Loved this. It was a surprise to discover this is a first novel for the author. However, it would seem their authority on and knowledge of memory, time, and emotion certainly helped the story. Speculative fiction that is light and interesting to read.

In "The Other Valley", author Scott Alexander Howard sets up an eerily dystopian world where separate valleys are delineated by time, and the borders are heavily guarded by the citizens who live there. Told from the perspective of Odile Ozanne, a 16 year-old resident in the central valley, we're pulled into this community where petitions are made to the Conseil, the juridiction that decides if citizens to cross over to the west (Ouest), which is 20 years behind them, or to the east (Est), which is 20 years ahead of them. Odile has been raised by her mother, constantly pushed towards taking future where she has a conveted seat on the Conseil. Her chances seem slim, however, until she unexpectedly encounters and recognizes a pair of visitors in central, the parents of classmate Edme Piras, and is given a spot in the vetting group.

From there, Odile participates in the training sessions all while getting closer to Edme and her classmates, sworn to secrecy on what she's seen, but is still unprepared for what follows. The second part of the book continues 20 years in the future when Odile is still dealing with the repercussions of what happened two decades prior - and is given a chance to change the course of events.

This was such a subtly crafted and immersive novel; from the first page, I was pulled in by the thoughtful and detailed world that Howard built up, and the different social and judicial structures set up to make such a setting possible. The world building is a unique take on the concept of time travel, the butterfly effect, etc. and also calls in larger philosophical and moral questions - How do you measure the magnitude of pain and grief? What qualifies someone as more deserving of the exceptions to time? The writing was well-developed and complex, and although some of the sections told from the perspective of 16 year-old Odile felt a little too advanced and self-aware, it was nonetheless helpful in building her up as a protagonist whose future actions and decisions readers could understand.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, releasing in late February 2024!

I really enjoyed this book, which was something of a surprise since I normally hate time travel stories. This did have some of my usual concerns (namely there's just too much that can happen if time travel is a plot device that's never explained to my satisfaction, loopholes, etc), but by keeping the story closely focused on the characters it was easier to ignore the inconsistencies. The writing in this book is beautiful, and Odile has realistic responses to the decisions set in her way throughout the story. Would happily recommend for fans of quiet, philosophical speculative fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

The premise of The Other Valley is wild. Imagine you are in zone 1, and this is where you live your every day. You're surrounded by a fence on all sides. The fence is impassable unless your want to risk your life. It's heavily guarded. To one side is East 1 and it's 20 years in the future. To the other side is West 1 and it is 20 years in the past. And this continues on and on and on. That's this book in a nutshell.

It was crazy to think about and imagine. Pay attention when reading. Close attention. You will be confused if you don't. The Other Valley, VERY, VERY vaguely reminded me of a cross between, The Giver and Fringe. I wouldn't call any of the characters loveable or ones that I connected with. However, I was deeply invested in the outcome of their stories. It had an open-ended, yet satisfying ending.

I loved The Other Valley. The best thing about it was its originality. Nothing like this has ever been written before, to my knowledge. And if it has I havent read it. The story is written in an unusual way, with none of the spoken words actually written with quotations. Other than that little quirk it was an excellent read

As I may have mentioned before, time travel narratives usually confuse me. This book though, never did.
Odile lives in a valley bordered by both its past and its future. People can request visits to either bordering valley and one day Odile recognizes visitors as the parents of the boy she loves. This realization sets off a course of events that will change not just Odile’s life, but countless lives to come.

This quiet novel is beautifully written and still impossible to put down. I was sucked up into this world and didn’t want to leave.

I have just finished reading ‘The Other Valley’ and what a wonderful read it was. I am not a big science fiction reader but for some reason I am drawn to time travel. Having said that, I am equally put off time travel based books as they can get overly confusing and complicated.
‘The Other Valley’ is so well written that the story has a logic which is both intriguing and thought provoking.
We follow Odile as she navigates childhood and middle age with a variety of challenges all underlined by the concept of valleys to the east and west which are future and past from the present valley and visitable from each other under special circumstances.
A fascinating read and this would make a fabulous book club choice.

I requested this book off of one person's recommendation, and I'm so glad I knew barely anything about the plot going in.

Imagine living in a world where you could travel to the future or the past simply by walking across a border. This book poses some fascinating questions: Can you change the past? Will knowing the future change your present? I tore through this book, and I'm shocked that this was a debut novel! It was an excellent work of speculative fiction. And it's not shocking that the TV rights have already been acquired, months ahead of its release date.

Highly recommend for fans of Ruth Ozeki and Kazuo Ishiguro. It reminded me of reading DIVERGENT and THE HUNGER GAMES for the first time. Beautiful writing and I will be thinking about this book for a long time. Thank you Net Galley for the early digital copy.

An absorbing, philosophical, absolutely unputdownable sci-fi featuring a time travel paradox, The Other Valley hits like a train.

Despite my normally not seeking out books with teenagers as main characters, Odile is a realistic, likeable, lonely girl whom you root for the entire time. She’s awkward around other teens, but we get to see her bloom and grow. Unless you were a very special teenager, we all had moments (sometimes years) of not knowing who we were, of feeling like we didn’t fit in, that we didn’t know what we wanted to do with our lives; Odile encapsulates these emotions as the main storyline plays out. Her personality and sense of self are directly related to the events in the book in a way that is masterfully done.

The other characters were either likeable or understandable, and all felt real as well.

Because it’s been a while since a concept in a novel has wowed me as much as this one, the logistics of how the town functions didn’t even bother me (e.g. How do they get things like cars or earrings or makeup? Where does the garbage go? How will their town expand if the population increases?). While normally, this sort of thing would annoy me, it's clear this book is intended more as a thought experiment than a literal place.

I obviously can’t say much else about the plot, but if you enjoy time travel paradoxes, this book takes the idea and tackles it in a way that feels realistic and fascinating. The author has a doctorate in philosophy, focusing on the relationship between memory, emotion, and literature. Does he ever nail those themes! This is a book that really brings in the ripple effect idea of time, or divergence. We see this often in sci-fi movies about time travel, but this book uses this concept to bring out deeper themes of regret, choice, and social control. The entire town’s purpose, it seems, is situated on the idea of stopping time paradoxes, though we’re never really told this or why. I’m presuming it was to ensure, as usual, people in power stay in power, but those politics are only hinted at and shown, not told, by the difference in status and wealth between Odile and her friends, her mother’s bitterness at her job, and various other things here and there.

If you enjoy fascinating sci-fi concepts, excellent characters, a superb climax, and lovely writing, you should check this out. It’s not exactly fast-paced, but I flew through it nonetheless.

What a fantastic concept for a book!

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard is set in a valley surrounded by other identical valleys, each twenty years apart. The borders of each town are guarded heavily to prevent people from crossing without the express approval of the Conseil, the governing body responsible for the interactions between valleys. One can petition the council to visit another valley as part of their grieving process, and requests may be approved or denied based on the likelihood of the requestor interfering and, therefore, altering history. Approved visitors must hide their identities and cannot interact with anyone from that timeline.

The story follows Odile, beginning when she is a teenager. One day she sees visitors from another valley and is able to identify them as her classmate Edme’s parents, which she knows means his death is imminent. She leverages this experience into an opportunity to compete for an apprenticeship to the vaunted Conseil, but as she grows closer to Edme, she becomes more and more conflicted over her duty to keep quiet about what she knows.

The book follows Odile into the future, and its unexpected path based on the events of her childhood. Though the story moves slowly in parts, it was an interesting read that I greatly enjoyed.

The Other Valley is a beautifully written debut that explores the philosophical implications of time travel. Great for fans of speculative fiction and a great book club read!

Thank you to @NetGalley and @atriabooks for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

absolutely gorgeous literary fiction with a really unique time setting in the timetraveling town! i found it really cool to read. tyssm for the arc!

Thank you for an advance copy of this interesting and original story idea. We have a town in a valley and on one side of it the town is 20 years in the past, on the other the town is 20 years in the future. Odile is on the town council and gets to decide who can cross the borders into the town, thus making ethical life/death decisions. It brings about all sorts of questions of can we change the future if we know what will happen? Can we change the past? It was. a very creative concept, it moved a bit slow for me at times but overall. One thing that threw me off was the lack of grammatical punctuation....I think that impacted my enjoyment as that was distracting. Points for a creative and original concept.

Feels like it's directed at an audience younger than me and that really ended up hurting this book a lot. I hope it finds an audience that actually enjoys it cause there is definitely something here.

Fantastic!I could not put this book down. I read it on the recommendation of one of my favorite authors, Sylvain Neuvel, and he did not lead me astray. Fast-paced, fascinating, with a strong sense of atmosphere and impending doom. Great world-building and wholly original concept. I loved it.

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard is quiet and slow. I gently watched the character's lives bloom and held my breath as they try to change their futures for the better. The editing is superb and there isn't an unnecessary sentence in the whole book. Extra points to the author for not tying everything into a neat little bow with an epilogue.

Fans of Kazuo Ishiguro, this is your siren call.

• speculative fiction
• time travel
• perfect for a book club

I sat pondering the philosophy for so long I was asked if I was okay 😂 to which I replied "yeah, I just finished a book."

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Wow. What a well thought out book. I am not normally a science fiction fan, but this was just so well written. And what an ending that I wasn’t expecting. Great job by the author.

I loved the premise of The Other Valley. I am captivated by the concepts of time travel, alternate universes, and the like, so I thought this would be right up my alley. I started this novel with high hopes. However, I was disappointed in the grim, dark feel of the story.

In this universe, there are multiple valleys, side by side, where identical sets of people live separated only by high barbed wire fences and 20 years. Apparently, one can travel between the valleys via a special dispensation given by the town's council, in the case where you've lost a family member and would like to visit them from afar.

Odile is a fatherless student approaching the end of her school career. In the valley where she lives, this means that you're supposed to know what you want to do and start competing for internships that will determine whether you'll be placed in a job you want. I was never sure why this was necessary. In all, there seemed to be more restrictions on the townspeople than really seemed necessary. Obviously, running into another version of yourself could have consequences, but to me this didn't seem enough. I mean, why couldn't you work for a couple years in the bakery, and then later go into the forestry department or similar? Why is everyone locked into a job immediately?

The story follows Odile's attempt to gain an internship that her overbearing, alcoholic mother wants her to have. She herself doesn't seem to have much motivation, which I can relate to given her strange situation. She hasn't had many friends up till now but takes up with a group at this time. She gains momentum and confidence in the internship program thanks to these relationships, but when one boy goes missing, everything falls apart for her. The rest of the story talks about how her life progresses when the job she wants isn't attained and she has this loss to contend with. You'll see the ending coming a mile away.

Overall, the writing was good. I absolutely could envision this world the author created, and all the people inside it. The plot was sufficient and the characterizations were okay. I just couldn't imagine living in this depressing place, and I couldn't figure out why anyone would attempt to better themselves here given the limitations of their home. However, if you like a darker, quieter story, this may not be the detractor I felt it was.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

I like this book quite a bit. The premise was interesting once you bought into it and didn't worry about any plot holes. It seemed to go on a little too long, but I did like the characters and the way they were drawn out, especially how they changed over time. When we looked at the characters 20 years later, it was such a stark contrast and based on my life now that I'm middle-aged, I can relate to it.

The story at the heart of the book seems basic as you read the first 3/4 of the book, but when you get to the end wow what an ending! I'd recommend this to anyone who likes science fiction.

A carefully considered, slow-moving work of speculative fiction that explores the philosophical implications of time travel with a tremendous amount of heart. At first Scott Alexander Howard’s precise language borders on stiff, but the novel builds towards a surprisingly visceral climax. The world of identical valleys Howard introduces, each 20 years removed in time from its neighbor, is unique and well utilized.

The first part of the novel follows young Odile’s attempt to join the prestigious Consiel and contains sections that almost feel like a philosophical treatise. However as Odile ages and her life travels in unexpected directions, Howard focuses more on the emotional impacts of the strange world he has created. The novel avoids most of the pitfalls of time travel stories by keeping the rules clear, being almost entirely character driven, and sticking the landing. Even if you don’t like speculative fiction, this book has strong characters and a compelling narrative.

Alexander Howard's debut novel, The Other Valley, is an enjoyable work of speculative fiction. The main character, Odille, takes the reader on a gut-wrenching journey in a valley that is neighboring itself 20 years in the future and twenty years in the past. In this world, bereaved residents of the valleys can petition the council to cross the valley's borders to sneak a glance at late family members. Odille, now on the council, must face the intricacies of human emotion and the time continuum.
The Other Valley is an exploration of the decisions we make, the lessons we learn, and all the unintended
consequences waiting for us in the future. While the journey through The Other Valley is not a cheerful one, the story of a young protagonist managing their present, past, and future is as captivating as it is daunting.

I cannot wait to pick up Howard's next work!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC! This book publishes February 27, 2024.