.
The slow pace also let the love story and emotions within it come through. I think I would’ve liked seeing a bit more of the time they spent together, talking or hanging out, but I did believe the love between them, and especially the love Hayes had for Yusuf.
There weren’t actually that many, but the alternate realities they visited were fascinating. Not so much the worlds themselves (they were fairly similar to ours), more the situations they found themselves in where they landed and the different versions of themselves they met and what their lives were like. And how, in all these adjacent realities, Hayes and Yusuf always ended up together (even if it worked out better for some of the couples than others). And the ending was especially interesting.
This is a book you can enjoy for the story just as it is, or it’s one you can really think about. Were Hayes’s actions wrong? Would you have done the same? Who was really to blame? That sort of thing. Here are some of my thoughts. *SPOILER* *END SPOILER*
There was some diverse rep. Both Hayes and Yusuf were gay and POC. Yusuf might’ve been neurodivergent too, though no specific label was used.
I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Tom Picasso. Everything sounded natural, it seemed to suit the main character well, and different characters sounded not drastically different but different enough to keep track of.
Overall, this was a book with imperfect characters, interesting sci-fi elements, a very character-focused story, and a love story that will make you think.
*Rating: 3.5 Stars // Read Date: 2022 // Format: Audiobook*
Recommended For:
Anyone who likes internal character-focused books, alternate realities, and love stories.
Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
I went into this expecting a fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi thriller. Instead, it turned out to be a rather slow-paced, character-focused, internal thoughts/emotions kinda book. The whole first half was basically the main character finding out about this future telling machine and alternate realities, falling in love, and realizing how those things were changing him, plus some explanations about things from his past that affected him. Even when they started jumping to different realities, there’d be a brief bit of action or excitement, then an expanse of relative calm as they learned about the situation in the new place and tried to figure out what they were gonna do. This isn’t a bad thing though! I enjoyed being able to actually get to know the main character and understand how everything was affecting him.
I also enjoyed having a protagonist who was flawed but still someone I could root for. He’d made mistakes in his past. He’d hurt people. He was selfish sometimes. He made some questionable decisions. But there were people he cared deeply for. He seemed to try and look for the best in people. He could reflect on his own actions and feelings and realize when he’d done wrong. He wasn’t perfect. But he wasn’t bad either. At least, I don’t think he was.
The slow pace also let the love story and emotions within it come through. I think I would’ve liked seeing a bit more of the time they spent together, talking or hanging out, but I did believe the love between them, and especially the love Hayes had for Yusuf.
There weren’t actually that many, but the alternate realities they visited were fascinating. Not so much the worlds themselves (they were fairly similar to ours), more the situations they found themselves in where they landed and the different versions of themselves they met and what their lives were like. And how, in all these adjacent realities, Hayes and Yusuf always ended up together (even if it worked out better for some of the couples than others). And the ending was especially interesting.
This is a book you can enjoy for the story just as it is, or it’s one you can really think about. Were Hayes’s actions wrong? Would you have done the same? Who was really to blame? That sort of thing. Here are some of my thoughts. *SPOILER* *END SPOILER*
There was some diverse rep. Both Hayes and Yusuf were gay and POC. Yusuf might’ve been neurodivergent too, though no specific label was used.
I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Tom Picasso. Everything sounded natural, it seemed to suit the main character well, and different characters sounded not drastically different but different enough to keep track of.
Overall, this was a book with imperfect characters, interesting sci-fi elements, a very character-focused story, and a love story that will make you think.
*Rating: 3.5 Stars // Read Date: 2022 // Format: Audiobook*
Recommended For:
Anyone who likes internal character-focused books, alternate realities, and love stories.
Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
October 29, 2022
HIGHLIGHTS
~too good to be a debut
~pink-sand paradise
~an android drag queen
~rewriting the laws of physics = true love
~it is, in fact, illegal to be that smart
Every now then, a debut comes along that makes you do a double-take; that makes you go online to check that it really is a debut, because no way. No way! What?! How can somebody’s debut be this freaking brilliant?!
I double-checked, folx. This really is Tavares’ first published novel.
It’s very hard to believe after reading it, though. It’s just so good!
Fractured Infinity takes place in a near-future where humanity has more or less gotten their shit together; climate change is being fixed, the cures for all cancers have been found, and the world’s running on clean energy, finally. The USA has been knocked off its pedestal – hard – and broken into a bunch of different pieces, including the Commonwealth of Great Basin Nations, a sovereign territory of Indigenous peoples, which is the setting for the first chunk of the book.
Because that’s where the top-secret facility is. The one with a machine that predicts the future. Which might, or might not, be a gift sent to our world from another universe.
None of this means anything to Hayes, who makes indie documentaries that are probably never going to make him famous. But it was an alternate version of him – another universe’s version of him – that built the machine, and that makes him involved.
Hayes is a brilliant, incredibly relatable, incredibly human main character, and I’m so glad Tavares decided to write Fractured Infinity in first-person, because Hayes’s voice – and the style of his narration – is a big part of what makes this book rock. He’s a mess with a huge heart, capable of morphing into whatever’s required for him to Get The Story but with a streak of something so damn genuine running through him at the same time, underneath his facade of blithe confidence. He’s a little bit broken and he cares so very much and sometimes he gets mad at reality, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to make it just a little better.
Or: he’s selfish and irresponsible, an unreliable narrator, manipulating the reader, always ready with a justification. He claims he’s no one special but acts as if he is, decides the rules don’t apply to him, fucks over multiple universes so he gets to keep his boyfriend.
Both these descriptions are true. So is he a good guy or a villain?
Neither. Both. It’s just not that simple.
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
~too good to be a debut
~pink-sand paradise
~an android drag queen
~rewriting the laws of physics = true love
~it is, in fact, illegal to be that smart
Every now then, a debut comes along that makes you do a double-take; that makes you go online to check that it really is a debut, because no way. No way! What?! How can somebody’s debut be this freaking brilliant?!
I double-checked, folx. This really is Tavares’ first published novel.
It’s very hard to believe after reading it, though. It’s just so good!
Fractured Infinity takes place in a near-future where humanity has more or less gotten their shit together; climate change is being fixed, the cures for all cancers have been found, and the world’s running on clean energy, finally. The USA has been knocked off its pedestal – hard – and broken into a bunch of different pieces, including the Commonwealth of Great Basin Nations, a sovereign territory of Indigenous peoples, which is the setting for the first chunk of the book.
Because that’s where the top-secret facility is. The one with a machine that predicts the future. Which might, or might not, be a gift sent to our world from another universe.
None of this means anything to Hayes, who makes indie documentaries that are probably never going to make him famous. But it was an alternate version of him – another universe’s version of him – that built the machine, and that makes him involved.
Hayes is a brilliant, incredibly relatable, incredibly human main character, and I’m so glad Tavares decided to write Fractured Infinity in first-person, because Hayes’s voice – and the style of his narration – is a big part of what makes this book rock. He’s a mess with a huge heart, capable of morphing into whatever’s required for him to Get The Story but with a streak of something so damn genuine running through him at the same time, underneath his facade of blithe confidence. He’s a little bit broken and he cares so very much and sometimes he gets mad at reality, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to make it just a little better.
Or: he’s selfish and irresponsible, an unreliable narrator, manipulating the reader, always ready with a justification. He claims he’s no one special but acts as if he is, decides the rules don’t apply to him, fucks over multiple universes so he gets to keep his boyfriend.
Both these descriptions are true. So is he a good guy or a villain?
Neither. Both. It’s just not that simple.
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
June 27, 2024
RTC - because I need actual words to describe this parallel universe science-y love story.
Oh, and I'm rounding the fuck up for an Egyptian Muslim MC done well. No wars, terrorism, or Islamophobic shit in sight.
Oh, and I'm rounding the fuck up for an Egyptian Muslim MC done well. No wars, terrorism, or Islamophobic shit in sight.
October 27, 2023
3.5
It's been a while since I finished the book, and I have tried reviewing it many times (including a time when I was almost done with the review and then accidentally deleted it but oh well), but there is just something about this book that makes it very difficult for me to articulate my feelings on it. I enjoyed a lot of this novel, but throughout it there seemed to be something that was dragging down my enjoyment.
The story follows Hayes, a filmmaker struggling with his film project, as he is dragged into a very secret research that he is supposedly the key to. He is now a part of a research facility holding the Envisioned, a strange device that predicts the future, invented by no other than himself (but from another universe). This is where he meets Yusuf, a physicist, and finds himself entangled in his research and developing feelings for Yusuf. That all comes to a point where he has to decide how far he's willing to go to protect Yusuf and how many people he's willing to sacrifice for that.
There is very little I can say about the book without giving too much away, so I'll be concise, starting with what I liked about the book. The book is very Hayes-focused, as it's all his perspectives, motivations and viewpoints, and that is what works so well in the book. Hayes is slightly unreliable, but very real and human. Through his mistakes and objectively bad decisions, you still find yourself rooting for him and understanding where he's coming from. I enjoyed the audiobook format for this novel, I think the narrator's voice and overall delivery fit in with Hayes as a character. I enjoyed how the novel examined motivation, and difficult questions and how it did (or did not) justify certain actions of the characters. For the most part I did like the world-building and the format of Hayes talking to the camera throughout the novel.
However, I also think some of the world-building was redundant, as the novel went into high detail on things that were subsequently dropped, which only served to take me out of the story and leave it for a moment. Also, I did enjoy Hayes and Yusuf as a couple, but I wish we had seen more of them in the build-up of the novel. I feel like if we're to believe this is the love you're willing to shatter worlds for, you have to show it a bit more rather than just tell us it is ground-breaking.
Nonetheless, I still very much enjoyed this book, and if you're in the market for a gay scifi story about the multiverse and how far you're willing to go for love, this is the right story for you!
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
It's been a while since I finished the book, and I have tried reviewing it many times (including a time when I was almost done with the review and then accidentally deleted it but oh well), but there is just something about this book that makes it very difficult for me to articulate my feelings on it. I enjoyed a lot of this novel, but throughout it there seemed to be something that was dragging down my enjoyment.
The story follows Hayes, a filmmaker struggling with his film project, as he is dragged into a very secret research that he is supposedly the key to. He is now a part of a research facility holding the Envisioned, a strange device that predicts the future, invented by no other than himself (but from another universe). This is where he meets Yusuf, a physicist, and finds himself entangled in his research and developing feelings for Yusuf. That all comes to a point where he has to decide how far he's willing to go to protect Yusuf and how many people he's willing to sacrifice for that.
There is very little I can say about the book without giving too much away, so I'll be concise, starting with what I liked about the book. The book is very Hayes-focused, as it's all his perspectives, motivations and viewpoints, and that is what works so well in the book. Hayes is slightly unreliable, but very real and human. Through his mistakes and objectively bad decisions, you still find yourself rooting for him and understanding where he's coming from. I enjoyed the audiobook format for this novel, I think the narrator's voice and overall delivery fit in with Hayes as a character. I enjoyed how the novel examined motivation, and difficult questions and how it did (or did not) justify certain actions of the characters. For the most part I did like the world-building and the format of Hayes talking to the camera throughout the novel.
However, I also think some of the world-building was redundant, as the novel went into high detail on things that were subsequently dropped, which only served to take me out of the story and leave it for a moment. Also, I did enjoy Hayes and Yusuf as a couple, but I wish we had seen more of them in the build-up of the novel. I feel like if we're to believe this is the love you're willing to shatter worlds for, you have to show it a bit more rather than just tell us it is ground-breaking.
Nonetheless, I still very much enjoyed this book, and if you're in the market for a gay scifi story about the multiverse and how far you're willing to go for love, this is the right story for you!
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
December 6, 2022
A gay sci-fi consisting of meeting your alternate selves throughout the multiverse and a manhunt across universes?? YES PLEASE! A fractured Infinity is a page-turning, queer science-fantasy that will absolutely get those wheels turning!
The thing I love the most about this book is the way it pulls you into the pages and has you pondering YOUR response to events in this book. There are books that you simply read and are very surface level. Then there are books like this that really engage the reader in ways that make you feel like a part of the story. There are lots of crossroads in this book. Lots of tough choices to make. And you can't help but place yourself in those moments of decision-making. Like, y'all, do we take this all-knowing device and dip tf out?? Do we tell people we have this device that can alter the course of the world?? What do we do if they come at us with pitchforks?? It's SO engaging! I loved the rush.
I love this idea that no matter what universe you are in, your soulmate remains the same. It's such a different aspect to the romance component of the book. One I've not had exposure to in any romances I've read in the past. It adds a great bit of warmth to the story :) Now, my boyfriend can get ANNOYING at times, and sometimes I want to trip him, but I love the idea that no matter what universe I'm in, I find my way to him. That I'd always pick him :) Because I would! He is my person. And seeing that in this book put a huge smile on my face.
A device that can tell the future (the Envisioner): POWERFUL. So what would humans do knowing the timeline of basically everything?? Probably some stupid shit but who knows! I simply love this dilemma our characters find themselves facing, because there is no easy way to navigate that situation! It, once again, has you wondering how that would pan out in real life circumstances. One things for sure though, any time you fuck with events that are meant to happen, you're gonna stir the universal pot! And our characters experience this ten fold...
Nathan is also just brilliant. You can tell that, on top of him just being a smart human, a lot of research went into the development of this story. He be slinging knowledge and terms I know nothing about, but I am full on here for it! I just feel more invested when I see that sort of dedication an author puts into their book. I just know so much when into its development.
There were definitely some parts of the book I wish were slowed down a bit. The plot has such rich moments, and I wish we could have relished a lot of them more. Especially on the romance side of things. So much felt like a blur and then the next minute we're sitting in an igloo on the moon freezing our balls off...like wait can we just go back to the bedroom scene for a little longer??
It's insane this is a debut! It certainly reads as if this is NOT Nathan's first rodeo! I am so incredibly excited to see what comes next from him!
The thing I love the most about this book is the way it pulls you into the pages and has you pondering YOUR response to events in this book. There are books that you simply read and are very surface level. Then there are books like this that really engage the reader in ways that make you feel like a part of the story. There are lots of crossroads in this book. Lots of tough choices to make. And you can't help but place yourself in those moments of decision-making. Like, y'all, do we take this all-knowing device and dip tf out?? Do we tell people we have this device that can alter the course of the world?? What do we do if they come at us with pitchforks?? It's SO engaging! I loved the rush.
I love this idea that no matter what universe you are in, your soulmate remains the same. It's such a different aspect to the romance component of the book. One I've not had exposure to in any romances I've read in the past. It adds a great bit of warmth to the story :) Now, my boyfriend can get ANNOYING at times, and sometimes I want to trip him, but I love the idea that no matter what universe I'm in, I find my way to him. That I'd always pick him :) Because I would! He is my person. And seeing that in this book put a huge smile on my face.
A device that can tell the future (the Envisioner): POWERFUL. So what would humans do knowing the timeline of basically everything?? Probably some stupid shit but who knows! I simply love this dilemma our characters find themselves facing, because there is no easy way to navigate that situation! It, once again, has you wondering how that would pan out in real life circumstances. One things for sure though, any time you fuck with events that are meant to happen, you're gonna stir the universal pot! And our characters experience this ten fold...
Nathan is also just brilliant. You can tell that, on top of him just being a smart human, a lot of research went into the development of this story. He be slinging knowledge and terms I know nothing about, but I am full on here for it! I just feel more invested when I see that sort of dedication an author puts into their book. I just know so much when into its development.
There were definitely some parts of the book I wish were slowed down a bit. The plot has such rich moments, and I wish we could have relished a lot of them more. Especially on the romance side of things. So much felt like a blur and then the next minute we're sitting in an igloo on the moon freezing our balls off...like wait can we just go back to the bedroom scene for a little longer??
It's insane this is a debut! It certainly reads as if this is NOT Nathan's first rodeo! I am so incredibly excited to see what comes next from him!
August 19, 2023
Struggling filmmaker Hayes Figueiredo becomes involved with a top-secret facility that houses a device that can predict the future, possibly gifted from another universe. "A Fractured Infinity" explores themes of love, choice and morality against the backdrop of alternate universes. The harder sci-fi elements are balanced with a genuine romance and the ethical dilemmas posed by the Envisioner's ability to alter the course of reality. The book's exploration of multiverse concepts is both engaging and accessible, skilfully combining humour, emotion and thought-provoking situations.
"A Fractured Infinity" is a powerful and moving gay sci-fi story that will keep readers engaged untill its trippy ending. It's a beautifully written novel that manages to balance complex ideas with genuine character depth and relatable experiences.
"A Fractured Infinity" is a powerful and moving gay sci-fi story that will keep readers engaged untill its trippy ending. It's a beautifully written novel that manages to balance complex ideas with genuine character depth and relatable experiences.
December 20, 2022
Parallel universe stories are nearly always an automatic hit with me, so I was slightly disappointed by my mixed feelings about this book. The concept was fabulous: a struggling filmmaker has his life up-ended when he learns an alternate version of himself was responsible for creating a machine that can expertly predict the future. I enjoyed following Hayes and his physicist boyfriend Yusuf along their joyride through the multiverse, and seeing the intricate ins and outs of their alternate universe selves. I also enjoyed the unique narrative style of the story, told through snippets of dialogue and descriptions of camera shots, very accurate to the mind of a filmmaker and a storyteller.
However, Hayes was the only character with a believable voice. As much as he frustrated me at times with his choices and selfishness, his flaws made him seem human, which I couldn't say for all the characters. Kaori is nearly there, being an excellent representative of the morally dubious supergenius trope, though she skirts into comic book villain territory at times. Hayes' alter ego was significantly more comic book villain-esque, not helped by the fact that it is hard to pinpoint a true motivation for any of his anger and violence. Yusuf was my greatest disappointment, feeling a bit too much like a cardboard cutout love interest. I wish he'd had more chances to individuate from Hayes - I feel like the tiny snippets we got from Kaori's POV were crucial to building her character, and lacking any perspective of his own Yusuf is swallowed by Hayes' idealization of him. I was also frustrated by the ending - without giving spoilers, I feel like one of the biggest conflicts between Yusuf and Hayes was never properly resolved.
However, Hayes was the only character with a believable voice. As much as he frustrated me at times with his choices and selfishness, his flaws made him seem human, which I couldn't say for all the characters. Kaori is nearly there, being an excellent representative of the morally dubious supergenius trope, though she skirts into comic book villain territory at times. Hayes' alter ego was significantly more comic book villain-esque, not helped by the fact that it is hard to pinpoint a true motivation for any of his anger and violence. Yusuf was my greatest disappointment, feeling a bit too much like a cardboard cutout love interest. I wish he'd had more chances to individuate from Hayes - I feel like the tiny snippets we got from Kaori's POV were crucial to building her character, and lacking any perspective of his own Yusuf is swallowed by Hayes' idealization of him. I was also frustrated by the ending - without giving spoilers, I feel like one of the biggest conflicts between Yusuf and Hayes was never properly resolved.
November 9, 2022
Nathan Tavares’ poignantly thrilling, multiversal sci-fi debut offers up a love story with an intriguing examination into ethics and our deepest emotions—by asking what would you be willing to risk to save the one you love?
Hayes Figueiredo is a struggling filmmaker just trying to finish his latest documentary when his life is turned upside down when by the arrival physicist Yusuf—and the knowledge that he may just be the key to understanding the Envisioner, a mysterious devise that can predict the future.
Discovering that the devices’ creator is a parallel version of himself is mind boggling but what’s even more so is that the obsessive and aloof, parallel-him is married to a version of Yusuf.
Working with Yusuf and Yusuf’s boss, Kaori in studying the machine (in order to uncover its secrets) brings Hayes and Yusuf closer. But when tragedy strikes, Hayes will do anything he can to save the man he’s slowly found himself falling for.
But the price of saving Yusuf’s life may just risk the lives of everyone in the multiverse. For though there are infinite realities, there’s only one Yusuf.
I really enjoyed this and found myself gripped from the very first page, where we are first introduced to Hayes; watching the sunrise with Yusuf on a beach in a far off universe, and recounting how he got to that moment in time—travelling universes and avoiding a host of seismically catastrophic events.
Told entirely from Hayes’ Perspective, his distinctive and pessimistically witty voice was really interesting—he’s pretty candid about his flaws, admitting to his selfish and self-serving tendencies early on. But, in-spite of his morally questionable actions and unreliable narration, I really liked him and felt the ethical quandary he becomes entangled in definitely benefitted from that morally grey Rick Sanchez-esque ambivalence.
The pace was quite quick stayed that way for pretty much the entire book, which given how detailed the world building was is actually really impressive.
With plenty of dimension hopping books, movies and TV shows to peruse I was surprised to find how refreshing the science-y multiverse system was and loved that Hayes was just as clueless as I was at the beginning. Nothing spoils an immersive reading experience quicker than getting super confused—but Tavares’ easy to understand explanations were an absolute breeze.
The depth of emotion we see conveyed through Hayes and Yusuf’s seemingly tragic love story was also incredible, and I’m not afraid to say that though I was initially intrigued by the multiverse aspect of the plot, it was Hayes’ relationship with Yusuf and the emotional development that their connection spurred that really kept me hooked.
Overall, this is a phenomenally plotted and action filled Sci-fi with an epic,
LGBTQ+ love story you simply don’t want to miss.
Also thank you to Titan Books for the PB copy.
Hayes Figueiredo is a struggling filmmaker just trying to finish his latest documentary when his life is turned upside down when by the arrival physicist Yusuf—and the knowledge that he may just be the key to understanding the Envisioner, a mysterious devise that can predict the future.
Discovering that the devices’ creator is a parallel version of himself is mind boggling but what’s even more so is that the obsessive and aloof, parallel-him is married to a version of Yusuf.
Working with Yusuf and Yusuf’s boss, Kaori in studying the machine (in order to uncover its secrets) brings Hayes and Yusuf closer. But when tragedy strikes, Hayes will do anything he can to save the man he’s slowly found himself falling for.
But the price of saving Yusuf’s life may just risk the lives of everyone in the multiverse. For though there are infinite realities, there’s only one Yusuf.
I really enjoyed this and found myself gripped from the very first page, where we are first introduced to Hayes; watching the sunrise with Yusuf on a beach in a far off universe, and recounting how he got to that moment in time—travelling universes and avoiding a host of seismically catastrophic events.
Told entirely from Hayes’ Perspective, his distinctive and pessimistically witty voice was really interesting—he’s pretty candid about his flaws, admitting to his selfish and self-serving tendencies early on. But, in-spite of his morally questionable actions and unreliable narration, I really liked him and felt the ethical quandary he becomes entangled in definitely benefitted from that morally grey Rick Sanchez-esque ambivalence.
The pace was quite quick stayed that way for pretty much the entire book, which given how detailed the world building was is actually really impressive.
With plenty of dimension hopping books, movies and TV shows to peruse I was surprised to find how refreshing the science-y multiverse system was and loved that Hayes was just as clueless as I was at the beginning. Nothing spoils an immersive reading experience quicker than getting super confused—but Tavares’ easy to understand explanations were an absolute breeze.
The depth of emotion we see conveyed through Hayes and Yusuf’s seemingly tragic love story was also incredible, and I’m not afraid to say that though I was initially intrigued by the multiverse aspect of the plot, it was Hayes’ relationship with Yusuf and the emotional development that their connection spurred that really kept me hooked.
Overall, this is a phenomenally plotted and action filled Sci-fi with an epic,
LGBTQ+ love story you simply don’t want to miss.
Also thank you to Titan Books for the PB copy.
March 6, 2025
Historically I have a pretty bad track record with time travel and parallel universes in media; it never lands for me and I never enjoy it. But I guess from this point on there's gonna be a little asterisk at the end of that statement that says, "except for Fractured Infinity, that one did it right."
We have a great protagonist in Hayes Figueiredo, who is kind of a washed-up asshole, but he's trying to be a better person and we actually see those attempts from him. He's also an indie filmmaker, and that background was utilized so perfectly, interwoven into the narrative prose but also the actual content of the plot at certain points. His first-person explanation of events truly benefits from his eye for cinematography in a way that'll make sense if you read this.
Even just the setting (the initial one, before we start jumping around alternate realities) was compelling to me. Set sometime in the early 2100's, the world has mostly tackled climate change, developed a cure for cancer, has started colonizing the moon, etc., etc. ... but it's clear that things were bad before they got to this point. We're kind of following the first generation to finally breathe a sigh of relief that the troubles of the 21st century are over. It read to me as simultaneously optimistic but also tempered by realism.
The pacing had just the right peaks and valleys, the central romance felt genuine, and the two main antagonists were sympathetic and justified in the actions they took. And it felt important that this was a gay romance; I don't think that if you swapped out the leads for a M/F couple that it would read the same, which I appreciated. For all those reasons and whatever else, this one worked for me.
Also shout out to Tom Picasso (the audiobook narrator) for nailing the pronunciations of all the Portuguese names and quotes that popped up from time to time.
We have a great protagonist in Hayes Figueiredo, who is kind of a washed-up asshole, but he's trying to be a better person and we actually see those attempts from him. He's also an indie filmmaker, and that background was utilized so perfectly, interwoven into the narrative prose but also the actual content of the plot at certain points. His first-person explanation of events truly benefits from his eye for cinematography in a way that'll make sense if you read this.
Even just the setting (the initial one, before we start jumping around alternate realities) was compelling to me. Set sometime in the early 2100's, the world has mostly tackled climate change, developed a cure for cancer, has started colonizing the moon, etc., etc. ... but it's clear that things were bad before they got to this point. We're kind of following the first generation to finally breathe a sigh of relief that the troubles of the 21st century are over. It read to me as simultaneously optimistic but also tempered by realism.
The pacing had just the right peaks and valleys, the central romance felt genuine, and the two main antagonists were sympathetic and justified in the actions they took. And it felt important that this was a gay romance; I don't think that if you swapped out the leads for a M/F couple that it would read the same, which I appreciated. For all those reasons and whatever else, this one worked for me.
Also shout out to Tom Picasso (the audiobook narrator) for nailing the pronunciations of all the Portuguese names and quotes that popped up from time to time.
to-read-so-bad-it-hurts
April 20, 2022'Pitched as "Arrival, but make it gay," featuring a washed-up filmmaker who, in learning he's connected to an interdimensional device that predicts the future, goes on the run through a kaleidoscope of worlds to keep his boyfriend alive at all costs—even if that means shattering the whole multiverse himself'
AAHHHH INTO IT
AAHHHH INTO IT
January 22, 2025
I loved the world building in this book. It gave us just enough information to explain but also left some to the imagination. I also like that Hayes and Yusuf's relationship was the core of the story. I thought it was a little slow in places and maybe over explained some of the science. But overall an enjoyable read.
February 16, 2025
Absolutely chock full of ideas (near future changes T society, technology, climate + multiple universes + romance + conspiracies) sprinkled into a very fast-paced story.
February 12, 2023
[No actual spoilers, but I do talk about the plot and ending in very vague terms]
Oooohhh hmmmm tricky. I came SO CLOSE to giving this five stars, but man, that ending... I don't know!
I will say, though, I really loved this! The tone and the writing and the characters were just chef's kiss amazing. Hayes' narrative voice was amazing and obviously him being a filmmaker worked excellently for the way this story was told. He felt very real to me, and I loved being on this bumpy ride with him. Snarky, messy main characters can be tricky to pull off, but I think Tavares nailed that tone exactly. Kudos!
I don't always enjoy books that do a lot of nods to future events like "later I would think back to this moment and yadda yadda", but I actually adored this book's framing device and the whole "doomed by the narrative" setting. Amazing. Definitely got me invested in the characters and the romance very quickly. I'm also a complete sucker for time travel/multiverse romance, especially with a side of tragedy, but also inevitability, but also "I will love you in every universe" but also "I will destroy universes for you". Give me that shit on an IV. Also I have a theory that my love of The Old Guard and the copious amount of fic I've consumed in that fandom has predisposed me to adore any and all queer romances that involve a character called Yusuf. All that to say that I was 10000% in and rooting for the romance. I would've liked a tiny bit more of that, which is odd to say considering it was the driving force behind this entire story. But it kicked off a bit too fast and somehow, despite its multiverse-spanning importance to the plot, didn't give me quite as intense feels as I was hoping. But oh well, it was still pretty wonderful.
So yeah, I really very much enjoyed most things about this book. The second half was a bit less interesting to me than the first, but it was still a very good, engaging ride. But I seriously can't make up my mind on how I feel about that ending. I don't wanna get too spoilery, and I really very much understand why it had to be that way (...kinda), but it didn't sit fully right with me. I was talking myself into a five star rating, but the last 30-ish pages bummed me out enough to walk that back. But I would happily recommend this regardless! I want this to reach more readers, because I have definitely never read anything quite like this before, and the writing really was that good. So thumbs up, do recommend!
Oooohhh hmmmm tricky. I came SO CLOSE to giving this five stars, but man, that ending... I don't know!
I will say, though, I really loved this! The tone and the writing and the characters were just chef's kiss amazing. Hayes' narrative voice was amazing and obviously him being a filmmaker worked excellently for the way this story was told. He felt very real to me, and I loved being on this bumpy ride with him. Snarky, messy main characters can be tricky to pull off, but I think Tavares nailed that tone exactly. Kudos!
I don't always enjoy books that do a lot of nods to future events like "later I would think back to this moment and yadda yadda", but I actually adored this book's framing device and the whole "doomed by the narrative" setting. Amazing. Definitely got me invested in the characters and the romance very quickly. I'm also a complete sucker for time travel/multiverse romance, especially with a side of tragedy, but also inevitability, but also "I will love you in every universe" but also "I will destroy universes for you". Give me that shit on an IV. Also I have a theory that my love of The Old Guard and the copious amount of fic I've consumed in that fandom has predisposed me to adore any and all queer romances that involve a character called Yusuf. All that to say that I was 10000% in and rooting for the romance. I would've liked a tiny bit more of that, which is odd to say considering it was the driving force behind this entire story. But it kicked off a bit too fast and somehow, despite its multiverse-spanning importance to the plot, didn't give me quite as intense feels as I was hoping. But oh well, it was still pretty wonderful.
So yeah, I really very much enjoyed most things about this book. The second half was a bit less interesting to me than the first, but it was still a very good, engaging ride. But I seriously can't make up my mind on how I feel about that ending. I don't wanna get too spoilery, and I really very much understand why it had to be that way (...kinda), but it didn't sit fully right with me. I was talking myself into a five star rating, but the last 30-ish pages bummed me out enough to walk that back. But I would happily recommend this regardless! I want this to reach more readers, because I have definitely never read anything quite like this before, and the writing really was that good. So thumbs up, do recommend!
October 15, 2023
Picked this up on a whim after i saw it was a recommended staff pick at Powells in Portland. not typically my type of read (perhaps because i find most m/m romance predictable [read:boring] and this seemed bro-y - maybe i'm juding the book by it's cover). but i was pleasantly surprised.
i love a "start at the end and see how we got there" premise. sort of a slow boil in the start, which i consider a positive because i truly hate books that just have people falling in love with like no clear road to how they got there.
compelling characters, especially the main character of Hayes who had me screaming WHAT WAIT NO several times in the book. i like a character who admits they are an a-hole, but still has me cheering for them.
this book is work, sometimes, in that it takes a bit of effort to follow between bouncing around in time, and some chapters that hit the pause button to reflect on things. but it's a refreshing read that gets experimental and shakes things up. everytime i though i knew where the plot was going, enter a hard pivot. that insane third act is so completely worth the work. like, if you enjoyed Cloud Atlas and watching things come together, pick this one up.
that ending. holy moly. i didn't see that coming.
i love a "start at the end and see how we got there" premise. sort of a slow boil in the start, which i consider a positive because i truly hate books that just have people falling in love with like no clear road to how they got there.
compelling characters, especially the main character of Hayes who had me screaming WHAT WAIT NO several times in the book. i like a character who admits they are an a-hole, but still has me cheering for them.
this book is work, sometimes, in that it takes a bit of effort to follow between bouncing around in time, and some chapters that hit the pause button to reflect on things. but it's a refreshing read that gets experimental and shakes things up. everytime i though i knew where the plot was going, enter a hard pivot. that insane third act is so completely worth the work. like, if you enjoyed Cloud Atlas and watching things come together, pick this one up.
that ending. holy moly. i didn't see that coming.
October 20, 2023
"You don’t get to be alone at my age without reading the character treatments and thumbing ahead in the script in your head. He’s going to do this and I’ll get mad, or here’s how I’ll disappoint him, or I’m too comfortable to compromise for someone else so why bother."
Holy sh*t. Did I read this book or did it read me?
I've seldom seen myself and my gay friends' personalities reflected so accurately in characters. I just don't get how certain popular gay books get dubbed as holy texts when they're so...bleh. (Like, Red, White & Royally Boring, A Song of Please-Kill-Me because I'm so bored...). I wish I could jump into an alternate universe where I haven't read this book, just to read it for the first time again.
Beautiful language that's like a middle finger to people who think scifi can't also tiptoe into prose. A real, pulsing love story that you can feel. Side characters (hello, Kaori) that deserve their own sequels. A raw main character that's as brutal about himself with his honesty as he is big-hearted with the ones he loves. Enough action to keep the pace going without being a boring summer blockbuster.
Holy sh*t. Did I read this book or did it read me?
I've seldom seen myself and my gay friends' personalities reflected so accurately in characters. I just don't get how certain popular gay books get dubbed as holy texts when they're so...bleh. (Like, Red, White & Royally Boring, A Song of Please-Kill-Me because I'm so bored...). I wish I could jump into an alternate universe where I haven't read this book, just to read it for the first time again.
Beautiful language that's like a middle finger to people who think scifi can't also tiptoe into prose. A real, pulsing love story that you can feel. Side characters (hello, Kaori) that deserve their own sequels. A raw main character that's as brutal about himself with his honesty as he is big-hearted with the ones he loves. Enough action to keep the pace going without being a boring summer blockbuster.
January 15, 2023
This science fiction novel has more than a touch of fantasy, in the sense that it features ideas loosely based on some scientific concepts that are so far beyond us currently as to be the same as magic. It focuses on a Gay male couple. One, a scientist, the other a documentary film maker. The story is told from the perspective of the latter. While he’s not playing with the Tarot cards that belong to his martyred best friend—a synthetic or android girl powered by an AI—in her fight for equality in the society that made her, he becomes aware of a machine that predicts the future by scanning multiple alternate universes. That machine was created by the filmmaker’s double in a universe where he is a brilliant scientific inventor. Many life and death escapades result. For me the story gets better as the narrative unfolds. I loved it. I think anyone whom has pondered the probability of an infinite Omniverse where everything that can happen does, will appreciate this novel very much.
August 4, 2023
Wow. What a ride.
I was blown away by the world(s) Nathan created, the future he depicted. The details, the ideas, it was all so vivid to me. This book was beautifully written, obviously very clearly thought out, not to mention witty.
I admire people whose minds work like this SO much. I can and have written plenty of stories, developed dozens of characters, but never in a million years could I come up with something so complex. Multiple worlds, all so different, multiple versions of Hayes and Yusuf, also all so different. I was engrossed in this book, and nothing about it ever shook me out of the story or made me feel disconnected from the characters.
All that said… I have such mixed feelings about the ending. Which is very possibly what Nathan intended. I had no idea throughout the whole book how it was going to end, what choice Hayes would make. And I just can’t decide whether or not I think he made the right one.
I was blown away by the world(s) Nathan created, the future he depicted. The details, the ideas, it was all so vivid to me. This book was beautifully written, obviously very clearly thought out, not to mention witty.
I admire people whose minds work like this SO much. I can and have written plenty of stories, developed dozens of characters, but never in a million years could I come up with something so complex. Multiple worlds, all so different, multiple versions of Hayes and Yusuf, also all so different. I was engrossed in this book, and nothing about it ever shook me out of the story or made me feel disconnected from the characters.
All that said… I have such mixed feelings about the ending. Which is very possibly what Nathan intended. I had no idea throughout the whole book how it was going to end, what choice Hayes would make. And I just can’t decide whether or not I think he made the right one.
February 9, 2023
Dnfed around halfway through. Started it because it was claimed to be a must read for fans of Everything Everywhere All At Once but I just couldn’t get into it. Sci fi confuses me and my not yet fully developed brain too much sometimes.
April 7, 2023
More like 3.5- It was a really solid debut! A couple of things weren't my favorite, but I liked the weird worlds they went to.
December 3, 2024
Nathan Tavares just became an instant read.
I loved it.
I loved it.
January 8, 2023
Despite glowing reviews in Publishers Weekly and The New York Times, I wonder if A Fractured Infinity will find much of an audience. It's marketed as a sci-fi novel, but the entire plot is hinges on its queer love story. It might appeal to romance readers, but its cover doesn't have cute cartoon illustrations so I doubt they'd pick it up (that's a slam on the publishers, not the readers). Despite these challenges, I hope readers of both genres will take a chance on this strong debut novel.
Hayes is a snarky, broke, cynical documentary filmmaker who is shocked to learn that a) there are an infinite number of universes and b) in one of them, he is a brilliant scientist who has created a machine capable of predicting the future. As he tries to determine the nature of his relationship to his other self and the "Envisioner," he also falls in love with Yusuf, a physicist who has been surreptitiously calculating how this unique technology could affect our world. But when the the Envisioner predicts that Yusuf must die in order to avoid a catastrophic, civilization-destroying pandemic (The Trolley Problem plus the Butterfly Effect), Hayes uses his new skills to hop to another multiverse, with Yusuf in tow.
The beginning of the story is a little slow, but once the lovers become fugitives, the excitement ramps up. Because Hayes is a filmmaker, he can't help pulling back and describing some of the scenes with his Storyteller voice, complete with script pages and scene previews. These idiosyncrasies make the novel more interesting, although they allow Hayes to keep an emotional distance from the events, until the decisions he's made catch up with him.
The love story between Hayes and Yusuf is understated but heartfelt. Hayes is one of those "I don't do relationships" guys and Yusuf is coded as autistic, unable to make flowery declarations of love but clearly head over heels for Hayes. Seeing their relationship play out in a variety of metaverses helps them better appreciate their own bond, and makes Hayes' decision even more agonizing, as he starts to realize that he can't run from the future forever.
No spoilers, except to say that as a romance reader I was very satisfied with the ending. Hey Nathan Tavares, have you considered giving this book a cute title and a new cover, and then marketing directly to the romance community?
Hayes is a snarky, broke, cynical documentary filmmaker who is shocked to learn that a) there are an infinite number of universes and b) in one of them, he is a brilliant scientist who has created a machine capable of predicting the future. As he tries to determine the nature of his relationship to his other self and the "Envisioner," he also falls in love with Yusuf, a physicist who has been surreptitiously calculating how this unique technology could affect our world. But when the the Envisioner predicts that Yusuf must die in order to avoid a catastrophic, civilization-destroying pandemic (The Trolley Problem plus the Butterfly Effect), Hayes uses his new skills to hop to another multiverse, with Yusuf in tow.
The beginning of the story is a little slow, but once the lovers become fugitives, the excitement ramps up. Because Hayes is a filmmaker, he can't help pulling back and describing some of the scenes with his Storyteller voice, complete with script pages and scene previews. These idiosyncrasies make the novel more interesting, although they allow Hayes to keep an emotional distance from the events, until the decisions he's made catch up with him.
The love story between Hayes and Yusuf is understated but heartfelt. Hayes is one of those "I don't do relationships" guys and Yusuf is coded as autistic, unable to make flowery declarations of love but clearly head over heels for Hayes. Seeing their relationship play out in a variety of metaverses helps them better appreciate their own bond, and makes Hayes' decision even more agonizing, as he starts to realize that he can't run from the future forever.
No spoilers, except to say that as a romance reader I was very satisfied with the ending. Hey Nathan Tavares, have you considered giving this book a cute title and a new cover, and then marketing directly to the romance community?
November 26, 2022
I really enjoyed reading this!
I put it in the same box as the superhero movies, they’re fun (if you like that kind of humour), has a lot of action and the characters do unbelievable things that you just accept like a kind of science magic. Just the same way the science part of this science fiction is not really explained (which actually is slightly hilarious since the science guy in the story says he thinks science fiction movies should be more sciency because “It may be science fiction, but the should be first. It’s right there in the same.” I’m actually unsure wether or not Tavares did this on purpose, or if he doesn’t realise his book is not sciency at all?
Since I’m a sucker for really sciency science fiction I was a bit disappointed to not learn how it all worked. I kept waiting for the science ball to drop, but it never did. The main character is not a science guy (and never show any interest of learning either) and if you accept that you’re not supposed to really want to know either, then yes, the book is fun.
Unfortunately, by the end, I didn’t root for any of the characters anymore. Which sort of made the entire thing uninteresting (since I didn’t learn anything either). And I know an ending that would have worked a lot better, especially if you’re supposed to like the characters. So, if you just want an easy read with action then this is the book for you because it was shallowly entertaining that I enjoyed between reading my sciency science fiction.
I put it in the same box as the superhero movies, they’re fun (if you like that kind of humour), has a lot of action and the characters do unbelievable things that you just accept like a kind of science magic. Just the same way the science part of this science fiction is not really explained (which actually is slightly hilarious since the science guy in the story says he thinks science fiction movies should be more sciency because “It may be science fiction, but the should be first. It’s right there in the same.” I’m actually unsure wether or not Tavares did this on purpose, or if he doesn’t realise his book is not sciency at all?
Since I’m a sucker for really sciency science fiction I was a bit disappointed to not learn how it all worked. I kept waiting for the science ball to drop, but it never did. The main character is not a science guy (and never show any interest of learning either) and if you accept that you’re not supposed to really want to know either, then yes, the book is fun.
Unfortunately, by the end, I didn’t root for any of the characters anymore. Which sort of made the entire thing uninteresting (since I didn’t learn anything either). And I know an ending that would have worked a lot better, especially if you’re supposed to like the characters. So, if you just want an easy read with action then this is the book for you because it was shallowly entertaining that I enjoyed between reading my sciency science fiction.
February 23, 2023
A Fractured Infinity | Nathan Tavares | 22Feb2023
-------------------------
One-Sentence Review
A blubbering mess of an execution of a very interesting concept.
---------------------------
Published/Pages : 01Nov2022 | 368 pages
Location: Connecticut, Boston (Massachusetts), California, Nevada | United Kingdom | Moon
Genre: Science Fiction
Characters: Hayes Figueiredo, Yusuf Hassan, Kaori Nakamori, Genesis, Arjun
-------------------------------
Rating Analysis
Premise: 8/10
Introduction: 7/10
Number of Characters: 5/10
Character Development: 5/10
Backup History for the Story: 4/10
Fiction Quality: 5/10
Pace of the Story: 5/10
Dramatic Effect: 6/10
Climax: 6/10
Impact it Made: 5/10
TOTAL: 56/100 (5.6 Stars = 2.8 Stars ~ ★★★)
--------------------------------
Review
Reaction Section
-------------------------
One-Sentence Review
A blubbering mess of an execution of a very interesting concept.
---------------------------
Published/Pages : 01Nov2022 | 368 pages
Location: Connecticut, Boston (Massachusetts), California, Nevada | United Kingdom | Moon
Genre: Science Fiction
Characters: Hayes Figueiredo, Yusuf Hassan, Kaori Nakamori, Genesis, Arjun
-------------------------------
Rating Analysis
Premise: 8/10
Introduction: 7/10
Number of Characters: 5/10
Character Development: 5/10
Backup History for the Story: 4/10
Fiction Quality: 5/10
Pace of the Story: 5/10
Dramatic Effect: 6/10
Climax: 6/10
Impact it Made: 5/10
TOTAL: 56/100 (5.6 Stars = 2.8 Stars ~ ★★★)
--------------------------------
Review
Reaction Section
October 27, 2022
Fractured Infinity by Nathan Tavares is a multiversal love-story, a genre savvy sci-fi with a strong emotional core. While not all of the choices made worked for me, I think this was a strong entry in the alternate dimension story canon.
The story centers Hayes and his love for his version of Yusef backdropped across the infinite dimensions – and we know this instantly due to the framing narrative that overlaps most of the story. This framing narrative has a habit – especially earlier on in the book – of hopping back and forth in a way I found confusing, revealing more than I would have liked about characters, motives and outcomes before their time.
The romance itself was sweet, between two men on the younger side of middle aged, very different and yet able to make things work together, for long enough before the sci-fi plot starts putting them in jeopardy.
You see, Hayes alternate self built multiversal prediction engines, and shunted a whole load of them off into other universes. Hayes himself is a struggling documentary film maker, but the manipulate scientist Kaori brings him onto the project to potentially exploit any similarities with his alternate self. The director element gets played into a lot with the narrative, with Hayes’ first person POV imagining the voice-overs and cinematography that moments could have had. It’s mostly a neat touch to the story, but I’m not sure it adds much beyond a bit of style.
My favourite aspect of the book is a character that is gone by the time the story starts, Hayes’ best friend Genesis, activist and subject of his latest documentary in progress. Her impact on him is a powerful one, elevating the story and contrasting his own struggles. There are some emotionally powerful moments in the book, and the ones involving Genesis are impressive considering she’s only present in Hayes’ recordings and memory.
It takes the story a while to break free from the compound where the device is kept into alternate universes, which I would have found less frustrating had I not known where Hayes ends up in the framing narrative, with his teasing of infinite universes. There was also one big choice at the end of the book that… well, didn’t quite sit right with me.
Fractured Infinity is a flawed multiverse story that has enough merits that I can’t help thinking will find an audience who truly loves it. I almost got there, but it’s good enough for me to recommend to those who like their sci-fi with a dose of love, albeit a potentially tragic one.
Rating: 7.5/10
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
For reviews like this and more, visit my blog
The story centers Hayes and his love for his version of Yusef backdropped across the infinite dimensions – and we know this instantly due to the framing narrative that overlaps most of the story. This framing narrative has a habit – especially earlier on in the book – of hopping back and forth in a way I found confusing, revealing more than I would have liked about characters, motives and outcomes before their time.
The romance itself was sweet, between two men on the younger side of middle aged, very different and yet able to make things work together, for long enough before the sci-fi plot starts putting them in jeopardy.
You see, Hayes alternate self built multiversal prediction engines, and shunted a whole load of them off into other universes. Hayes himself is a struggling documentary film maker, but the manipulate scientist Kaori brings him onto the project to potentially exploit any similarities with his alternate self. The director element gets played into a lot with the narrative, with Hayes’ first person POV imagining the voice-overs and cinematography that moments could have had. It’s mostly a neat touch to the story, but I’m not sure it adds much beyond a bit of style.
My favourite aspect of the book is a character that is gone by the time the story starts, Hayes’ best friend Genesis, activist and subject of his latest documentary in progress. Her impact on him is a powerful one, elevating the story and contrasting his own struggles. There are some emotionally powerful moments in the book, and the ones involving Genesis are impressive considering she’s only present in Hayes’ recordings and memory.
It takes the story a while to break free from the compound where the device is kept into alternate universes, which I would have found less frustrating had I not known where Hayes ends up in the framing narrative, with his teasing of infinite universes. There was also one big choice at the end of the book that… well, didn’t quite sit right with me.
Fractured Infinity is a flawed multiverse story that has enough merits that I can’t help thinking will find an audience who truly loves it. I almost got there, but it’s good enough for me to recommend to those who like their sci-fi with a dose of love, albeit a potentially tragic one.
Rating: 7.5/10
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
For reviews like this and more, visit my blog
January 7, 2023
I’m not usually a sci-fi person but maybe I need to be.
Hayes was such a fun narrator - an unreliable person doing his best to be reliable. I liked that he gave the bulk of the story as a “flashback” of sorts. A common movie trope that of course any filmmaker would know.
The different universes (I’m hesitant to call them multiverses & get sued by Marvel) we’re amazing to explore because for all intents & purposes they were the same, with one or two variables tweaked to make a slight change. Like the different Hayes’ we encounter throughout.
The writing was funny and did a great job of showing rather than telling. I was very impressed by this book & eager for the author’s next work!
Hayes was such a fun narrator - an unreliable person doing his best to be reliable. I liked that he gave the bulk of the story as a “flashback” of sorts. A common movie trope that of course any filmmaker would know.
The different universes (I’m hesitant to call them multiverses & get sued by Marvel) we’re amazing to explore because for all intents & purposes they were the same, with one or two variables tweaked to make a slight change. Like the different Hayes’ we encounter throughout.
The writing was funny and did a great job of showing rather than telling. I was very impressed by this book & eager for the author’s next work!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2025
I have a hard time pinning this one down, but over all I think I liked it and I'm still thinking about it. It's got a messy complicated main character who makes mistakes and does terrible things and is a bit selfish and sometimes an asshole and yet he also cares deeply and does admit his faults and he isn't easy to read all the time but his narrative voice is actually quite entertaining and if that all is confusing you're only getting a glimpse of why I find myself having complicated thoughts and feelings about this because there's more. Anyway, I haven't got anything clear or clever to say about it so I'll stop rambling.
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