Thanks to NetGalley and Melville House for an ARC of this title.

There's some interesting stuff happening in this book, but the prose kind of gets in the way. Part of this is to weave together the three separate storylines in a way that keeps you from putting together what's going to happen, but that means it also gets in the way of making sure you know what's actually happening. I like mind-bend-y stuff, but at a certain point you need to make sure I can tell how my mind is actually bending.

RIYL: Primer

Ambitious, resonant sci-fi that pulls from a multitude of tropes (some sections are scenes from a television show that exists in-universe, which I'm sure the author had some fun writing) in service of something that feels very unique. There's something very specific about the tone that I don't tend to find in what I read, where it feels somewhat hardboiled and self-serious, taking place in a compelling but thinly constructed universe that's really just a light backdrop for psychological shenanigans. For lack of a better description, this novel felt very cinematic to me, at least in the way scenes are structured, and not just in those TV show sections. I suppose it's something about the way Jinwoo Chong approaches writing some of the more abstract moments, where there's enough focus on the visual and auditory details that something that would otherwise be obtuse is actually very vivid. None of the individual concepts at play here are particularly novel, but it all comes together into something I can't say is like anything I've read before. The arresting cover art is also very fitting. I feel like it sets the tone for the novel as a whole.

What a wonderfully imaginative and exciting novel! Jinwoo Chong's début "Flux" zig-zags all over the place as it tells a story about a sinister company, time travel, a 1980s cop show, and a bereaved and confused man at three different points in his life. However, despite many different story lines, it never fails to be entertaining. I was gripped throughout, found the book difficult to put down, and will be recommending this to readers of everything from John Darnielle to Ernest Cline.

Flux by Jinwoo Chong is a debut novel that revolves around three main characters: Bo, Brandon, and Blue. The author uses a clever and original method to bring the readers both forward and backwards in time. Eventually, the lives of these three characters intersect. Jinwoo Chong allows the reader to discover the experimental technology used in this story. It is a book to savor slowly since the story sometimes switches from present to past and back again. It is done so quickly that it can be difficult to keep the timeline straight. But I did find that it was easier to grasp the story line as the novel unfolded. Throughout the book references to an ‘80’s detective show called Raider are integrated into the timeline. Jinwoo Chong shows promise as a debut author. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy a little science fiction mixed with the reality of grief and family trauma. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an advance copy of this book.

Honestly I love anything this author puts out! I had such a good time reading this. It’s perfectly paced and I would highly
Recommend it to anyone :)

I was initially drawn to this incredible debut because I love Jinwoo Chong's short fiction, and needed to read even more of his writing. Then I saw this stunner of a cover and I could not wait for the pub date to arrive to begin reading. And what a complete gift of a novel this is. Completely original, haunting, bittersweet--easily one of the best speculative novels I've ever encountered. I hope this magnificent book finds the wide and engaged audience it so richly deserves.

I really enjoyed the three storylines and the way that they converged at the end. I thought the integration of the 80s noir show was clever. However, I felt like there were many loose threads that were not as wrapped up as I would've wanted by the end (Why did Lev want Brandon to work for him so badly? What was the point of the fall down the elevator? What was the end goal of the company and nefarious technology? etc.). I love the cover. I would read something else by this author.

There were a lot of formatting issues in the Kindle ARC that might deter some readers.

The premise here is great, and the representation is a breath of fresh air. However, the structure didn't work for me, and I struggled to follow this novel. There were too many perspectives, and the characters weren't given enough space to become compelling. I had a hard time remembering which perspective was which because they sounded the same. Readers who like experimental style and/or convoluted stories that require deep focus would enjoy this book.

"A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his mysterious employers have inadvertently discovered time travel - and are using it to cover up a string of violent crimes...

Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.

So begins Jinwoo Chong's dazzling, time-bending debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of Bo, Brandon, and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic '80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.

Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America."

Yes to all of it, but a huge yes to Raider!

I was so excited to read FLUX from Jinwoo Chong! It very much lived up to the buzz!

Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.

What follows is a fantastically mind-bending travel through time, both literally and metaphorically. Chong does an excellent job of keeping us unbalanced but desperate for more, the pages turning faster and faster as you delve deeper into the story of these characters.

I love how literary this genre-bending novel is - Chong writes with such aching prose, especially when dealing with the grief all of these characters. No character is entirely perfect nor entirely flawed, which is the mark of a smart writer and a well developed story.

I would absolutely recommend this debut novel!

While I can appreciate the ambition behind this novel, in the end, it left me with too many questions. From the start, the reader has to learn to just go with the flow of the story and not try to connect the dots, or the people too quickly, because as the story develops the connections start to become clearer.

I loved that Chong isn't afraid to expose the underbelly of the tech industry and how it uses people involved in ways that most people never realize. There's also a lot going on here with the various characters, and Chong explores various facets of Asian culture through the wonderfully diverse characters he has created.

This is a dazzling debut novel, that blends genres in a truly unique way and has a lot to offer with style and creativity; I look forward to what this author creates in the future.

Unfortunately this book didn't do it for me..
Even though the prose had a nice flow to it and this helped immensely with the quick pace of the book, I felt that almost everything else was lackluster.
The plot was pretty confusing and took, in my opinion, too long for everything to connect and make a cohesive story. When that finally happened (around the final third) I had literally no interest in any of the characters and so the final act didn't have the impact it could have had.

Thanks to NetGalley and Melville House for providing me with an arc.

After his mother dies in an accident with a bus; Bo distances himself from his father and brother, taking solace in his favourite tv show about a rogue detective. Brandon has just lost his job and fallen down an elevator shaft, he’s having a bad week. Things seem turn around when a mysterious benefactor offers him employment with a shady company. Blue, left estranged from his family and only able to speak with the help of an implant, hunts down his former boss looking for answers. These characters are all connected by love, death, loss and time.

This was my first ARC read with NetGalley, given free to read in exchange for an honest review. This was a confusing experience, a bit convoluted and hard to follow, but with an interesting concept and style. The narrative of the three characters as well as the tv detective spliced between the chapters is pretty haphazard for most of the book, but everything mostly comes together by the end.

Being a debut book, it definitely has some rough edges to it and a very experimental style, but it was weird and unique enough to keep me reading to the last page. It also touches on modern themes of racial identity, sexuality and cancel culture

This was something that I would normally skim-read if I wasn't going to review it. The idea for this work was super cool but ultimately it fell flat for me because of a few things. The writing style/narrative voice was hard to read at times which made it hard to feel truly engaged in the story. I also think that the characters could have used a bit more work, but I can see why they were sort of shoved to the side because (and my last gripe) there was so much going on. The author was too ambitious in what they could cover and well-develop/explain in so many pages (which is impressive but ultimately what sunk this read for me). The different commentary and rep. was super interesting and probably my favorite part of this book--the way Chong weaves Asian identity and social ostracization/cancel culture was interesting to me. Overall, I would love to read more by this author in the future because I can tell that they are talented, but this specific read just wasn't my cup of tea.

i read up to page 145 or so in a more thorough way, then just skimmed through the second half or so. i hate to say this, because i thought the premise was great, but the structure and the narrative development were a massive letdown for me. the writing style never made me feel even remotely engaged, even though most of the topics that the novel tackles do appeal to me. i think it was too ambitious in its scope, which made it ultimately too confusing for me to really process what was going on most of the time.

i did like the way chong tackles cancellation culture & asian identity within the north american context, and i do think this book may appeal to other people if they’re willing to put a bit more effort into its reading.

Confusing, maddening, but so satisfying in the end! The less said about the plot, the better. Just go in blind! It was a wild ride for sure; I appreciate the author's intelligent writing and the effort that must have went into coming up with the plot of this book.

Flux takes place across three time periods. In the past, little Bo is dealing with the aftermath of his mother’s death. In the present, Brandon gets let go from his publishing job and embarks on a new career with an ambitious high-profile company. And in the future, Blue is finally speaking out about a corporation whose corruption nearly got him killed. The three of them are connected in a way you might not expect.

It’s really hard to talk about this book without giving too much away. It’s brain-bendy and I don’t want to give away any surprises. Some parts were slower reads than others, and I was left a bit confused in some places, but overall I really enjoyed it. Though fair warning: if you can’t stand an ambiguous ending or questions left unresolved, this might not be the book for you.

Representation: queer Asian main character, other queer characters, other POC characters, disabled character

This is the story of one man whose life is shaped by three significant events: the death of his mother in a senseless accident when he was a child, his employment by a tech startup that seems to have inadvertently discovered time travel and may be using it for nefarious purposes, and the airing of a TV show from the 1980s featuring a gruff detective. As the story moves back and forth across time, it explores in original ways interesting themes related to family, loss, and technology.

Highly recommended!

2.5 stars, rounded up to three.

Flux by Jinwoo Chong is almost dizzying in its ambition. Juggling multiple POVs (including a TV show) and jumping between timelines, I found myself often struggling to place where I, as the reader, was meant to direct my attention. The novel reminds me a lot of Severance (the show, not Ling Ma's book, though I've heard it be compared to the latter) with its central mystery and setting. Overall, unfortunately, I just never ended up connecting to any of the characters, and felt that the pacing started out too slow to properly get invested. I do commend Chong for exploring interesting facets of Asian identity, grief and family dynamics, and the predatory nature of the tech industry. The ideas and style are here, but the execution fell flat for me personally.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Jinwoo Chong, and Melville House Publishing for providing me with this ARC!

I had a hard time getting into this book and I ultimately did not connect with the plot or the characters. The concept is definitely cool, but the execution did not hit the mark for me.