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Eververse #3
Nothing Ever Ends
ASIN moved from less recent edition
All her life, Abi has run from her pain. Now she's run out of time.
After betraying her girlfriend, Kit, Abi takes advantage of the confused nature of Break Pointe to run to a different timeline. Abi tries to start over with a different Kit, but when that reality begins to disintegrate, Abi discovers a shocking secret.
Every timeline in existence is being destroyed one by one by an unknown force. Abi runs again, barely escaping, and is trapped in another strange reality with no way home. There she meets Miranda, a young woman who struggles to accept her own dark past. Slowly, Abi begins to confront not just the reality she’s in but the truth of who she is.
She struggles to find a way to get back to her original timeline and warn people of the coming disaster. But she doesn’t know if they will trust her, or if anything can be done to stop the end of the universe.
All her life, Abi has run from her pain. Now she's run out of time.
After betraying her girlfriend, Kit, Abi takes advantage of the confused nature of Break Pointe to run to a different timeline. Abi tries to start over with a different Kit, but when that reality begins to disintegrate, Abi discovers a shocking secret.
Every timeline in existence is being destroyed one by one by an unknown force. Abi runs again, barely escaping, and is trapped in another strange reality with no way home. There she meets Miranda, a young woman who struggles to accept her own dark past. Slowly, Abi begins to confront not just the reality she’s in but the truth of who she is.
She struggles to find a way to get back to her original timeline and warn people of the coming disaster. But she doesn’t know if they will trust her, or if anything can be done to stop the end of the universe.
408 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 1, 2022
1 person is currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Darby Harn
17 books188 followersDarby Harn is the author of the SPSFC quarterfinalist Ever The Hero, which Publisher's Weekly called "an entertaining debut uses superpowers as a metaphor to delve into class politics in an alternate America." His short fiction appears in Strange Horizons, Interzone, Shimmer, and other venues.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 20, 2021
Far and away the most ambitious Darby book yet! Alternate timeline stories are daunting at the best of times but this is a wild trip of cascading events and splinter universes, threaded all the way through with a story about superpowers that are unequivocally a curse rather than a blessing, and a killer narrative about how to live with pain and trauma when you cannot die or forget your past, and how to escape yourself and your consequences when you literally keep encountering them in other dimensions.
November 3, 2021
Nothing Ever Ends is, as the book description points out, the THIRD book in a series. You really shouldn't be reading the book or this review if you haven't read the first two books.
Having said that:
[Spoilers For Book 1 & 2]
Harn continues his fascinating literary super-hero series, jumping from one viewpoint to the next with each new book. The first book was about Kit Baldwin, a scientific genius who ended up getting caught in a reaction with alien technology and became a super-powered manipulator of energy who took it upon herself to champion the poverty-stricken and destitute of the city she lived in, as rampant capitalism slowly choked out the citizenry. The second book shifted over to Kit's ex-girlfriend, Valene, a woman with sonic powers who also happened to be the daughter of the first book's oligarch and villain. Along the way, it turned out Kit's current girlfriend, Abi, was not just a plucky, sharp-witted employee of the evil Great Power corporation they both worked for; she was a supervillain acting as a sleeper agent.
Nothing Ever Ends follows the point of view of Abi as she deals with the fallout she's wreaked in the previous book. Following the POV of a villain can be tough for some people, especially if the villain is unrepentant and continues to do horrible things, forcing people to come along for the ride. Abi, however, is not like that. Nothing Ever Ends is, first and foremost, about accountability and redemption. Abi's time with Kit has forever changed her, and she tries to live up to the influence and path that Kit has opened up for her.
Of course, this is a superhero book, so while nothing ever ends, nothing's ever easy, either. Abi's attempts to fix what she's broken don't just trot across the globe; they trot across timelines and alternate universes. She tackles a variety of problems--and people--that stem from the consequences of her actions and quickly learns that when it comes to trying to fix things, and yourself, your greatest enemy can often be yourself, both metaphorically and literally.
Because Harn has established this world over a series of books and novellas, it's the characterization and the action that take center stage. We know who these people are now, what they're capable of, the choices they've made, both good and bad. So while we still get that signature Harn literary flavor to the proceedings and some of the world-building to set the stage, we also get a whole lot more explosions and mass property damage. This story is comfortable with its world and characters and is free now to let things get as loopy and epic as it wants.
For people that have been following the adventures of Kit, Valene, and Abi from the beginning, this is a gratifying re-visitation to see how far these people have come and how they can still surprise you with moments of growth and self-awareness. And explosions.
LOTS of explosions.
Having said that:
[Spoilers For Book 1 & 2]
Harn continues his fascinating literary super-hero series, jumping from one viewpoint to the next with each new book. The first book was about Kit Baldwin, a scientific genius who ended up getting caught in a reaction with alien technology and became a super-powered manipulator of energy who took it upon herself to champion the poverty-stricken and destitute of the city she lived in, as rampant capitalism slowly choked out the citizenry. The second book shifted over to Kit's ex-girlfriend, Valene, a woman with sonic powers who also happened to be the daughter of the first book's oligarch and villain. Along the way, it turned out Kit's current girlfriend, Abi, was not just a plucky, sharp-witted employee of the evil Great Power corporation they both worked for; she was a supervillain acting as a sleeper agent.
Nothing Ever Ends follows the point of view of Abi as she deals with the fallout she's wreaked in the previous book. Following the POV of a villain can be tough for some people, especially if the villain is unrepentant and continues to do horrible things, forcing people to come along for the ride. Abi, however, is not like that. Nothing Ever Ends is, first and foremost, about accountability and redemption. Abi's time with Kit has forever changed her, and she tries to live up to the influence and path that Kit has opened up for her.
Of course, this is a superhero book, so while nothing ever ends, nothing's ever easy, either. Abi's attempts to fix what she's broken don't just trot across the globe; they trot across timelines and alternate universes. She tackles a variety of problems--and people--that stem from the consequences of her actions and quickly learns that when it comes to trying to fix things, and yourself, your greatest enemy can often be yourself, both metaphorically and literally.
Because Harn has established this world over a series of books and novellas, it's the characterization and the action that take center stage. We know who these people are now, what they're capable of, the choices they've made, both good and bad. So while we still get that signature Harn literary flavor to the proceedings and some of the world-building to set the stage, we also get a whole lot more explosions and mass property damage. This story is comfortable with its world and characters and is free now to let things get as loopy and epic as it wants.
For people that have been following the adventures of Kit, Valene, and Abi from the beginning, this is a gratifying re-visitation to see how far these people have come and how they can still surprise you with moments of growth and self-awareness. And explosions.
LOTS of explosions.
March 17, 2022
Abi always runs. She runs away from her past, her present, and her decisions. Every action that happens, Abi decides to run.
But in Harn's 3rd book of the Eververse, Abi has nowhere left to run. She has run everywhere, everywhen, across timelines and universes. She has to learn to deal with not just the consequences of her actions, not just the trail of woe she leaves behind after she runs, but also the net result of all this running has on her.
Harn fleshes out the character such that even if you take away the setting, Abi could very well exist in the real world. That is some of Harn's best work, the ability to make all the characters unique and Nothing Ever Ends is full of brand new characters, worlds, and variations. Each character can stand on their own in this book, which travels to the most number of settings so far in the Eververse.
Even that chaos of being in so many places feels deliberate, considered, and adds to the character development at the heart of the story.
Well written and tells a compelling story.
But in Harn's 3rd book of the Eververse, Abi has nowhere left to run. She has run everywhere, everywhen, across timelines and universes. She has to learn to deal with not just the consequences of her actions, not just the trail of woe she leaves behind after she runs, but also the net result of all this running has on her.
Harn fleshes out the character such that even if you take away the setting, Abi could very well exist in the real world. That is some of Harn's best work, the ability to make all the characters unique and Nothing Ever Ends is full of brand new characters, worlds, and variations. Each character can stand on their own in this book, which travels to the most number of settings so far in the Eververse.
Even that chaos of being in so many places feels deliberate, considered, and adds to the character development at the heart of the story.
Well written and tells a compelling story.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews