I finally read this after looking at almost every review for this book being 4/5 stars. But Recursion didn’t work for me at all.
While the premise had potential, the execution left me frustrated more often than not. The main characters made really stupid choices for people who invented time travel through memory mapping which was a massive stretch in itself.
Even if you’re willing to roll with the sci-fi hand-waving, the plot still goes off the rails. So many moments felt like they were written purely for shock value or manufactured tension—people randomly hiking miles away from the device they know they’ll need during a global NUCLEAR crisis which they KNOW for a fact is coming, only to then embark on some wild, over-the-top sprint through nuclear strikes with melting faces and arms, or running away from armed squads just to make it back in time. It felt more like a streaming thriller script than a thoughtfully plotted novel, which is what Blake Crouch says it is..
The micro black holes and all the physics and the mumbo jumbo where Helena and Barry achieve nothing over 100s of years and then finally go to Slade randomly for him to give them the answer is the worst part of this book. like.. dont black holes GROW nonstop?? no matter how "micro" they are? for a sci fi, this is pretty meh writing. a black hole in your brain, really? and you spend 3 timelines researching this? make contacts at CERN to use in the next timeline???!!!
And to the people saying it's a love story first, they have no chemistry, and it feels like the writer just had Julia and Barry break up to force this couple onto us. I didnt get it at all.
To be fair, the pacing kept things moving and it’s not a tough read. But overall? It just didn’t land for me.
Does anyone share this opinion or am I crazy, being too harsh? (id also love some recs, need something fresh, nice, breezy, LOGICAL to read)
by araneid