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Ricochet

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Member Reviews

I received a copy of Ricochet from Flux through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! The implications are fascinating and I kind of wish there was more to the story. Discovering more of the multiverse and such.

I really liked the characters and their different backgrounds due to random changes in circumstances.

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The premise for this sounded so good and I was looking forward to this so much , but I just couldn’t get into it at all. I tried, I really did, but it was just all over the place and too confusing , the POVs don’t help at to that. Just not for me, sorry.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

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***ARC provided by Netgalley and Flux Publishing in exchange for an honest review***

DNF at 45%. I can't really rate this (1.5*, maybe?!)

I thought the premise of this book sounded very interesting, and it definitely is but I am unable to get into the story at all because I am confused and am unable to relate and like any of the characters. i tried, I really did but I just can't.

This is the story of one girl in four different universes named Tatyana but she's Ana, Tati, Tanya and Tatyana. She gets frequent seizures that no doctor can explain as every test results come out normal. Her DNA test comes out inconclusive though. Turns out the seizures are not exactly that. Parallel lives exist and it's a threat to all universes.

The confusing part is that for 2 of the girls at least, the same people are in her life but the the situation is different and since those POV are happening one right after the other, you're not too sure who you're reading. The chapters are titled with the girl's POV. Ex: Chapter 17: Tati.

One last thing is that, it takes about half the book before anything starts happening and I found myself bored and actually not want to pick the book back up to keep reading. That is never a good sign for me. The idea of this is very interesting. As soon as I saw fans of Orphan Black would love this, and I adore that show, I really wanted to like this. It contains so many things I like: parallel universes, gay characters, psy thriller... it's got everything to grab me but it completely failed to do it.

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The plot of this book really gripped me at first. It was very intriguing and seemed like the type of book if read, however when reading it I fell it didn’t lift up to that, great premise though just didn’t deliver.

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I was honestly trying to avoid DNF this book, especially because it’s an ARC, but honestly I got about 20% into it and just kept getting so confused by the entire thing. It has a great premise, but trying I keep the different versions of the MC straight was a bit much for me and I didn’t understand where the story was going. I’m sorry to say that this book just wasn’t for me.

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I really liked the four different POVs, and charting the differences and similarities between their lives. There was (necessarily) quite a lot of overlap between the characters lives, but there was enough happening in each strand that it never got boring. The only misstep was the ending, which felt really rushed, given the (again necessary) amount of time needed to set up the premise. I also really hated the choice the author made to elevate one strand as somehow a better life than the others, particularly given the cultural differences between each strand. It felt like the author was making a moral judgement that I found distasteful.

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This ebook was given to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The description of this book sounded amazing. I usually love to read about multiple universes or clones or genetic engineering. I find the topics fascinating but hard to get right. This is because there is complex science and theories behind these ideas. This book was a miss for me on that aspect. The science in this book wasn't very well explained and lead to more confusion than clarity. I was super interested in learning how Kathryn Berla explain her own take, but I just think it wasn't done well. I was left with more questions at the end of the book and it didn't feel like real closure. It wasn't even an open ending, it just wasn't very well ended.

The characters themselves seemed a bit blah as well. There were no real distinctive personality traits and they seemed to be reacting to others around them instead of relying on their own instincts and beliefs. They seemed to be a side character in their own story instead of the main protagonist. Even though there were multiple of the same genetic individual, there was nothing to really set them apart besides where they were from and their family dynamics. Maybe this was the point to comment on the whole "nature vs nurture" thing, but I didn't enjoy it very much.

Overall I was just a bit disappointed on the direction this story went.

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This book was totally different than I expected, but I loved it. It started off a little slow, and a little confusing. It took me a bit to understand what was going on. Then it started to draw me in. The further I got into the book, the more I needed to know what happened next.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. It was different, which is always a plus. I liked the characters, and was drawn into each of their stories. Give this book a read!

Thank you to #netgalley for the advance copy, which did not effect my review. #ricochet

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Mixed bag for me. Seems heavily inspired by the Netflix show "The OA." It was easy to read. I found myself skimming a lot of it, especially Tati and Ana's chapters. Thought there were a bit too many overly descriptive scenes involving spit. Would recommend, especially to younger YA readers.

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Tati a teenager sends in her DNA to a site that's for ancestry. She's been having health issues mainly seizures as long as she can remember. During them she sees things and she communicates with a parallel universe.
This was a good book science isn't my thing but this book oddly drew me in. However I hated the ending. I felt like it could of been better.

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This book was a mixed bag for me. It's great and fast paced, full of surprises and a great premise I was really intrigued with, It was a nice quick read, entertaining and fast, I found myself hooked on the story and devouring it quickly, I enjoyed the non stop action. Even though there were some confusing elements to the plot, it was easy and light to read.
BUT I couldn't keep up with the four main characters - it was way too easy to confuse them and forget who was who. I got a little bit lost. The ending was a let down as well; it just seemed to sneak up on me when I was reading... it felt almost rushed. That does mean it'd be perfect for a sequel, but still, I think it deserved a much better and more fleshed out ending.

Overall it was a bit of fun, but there were some problems that left a slightly bitter after taste.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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I really really wanted to like this story. It had everything I love : parallel universe, gay representation, psychological thriller. But it fell flat. The beginning parts were really confusing and even though Kathryn Berla tried hard (i guess) the characters, for the most part, were unrelatable. The book was very slow paced and confusing to say the least.

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I was given this book to read in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley. I am expressing my opinions as that is what I signed up to do. I really wish I could say that I enjoyed this book. The concept of the book caught my attention and it is still a really interesting concept in theory. But when put into the book it made no sense and was incredibly confusing for the reader. I rated this book 2.5 stars out of 5.

I had big hopes for this book as I thought the idea of the books was something I would really love – seventeen year old Tati sends a saliva sample to a DNA ancestry and her esults come back inconclusive. It begs the questions what is wrong with her DNA? Tati discovers what she believes is impossible, parallel universes exist and her DNA compels and condemns herself and her other selves. Therefore they all try ot work together to take down the scientist responsible for this, their father. I don’t know about you, but this sounds really interesting to me! Which is why I am so dissapointed with this book. It was one of the most slow paced books I have ever read, I did not have a clue what was going on for the first 50% of the book which left me wanting to give up a lot. It was reallyy difficult to keep up with the alternate realities because it was never explained clearly at the beginning of the book, so by the time I understood I had to go back and piece together what happened.

It was too difficult to follow the plot and the charchters. It made it difficult to enjoy because I spent all of the time thinking “wait what?!” after every chapter. There are several versions of the same charchters from different realities. Now, this is a cool concept. But it was not handled well in my opinion. It was just incredibly confusing. It never truly specifies the differences between the different realities and the version of the character within them. We just see a small difference, e.g one is quieter etc.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book. I found it slow paced, hard to follow and really, really confusin. The idea behind the book is intruiging and I can definitely see where the author was trying to bring this book, but for me the journey was too confusing. Again, thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

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I’m feeling pretty ambivalent about Kathryn Berla’s Ricochet, and honestly, I almost couldn’t finish it. It is a strange blend of detective fiction and science fiction. The delay in what was going on made the novel really confusing, which I believe was due, in large part, to the massive amount of unnecessary exposition. Additionally, I felt no sense of “ah-ha! I was right!” when the full back story was revealed because I was too frustrated with trying to piece the story together by the time pieces started to fall into place. Also, the main driving plot point—how Tati, Ana, Tanya, and Tatyana are going to stop their father— fell flat and was anticlimactic, which was a little disappointing and unsatisfying. Really, it all came down to coincidence.

However, the idea of a multiverse is an amazing concept for a plot line, which is what redeems the novel, and Berla does a fantastic job of creating characters that were alike but just different enough to tell they were “different” characters. It really makes you think about how different your life could be if one thing had been changed.

I think if the story was re-organized to introduce what is going on earlier and then we follow the paths of each character and a more action oriented climax was added in I would have enjoyed it more. I wouldn’t have been so frustrated trying to figure out what was going on and could have invested myself in the thrill of seeing how was going to come together. Ricochet is an evenly paced novel that offers surprising twists and plays with the concept of parallel universes. It is very Black Mirror-ish with its take on the modern debate that surrounds genetic modification and editing, so if you enjoy Black Mirror and its ambiguities, you’ll more than likely like Ricochet as well.

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I just want to take this idea and try my own hand at it. One character, four incarnations in as many parallel universes. This book was a big dose of brain candy wrapped up in a YA story that appealed to me in the same way Killing Eve did. I think one of the hardest things about a story like this is in creating its own credibility--which is different than realism--and I was all in, all the way to the end.

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Thank you Netgalley for providing this book in exchange for an honest review. The premise of this book is really interesting. Usually I really like multiverse books, parallel realities can be so interesting. Unfortunately this book was very confusing for me and I had a hard time keeping track of who was what and where. It never really became easier and then the end fell apart and felt rushed. 2 1/2 stars.

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I had high hopes for this novel. The multi-dimensional aspect really interested me. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it past the second chapter. The lesbian relationship was not my cup of tea. I was unable to relate and therefore was uninterested in finishing it.

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I am unable to read and review this books at this time and will hopefully be able to read and review in the future i want to say thanks to the author and publisher for giving me the chance

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Ricochet follows four versions of one 17 year old girl across the multiverse: Tati, Ana, Tatyana and Tanya, as they harness their abilities to communicate with each other and understand their past and how they were given these abilities.

I usually don't read a lot of sci-fi, but Ricochet really spiked my interest, and I was so excited when I received an arc from net galley. This book really was a very interesting and unusual concept and it would have been incredibly difficult to write, but despite this I think it was executed really well by Kathryn Berla.

I think what Kathryn Berla did best was differentiating between the four main characters. Obviously, they are the same person, however their experiences in life are all different, so therefore they are all also individual. While reading there were times when I wasn't really paying attention and I forgot who's perspective I was reading from, but overall, I found it very easy to tell on character apart from the other.

This might just be because it took me a while to read this book, but my only complaint is that I felt that the introduction was too long. I failed to recognise several important plot points because I felt as though I was still in the middle of character introduction and the turning point that kicked off the story. It wasn't until I saw that I was about 70% through that I realised that I was already well into the plot.

Overall, I found Ricochet to be a really enjoyable and interesting read. The concept was amazing, and very well executed. I really liked the main characters and found the plot easy to follow and interesting. I really would like to see a sequel to this book, as I believe that while Ricochet did have a nice wrapped up ending, there is no much more of this concept that I would love to see explored more.

Also can we just appreciate this cover. It is so pretty.

(This review is also on goodreads and instagram)

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I had a hard time getting through this book. I read lots of reviews about it and there are basically all positive, but I honestly don't find lots of positive things in this book starting from the very focus of the story: the multiverse theory.
I'm not that informed on it and I don't know so much about that kind of physics and theories. This book should have explained it better, because everything is very confusing from the beginning.
Firstly, all the characters in this book have basically the same name but different nicknames. This thing already makes it a mess, because I barely could follow the story. The names are basically the same and at the end there was confusion as to who was who.
Secondly, as I said before, there is too much unsaid regarding the multiverse theory. I didn't understand a lot about it, and since it's a theory that not lots of people know a lot about and this is a kind of book who is usually read by 'common' people who often don't have that kind of knowledge, it would have been good to explain something more. I honestly found it very confusing, I have lots of questions about it, for instance: how the hell did they become just one person? How the hell did they have different lives but the same name?
Also, speaking about the story, reading the synopsis, I had high expectations of it. I've read lots of sci-fi books and I was kind of drawn by it because the string theory is really an interesting one and who wouldn't read a story regarding this theory? But after 30% of the book I realised the story wouldn't be that exciting as I thought. The story was bland, unexciting and plain. It was very predictable too honestly. There are no twists and turns and after only three chapter I wanted to give up and dnf. The povs were too much and it made it hard to follow the stories, all different from each other but with the MC having the same name. There was a good idea behind the book, but it was developed poorly and badly. The ending was underwhelming. Unfortunately I really expected much much more and the book didn't met my expectations. It wasn't enjoyable and too long, because nothing really happened and lots of things were left unsaid. It wasn't developed enough and the real problem wasn't adressed.

*Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

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