Cover Image: Recursion

Recursion

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Member Reviews

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Full review to be found on Goodreads and on my website.

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First off, type in Recursion in google and see what happens. I have to say, after reading the book and having a full-on discussion with the book club, it was funny in that none of knew what recursion meant. But after lots of reaching out to smart people (some even from MIT) to explain it to us like we were Michael Scott, we appreciated the book even more. It took a lot for me to understand. I usually am not a huge fan of time travel books- there are so many what-ifs when it comes to time messing up. But this one made sense. And it was crazy good. And even the part that could have super boring wasn't- it was fascinating. It was, just, wow. Read it. That's an order.

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A phenomenal sci-fi thriller from start to finish, RECURSION may be my new favorite among Crouch’s work (which is saying A LOT, since everything he’s written has been a favorite.) I love the premise of false memory syndrome and the plot surrounding that, and I also love the questions it raised pertaining to humanity and emotions and all that good stuff. I love a book that delivers a healthy dose of food for thought alongside a fantastic tale, and Crouch excels at that. 5 stars.

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Amazing!

I don't think there is anything that Blake Crouch writes that I won't read. His writing just keeps you hooked, flipping through the pages, devouring the story. The plot that he weaves had me glued to the end. That ending! What was that ending?!

Mind-blowing, craftsmanship storytelling, just really makes you want more. Blake Crouch has made himself my auto-buy author.

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I feel I'm not the correct person to give feedback on this. I don't love Sci-Fi. I never have, and I keep wanting to give it a chance. I did with this one, and while the writing was amazing, I just couldn't get into the story. I'm completely taking the blame on this, and I don't want to sway anyone with my own dislike of the genre, not the title or author. I heard such good things so I wanted to give it a whirl. And while I did, I just couldn't get into it.

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Blake Crouch can do no wrong in my book.

His stories are twisty and crazy and a whole lot of fun if you are into weirdness.

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While I enjoyed Crouch's Dark Matter...Recursion wasn't for me. Well written, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was a DNF for me.

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I highlighted this book on my Booktube channel. The video can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/-i846KfTV8c

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Blake Crouch's books are often in a genre I don't dabble in frequently. After reading Dark Matter (and being completely mind f*cked) I decided to give this one a go and WOW. WOW. WOW. Am I glad I did! The amount of creativity he puts in his books is just astounding and each one is so well done. There were times I had to read...and re-read... a passage or chapter but I'm so glad I took a chance on this author with DM because he keeps delivering fantastic books that are thought provoking and totally get me out of my comfort zone.

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I’m not a fan of sci-fi, but I loved Dark Matter and am fascinated by issues involving memory. So this one was a no brainer to read. In 2007, Neuroscientist Helena Smith is devoting her life to creating a technology to preserve our memories. Meanwhile, folks in 2018 are suffering from False Memory Syndrome, an affliction in which a person literally has memories of living an entirely different life. Barry Sutton is a detective that attempts to save a woman from suicide when she is suffering from FMS.

This book just grabbed me from the get go. It really makes you think. “There are so few things in our existence we can count on to give us the sense of permanence, of the ground beneath our feet. People fail us. Our bodies fail us. We fail ourselves, he’s experienced all of that. But what do you cling to, moment to moment, if memories can simply change. What, then, is real. And if the answer is nothing, where does that leave us?” OMG, that had my mind in a whirl. Because, really, if you take away our memories, then just who the hell are we?

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This one made my head hurt! If you've read any other titles by Blake Crouch, you know that isn't necessarily a bad thing though. His books really make you think, and this is no different.
What if you found out that some of your memories weren't your real memories? What if you had to try and save different things in the past, or is the future, from happening?

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So twisty, so clever; so highly readable; all typical for what we expect from Blake Crouch.

I received a gifted copy from the publisher.

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Recursion has Crouch's usual blend of science as it relates to human emotion and connectivity. It is fast paced and cinematic in it's structure and will certainly keep your turning the pages.

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I loved Dark Matter so ,I have that I honestly wasn’t sure about reading this one - I was positive that Blake Crouch couldn’t hold my attention so well for two of his books. I was wrong. I really enjoyed this one - I had a hard time putting it down. But it just wasn’t quite a 5 star read for me. This book did not disappoint, though. It’s a story that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since finishing. It will probably stick with me like Dark Matter has. I’m an anxious person, so I can’t read these suspense thrillers too frequently. But this one is a must read for those that enjoy them on any level.

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Blake Crouch is an author that I desperately want to like, but something just doesn't work for me. I tried and tried with this one and just can't muster up enthusiasm for it.

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Thrilling, fast paced read. Confusing at times, and not sure all the timelines align neatly. Overall a great read.

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Recursion is one of the few science fiction novels that makes me ask the question, "Is science fiction really for me?"

The funny thing here, though, is that I actually loved Dark Matter. It is a science fiction novel that made me want to read more from the genre. So it surprised me to stumble upon a sf novel from the same author, nonetheless, that will send me feeling the opposite feelings.

I can see why people gave this book a high rating. But I don't think that the way it was executed was for me. Moreover, reaching a point in the book provides a cataclysmic shift as everything pieces altogether. You don't even need to read the entire book to know what's going to happen. Although it is too much of an egotistical action to admit that you do. Which I don't. There are expectations of possibilities. And just like in Dark Matter, there are different dimensions that those may or may not happen.

The book is appealing. There is something about it that really gives it that glow but said glow just isn't enough for me. I was hoping to love this book, honestly. But I just do not.

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Recursion is one of the best books I've read in 2019, maybe ever. I read Dark Matter a little while ago and I liked it a lot, so that and this book's glowing reviews raised my expectations for Recursion pretty high. I'm happy to report that it met all of those expectations and more.

Recursion's plot is markedly different from Dark Matter's but they still share a lot of similarities, one of which is that the main character is a man who cares deeply for his family, and who is motivated by that love. I personally think Recursion did that bit better: Barry's love for his daughter is much more potent and heart-wrenching than Jason's love for his family in Dark Matter -- perhaps because we see a lot more of their relationship? Whatever the reason, the emotions were stronger, the grief and anger and joy deeper.

The overarching plot of this book is also more thought-provoking and hard-hitting. Dark Matter raised a lot of interesting questions and made an insightful point about the importance of love and not taking things for granted, but frankly, a lot of those questions were nothing new to me. Recursion terrified me, in a good way. If reality is only memories, and those memories are unreliable, then what is reality? How can we know what's real and what isn't? Frankly, the blurb doesn't do this book justice; the scope of it extends far beyond what's implied there.

Recursion is a fast-paced, heart-pounding, mind-bending thriller that will both tug on your heartstrings and force you reconsider the very nature of science, reality, and what it means to be human.

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Blake Crouch did it again - this is twisty, mind-bending fun. The science is crazy cool, the story was nuts, and I just couldn't put this book down. I will read anything this guy writes!

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This was really fast paced, a lightning-quick read. It covered a lot of concepts and ideas, but mostly on a surface level, ultimately being a novel about a relationship and the emotions it evoked than really about time travel.

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