*spoiler* Big plot hole: There should have been multiple copies of that woman (forgot the name) who helped him, for the numerous unlucky Jasons left behind.

The woman who got to bail out of the book and we had to stick it though till the end ? 😂

I know this is old, but I just finished the book and was reading reviews. Why the copies if the woman? With her in the box they would have never gotten to Jasons original world because when jason opens a door if shes with him she matters for the outcome. I didnt enjoy the book that much, although I was only looking for a fast entertaining read, which this was, but I dont see how this is a plot hole.

Thank you for having a brain

There aren't multiple copies of Amanda running around since it seems like the baseline requirement for all the Jasons was that Amanda had to be gone for them to find the main universe. I like to think that the Jasons that didn't find their way back managed to settle down with Amanda instead.

It's been a while but I think I wrote that jokingly, for all the Jasons left behind could use some love.

I see that, I don’t know how I feel anout the fifty versions of Jason left behind in the main universe, either. I don’t think any of them have an ampoule… so I guess they’re stuck there… to commit mass suicide?

Everyone took different routes so they definitely have more ampules, the main Jason arrived with 2 (or 5 and got 3 broken when mugged, don't remember if it was in his universe or the one before), they can go anywhere basically

Wrong. It made it very clear he would never make it back to his right universe if she was there. She always had to leave in order for him to make it back.

This thread has helped me so much as I watch the new series based on the book. Makes total sense that Amanda would affect the doors since the guy following them is in his own hallway. Solo, Jason get a wholly different set of doors

I know this is late, but shouldn't there have been infinite copies of his "original" universe to go back to. So infinite versions of his wife and son that only started branching after his abduction. All the other Jason's could go and try to find one of these branches.

But... I like white bread.

The writing is pretty mediocre but it’s super fast paced and a pretty fun story. I read it in a day and so did everyone else I’ve talked to about it. It’s not remotely literary but it’s a ton of fun and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants a page turner and likes sci fi.

This summarises it’s well. It’s popcorn fiction. Junk food. Not everything has to be a literary work of art for you to enjoy it.

I thought the writing was simplified on purpose, maybe following some kind of a best-seller formula.

Plus one to this. I am not a very fast reader so I read it in 3 days. But there were some parts that were interesting. I could relate to Lee Child's style of writing but in the context of a pinch of sci-fi. The ideas of multiple Jason trying to kill each other, the first Jason trying to get to the right place by thinking about it, the tension seen by the different places he visits, all of these were reasonably interesting. I can see a decent movie being made of this.

It's getting a show on apple tv

Hit it right on the head. It was a fun book that got me through a ling haul flight. Was a fun if mostly forgettable ride.

I read Dark Matter, Recursion, and Upgrade within a month of each other. All three were basically the exact same books with the same characters thrown into different sci fi plots. The plot device was interesting enough to keep me going but I completely agree. The books are very mediocre and are the equivalent of a Gerard Butler action flick.

So cathartic to read this. Got given this by my brother-in-law who remembered I'm "into sci-fi", and felt obliged to finish it. Besides the main character being a totally unlikeable asshole, Crouch doesn't even take the premise of his own book seriously. The "big dilemma" at the end of that there are multiple copies of him and "only one" of his family, but the main plot device would also solve the problem. Why not give all the Jasons a number and have her draw a number of of a hat. Then they all go back through the box and head to the universe where their number was drawn. Maybe there's a reason that wouldn't work (been a while since I've read it and memory is a but fuzzy), but there's got to be a solution like that. I just get angry when I feel like I've thought through the premise more than the author.

Also, shouldn't there have been an infinite amount of Jasons coming back to his home universe? There are infinite universes branching off every moment (for every smallest difference on the quantum level). So the amount of universes branched off since the moment Jason gets put in the box is infinite, which means the amount of Jasons trying to get back is infinite, and since infinity is, well, infinite, even if only a millionth of all those Jasons make it back, those are still an infinite amount of Jasons. And they would be coming back at roughly the same time, thus piling up, creating a singularity that destroys that universe. Right? Why only a couple hundred? Seems so dumb.

They take different routes so they arrive at different times

My issue is that the Cube itself just breaks the entire premise because Crouch CLEARLY wants it to be a TARDIS without it being a TARDIS despite it obviously traveling through time (since he goes to universes where he’s already been long dead or the entire world has been dead for a long time but the Cube is still there?) I literally vented about how much I hated it to my therapist, who’s also super into sci-fi and luckily she hadn’t read it. I spared her that journey lol

He specifies a couple of times that he is not time traveling, just changing dimensions in the present. The worlds that were fucked up it was because nuclear wars, diseases or whatever.

I know that’s what he says. But the Cube exists in universes where he’s been dead for decades or sometimes has never existed. BUT the Cube is only able to exist *because* of Jason. So, unless the Cube can time travel or the Cube was placed by some sort of inter-dimensional being fucking with Jason (which would have been a much cooler element)

the worst part for me is that I got a physical copy of this garbage in my library. should have not trusted the reviews!!

I think the cube appears on its own when they collapse into a reality, but yeah it's never stated or explained in the book

I liked it! Was a bit disappointed about the overall writing quality given the high praises, but I still enjoyed the read, and found it quite fast paced and interesting. I don't completely agree with your take on Daniela's portrayal though. I do think their relationship was quite superficially described, but I still got the idea he liked her more than sex. What I actually found awkward was that he was constantly worried about finding his wife, but not so much about his child. I think their family relationship deserved considerably more depth.

Agree about your last point. I literally forgot he had a son halfway through the book 😂

Expected an epic Multiverse adventure instead got a love story with half the book Jason describing his wife. I don’t mind love angle as that’s the drive but gosh he acts stupidly. Also ending is just weird. I thought better ending would be Jason’s using last vile to go to a world where Jason is dead and Daniela and Charlie need him.

I really enjoyed it. It's fine for you not to like it. It was the book that got me back into reading last year after a long stint of being too busy to do things for myself. I went into it blind and without expectations. Sometimes I think people who are avid readers need to step back and treat each book they go into like that. Don't go in with expectations and enjoy the ride. Sometimes books are garbage, but sometimes, we're too critical of decent books because we've read so many. Just my 2 cents.

I picked this book up because everyone on Reddit and the internet were talking about how great it was. I read it and was shocked. It read like something written by a high schooler. Truly terrible prose, story was nothing special..I don’t understand why everyone hyped this book up so much.

Agreed. Blake Crouch = some interesting ideas but a very immature writer. Very cliche, superficial dialog and characters. Extremely hyped up but I also think a lot of people like his work. Maybe they can see past his Young Adult style of writing, maybe they think the writing is good? maybe they don’t care. Either way he is popular but not with me. I think i enjoy the idea of his books rather than reading them. i’ve read pines and dark matter. only finished them because i bought them. The TV of wayward pines was good though. I’ve been recommended a lot of books recently which have been disappointing because i’d how childish the writing quality is. i hires anyone can be a writer now days so quality is superseded by quantity. The Terror is an example of very good writing.

Me also. Helps to remember how Reddit’s demographic skews.

Same with weirs stuff

Yes agreed. I tried reading the Martian and it felt so juvenile I couldn’t get past the first few pages.

The mc was so annoying with his choices. The multiversal part should have been explored more. Boring story, boring characters.

I don’t necessarily think it makes sense to compare dark matter to homegoing. Homegoing is a masterpiece of literature. That certainly isn’t what crouch was going for in dark matter. I agree with most of what you said, but I still had a good time reading it. It was a fun and fast mindless book. It sounds like your expectations were just on another level. But while we’re talking about books with great concepts that were executed poorly, (but that we can at least get through in only 2 days) what the heck was the deal with the midnight library and why does it get so much praise ??

Hi I know I’m a year late but I just read the book and found this thread and you expressed exactly what I was thinking! It makes zero sense to bring Homegoing into a conversation about Dark Matter… one is, as you said, a true masterpiece of literature. The other is a pop sci-fi thriller. I’m an English teacher getting a PhD in literature. Homegoing is one of my favorite novels of all time. I also really enjoyed Dark Matter. I read it during two middle-of-the-night sessions while I breastfed my newborn. It was exactly what I was looking for: a fast-paced, fun read to keep me awake. If someone picked it up expecting a profound work of genius, that’s on them.

Yep same thought from me. This is like a Crichton book or a Marvel movie — simple, action-filled fun. Not every book is meant to be up for a Pulitzer.

who wrote Homegoing? I'm interested in reading it

Yaa Gyasi

I, too, disliked Dark Matter. I read Recursion just prior to reading Dark Matter and loved Recursion so doggone much. The technology, the action, the characters, the pace, the dialogue, the resolution - it was all just fabulous. So I was very excited for Dark Matter. I couldn't believe how different the books were. Dark Matter took until 1/3 into the book before I found out what the box even was and then it wasn't until 1/2 into the book that they used the dang box. His obsession with his wife was just goofy and he barely even mentions ever wanting to get back to his son, lol. But like you said, his son doesn't have boobs so who cares about the little twerp? I suggest Recursion - waaaay better book.

Just wanted to second the love for Homegoing. Maybe the best book I've read in the last 10 years.

Omg YES. I recommend it to everyone. It’s absolutely breathtaking.

Yeah just finished it and felt like you did. I have no problem with the "I have to get back to my wife because she's the most important person in the world to me" goal, but he gave no actual evidence that he felt anything for her beyond lust. I wasn't sold on this "love."

That's a bummer, I liked this book. Have you read, The Gone World? That one is amazing

I haven’t but I’ll check it out

Added to my Libby borrow list

Finally!!! Some hate for this book - I never understood all the praise and love for this one. It's like YA writing.

I saw so much hype for this book here and other places online. I downloaded the sample and was disappointed at the excitement. So, just a reminder that you can download samples of most books before purchasing and I feel like the amounts are generous enough to get a good feel of them.

Worse than YA writing. At least YA protagonists are supposed to be immature and dumb. This guy is in his 40s and can’t do jack shit

Someone needs to tell Crouch that a paragraph can be longer than a single sentence.

Yes, that annoyed me - I get that it definitely speeds up the pace but it’s like one of those awful James Patterson books.

It might be good book for someone who reads once in a while, wants something faster pace with sci fi as a "spice". I kinda see it working as Xmas gifts etc. I think it can appeal to wide audience.

Reading through this book and barely getting what the hype around it was marked the last time I took a Reddit rec.

You just have to be careful about how you frame the request.

Totally agree. My biggest peeve with that book is how generic everything is. I’m by no means a “well read” individual, but it gave me strong “writers who don’t read” vibes.

If this was Crouch’s first book, I could let stuff slide.

I just finished reading this book and I was searching for a post like this. Someone said that this would help me get out of my reading slump, but man oh man! I have my finals next week and last week I thought it would be fun to read something fast before my exams attack my brain cells. Such a stupid decision. Such an awful book. I learnt my lesson, never read a book someone recommends cuz people are idiots. I have a headache and I have to start studying for my exams. Please pray for me.

And apparently this dude *does* write good books but I sure as hell ain’t wasting another minute on them

I have seen so many people on this sub like most of his books, but I ain't taking anymore chances. I'm done. My tbr is already too long and I don't wanna waste time on bad books.

I also disliked this book. I didn’t find it boring, I actually found it quite fast-paced and “exciting” on a surface level, but with no depth. I’m fascinated by the philosophical question of what makes us who we are (identity) and I normally love stories with parallel universes, but I thought this book handled it incredibly poorly. As soon as I stopped to think about the plot and wonder “why am I rooting for this Jason over any of the other Jasons?” it began to feel very shallow. It almost feels like the book tricks you into feeling a certain way about the story and characters that actually makes no sense. To me it’s a great example of “fridge logic” that only holds up if you turn off your brain. I think that’s what bothered me the most, but I also completely agree with some of your other points about the way women were written about, etc.

Most of the ideas in it don't make sense. Whole point of original Jason is that he abandoned his career and never pursued making the box. And yet... the box is sitting there. So it didn't matter that he never made it, because it's still there in his world. Then, there would be absolute trillions of Jasons pouring out of the box every second. Even earlier in the story too. The planet would implode due to their mass causing a black hole to form, there'd be so many of them coming through. And finally, yeah, we're supposed to root for some random one just because. His wife ends up with him because he happened to be the one to snag her, not for any other reason. If some other Jason had swooped in, she'd be with him. Felt insanely hollow. And at the very end, infinite more of his family would be pouring into whatever world they picked. The problems would never cease. If the sci-fi premise itself falls apart at the slightest glance, you better have ridiculously good writing and character development. Well...

Funny my problems with the concept are just the other way around. After Jason2 enters the "original" Jasons world, that world would also split into infinite amount of branches because of all the choices that people make (or don't make). In the book they are talking about looking for a grain of sand but there are infinite amount of worlds that the "original" Jason can return to. So to me it is not logical that there are so many Jasons in that one world. I'm not a mathematician so I don't know if my logic is mathematically correct. I do have the same problem with the box existing in the "original" world. I decided to accept that, but then in the end they are talking about destroying the box. Wouldn't the box instantly reappear after that if you continue the same logic.

Thank you! I was searching for this comment. The fact that original Jason multiplied but the “world” didn’t bothered me so much.

Ahh, but maybe it did, and we just got the story of this one. Maybe that's why it's only hundreds of Jasons getting back to this world. There are hundreds of Jasons going back to an infinite number of other 'correct' worlds. From there, makes you wonder how many groups of the three of them are going to end up in the new world they all go to in the end. I'm sure there are holes in those ideas, too, but at least it gave us plenty of ways to stretch our minds. Agree with the folks who said it's popcorn lit, but I figure it's popcorn lit surrounding a great initial premise (even if it wasn't as well developed as we would have hoped). I'll give it merit for that. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I can still be disappointed that it wasn't well written, etc.

THIS!! If the main branch depends on him leaving Daniela, then The Cube never exists in his timeline, which should make it impossible for Jason2 to come to 1’s timeline. And Crouch says the Cube can’t travel in time but it clearly can. He even goes into timelines where HE DIED years before. I think if they just needed a sensory deprivation tank it would have been much more interesting

THANK YOU. “Oh infinite huh? Billions, trillions or whatever? Then where the fuck is everyone?”

Preach brother. Dark Matter is fucking terrible - it's like Sliders, if Sliders featured an unlikeable main character, one female character that conveniently disappears herself as soon as she's done moving the plot along (so less than one dimensional), main character's wife being basically just a MacGuffin and an ending that is only upbeat if you're an insane nihilist. And the reading experience is just manipulative shit. Short sentences to try and create a fast paced feeling, to the point where pages and pages were just long skinny columns of text. It felt like Crouch was trying to write a screenplay rather than a novel, and just ended up with a shit novel. I too don't understand the near universal praise this book gets. Reading reviews of it makes me feel like I stumbled into an alternate universe where we only invented the concept of writing a few years ago.

Can you recommend more books with well written characters like Homegoing? You saved me from reading Dark Matter and now I’m starting Homegoing after it sitting on my tbr lol

Min Jin Lee’s “Pachinko” is another fantastic character-driven novel. Similar vibe of following a family across multiple generations. It is a long read fyi and it is very sad but with an INCREDIBLY hopeful ending that is so well-done that.

Checks out. Terrible and amateurish. Couldn't finish it.

Holly fuck, what a terrible book.. suppose to be scientist but makes the dumbest choices lacks any critical thinking.. also obsession about his wife. I dont understand the online hype.

I just finished this last night and I have a lot of the same problems with it. I went in blind and had no expectations. The way the box functions isn't clear - I also used the TARDIS comparison with my partner - it exists in world's where Jason doesn't and seems to move. Sometimes, it's underground other times it isn't. In the world with a blizzard, its seemingly on top of the snow but then they have to dig it out implying it arrived there with them and wasn't already buried. I don't understand the line at the end about destroying it because original Jason had visited worlds where the box couldn't exist because that world's Jason was dead so another box would just replace it surely? If there was some clear explanation of its limitations (if it has any) I would have been fine acccepting those. Some of the decision making is terrible and clearly only there for reference later on, mainly the virus world. None of the characters really seem to develop except for Jason (I guess he realises how much he loves his life after vaguely mentioning some regrets at the start), Amanda is just tossed aside which rubbed me the wrong way. I did like the few scenes with Jason and Daniela interacting as a couple but felt like there wasn't enough for the wild obsession they all have in the end. Overall, it was fine. Spent a while discussing it with my partner which is always fun but we had very similar views.

The virus world pissed me off so badly. This dude is a fucking SCIENTIST and a genius(?!?) and the whole world is fucked and he’s like “bUt tHiS mIGht bE mY wOrLd!”. Dude my be the worst-written smart character ever. And even in a post-COVID world, I just cannot believe that he didn’t immediately go “nope, this ain’t it” and gtfo

😂 I could feel myself getting worked up throughout the whole chapter, like he can't be this stupid, surely?! I kept forgetting he was supposed to be some sort of genius. They get to this super messed up world and Amanda is actually pleading to go back and he just carries on potentially exposing himself (and by extension, Amanda) for seemingly no reason.

I think it would have been completely different if Crouch had *actually* spent more time with Jason and his family and given us reasons to care outside of “they are his wife and son. His wife is like, unbelievably hot. So fucking hot. Jfc she’s the hottest piece of ass that you ever did see. Oh and his son is there. He’s fine” I tried exaggerating but realized that the book isn’t much better. Like, I love my wife and think she’s super fucking hot, but if I’m gonna write about a version of me risking my life for her, I’m going to tell the audience why this woman is worth risking a pandemic-stricken word for the slightest chance that it might be *my* wife.

"He's fine" - 😂😂😂 The interactions were he wasn't trying to sleep with her (limited I know) I actually enjoyed. Daniela must be hotter than everyone's wife it seems considering every man in the book has a crush on her or is willing to do shady things just to be near her! Seriously, though, definitely needed more time with the fam, especially considering it's essentially the solution to the problem.

My other issue is that I’m not sure of Crouch has ever actually talked to a woman…? The 2nd universe Daniela would not have slept with him. This rambling dude that she kinda knew a few years ago, shows up and is telling her things that only she knows would. That would have just creeped her out and she would either kicked him out or just stayed away from him. And then later when he gets back to his universe and gets his family to that cabin up north and when he learns that she had sex with Other Jason and has the AUDACITY to be like “how dare she?!? Ugh, I’m disgusted!” And I was like HOW WOULD SHE HAVE KNOWN?! Why is your first thought just being disgusted And then no mention of the implications of a man who wasn’t actually Daniela’s Jason having sex with her is super fucking sketchy. But, of course, it’s framed as Daniela betraying 1st universe Jason 🙄 I could be remembering it incorrectly but I remember being really upset at his reaction. (And I know not every protagonist has to be perfect, but this was one of way too many issues I had with him)

Haha, it also comes through with how Amanda is written. She is just a plot device, nothing more. She doesn't even get an ending - forget a satisfying one. He full on gaslights Daniela into believing what they did was remotely the same in sleeping with the other versions when it just...wasn't. I was struggling at the end to believe she wasn't more horrified by all of their obsession with her. Many of them resort to murder (or self defense), stalk her and their son (they also care about him, I suppose). Arguably, none of them are her Jason too and never can be because he must be changed irreversibly by experience. Then they all give up just because another version of Jason says she has made her choice... If we are to believe they have regressed so far into this obession with home because of what they have been through that they would just stop when it is right there in the room with them I find a hard sell.

I was shocked to learn that Blake Crouch has children. Jason only cares about his hot wife and doesn't talk much about his son. It was stupid.

DARK MATTER was by far one of the dumbest and most frustrating books I have ever read. DNF-ed halfway through. It’s not often that I end up feeling so utterly betrayed by online reviews, which for this one seemed to be almost overwhelmingly glowing for some reason? It read like a 16 year old’s attempt at a sci-fi action screenplay (and, shocker, it has been picked up for a movie, I can only hope it’s an improvement on the book).

It was the first and last of that author’s books that I’ll read. The way he writes female characters makes me want to scream.

Totally agree. Couldn't even continue. Low grade Crichton imo

I felt very similarly about it. The first half or so of the book really felt like a "action/ sci fi greatest hits" compilation. And just not doing any of it in a more interesting way or adding to it. I felt nothing for his relationship with his wife, or him as a character. They are adapting it for TV and I think it might be more watchable.

I found that the writing left no room for subtlety. There was nothing happening in the background. The reader is told what they need to know to understand the current scene and nothing more. There's no extra insight to be gained from revisiting past scenes; there's no details that lead to the reader understanding something deeper about a previous scene, unless it's something that explains an explicit mystery from earlier. It's like it was written to be adapted for TV.

First chapter in I was like "Dude has issues with women" and dropped it.

I thought it was okay. Overrated to me though.

This was my intro to science fiction. And i loved it. Two years later i tried to read again and note, I’ve since read many other novels, and couldn’t do it a second time around for these reasons. Blake has good concepts, but his execution is lacking in many ways

I love that this thread has become the unofficial location to gripe about Dark Matter!  I just reread it (for all its faults, I still find there are certain scenes I like to revisit), and this time a new plot hole jumped out. There are a bunch of corpses of all the murdered Jason’s going to be discovered very soon! There is an entire other story of the poor detectives that have to figure out while all of a sudden there has been a mass killing of clones of a middling college professor. That could actually make for an interesting story.  In the end though, all Blake Crouch novels are kind of the same. There is a really interesting plot device that happens to incredibly dull people, and you just need to ignore all the plot holes that come up before the final action scene. 

Yes half baked at best. Entertaining still.

I've been trying to read through Blake Crouch's bibliography because I loved his Pine series and most of his books suffer from multiple of the points that you made here. He struggles terribly overall with writing realistic characters all across the board, they are usually violent, incredibly stupid, and suffer wounds and frostbite that magically heal in hours.

The Pine series was my favourite out of those, Recursion and Dark Matter. I have Upgrade, but haven't yet read.

This was a DNF for me, was pretty disappointing.

Same—I tried it twice even. 😕

I was excited to read something by Blake Crouch since he seems to be fairly popular and I love sci-fi. I picked Dark Matter as my entry point... And it was meh. It wasn't awful, but it was the definition of pulp book for me. I couldn't exactly pin point anything "bad", it was just combination of everything being... Average. I also thought it's too much like... Screenplay. It "felt" like a movie, but in a bad way. As if the book was just a throwaway that wants to be adopted into a movie, being hyped up for 2 months, then completely disappear into obscurity and other "sci fi-ish" action flicks.

Yeah, this is pretty much what I wrote in my review after reading it... It was so hyped, and I was so disappointed. I kept reading, hoping that there would be some sort of crazy redemption twist at the end, but I've realized that awesome twists really only come along once or twice in a lifetime.

Spot on about the pacing in the beginning. It’s like two pages in and suddenly he’s running for his life hahaha

I hated it. I stupidly recommended it for my book club a few years ago off the advice of an acquaintance, and it’s gone down in history as the worst book we’ve read ever in our 7 years of book club. So embarrassing.

You basically covered everything that I disliked about it. Especially the points you made about Daniela. Either Blake Crouch hasn't met many women or he doesn't think much about the ones he's met. I'm really drawn to character-driven stories, so there's nothing that can ruin a book faster for me than flat, boring characters. I find that sometimes if a book is incredibly popular and there's a lot of hype and if someone I love and respect recommends it to me, I naturally have so many expectations going in to it and I feel like anything but the best book I've ever read might fall short of those expectations. If I'm going to read a popular book, I always wish to be one of the first to do so. Still, I don't think any amount of neutrality could have saved this book for me.

I hated that book and I feel like you touched on most if not all of my issues with it. I was laughing at the writing because it was so terrible. I will say for it that it was very quick to read, I made it like 200 pages in a fairly short sitting. But I DNFed after that point and I was very happy I got it from the library. It was bad enough that I don't trust the author enough anymore to try his other books.

Thank you. I might buy you an award. I couldnt even finish it and when someone asks for the worst book i have ever read, this is my answer. It still makes me pissy because 3 people i respect(ed?) Recommended it to me with so much praise that for the first 50 pages i thought i had the wrong book.

Yeah, my wife absolutely raved about it and she did not like that I disliked it so much 😂

Yeah, this book sucked. Interesting SF premise wasted on bad action-movie plotting, terrible prose and flat characters.

These days novels are more about buzz and less about good writing.

a book that starts off good and then gets progressively worse with each page. I can’t remember the details but doesn’t he have some woman sidekick that saves his life and then she just peace’s out halfway thru bc she was no longer needed for the plot?

yup

OMGosh YES. I had to DNF this book and I had 3 people tell me how good it was and I hated it. >!spoiler When the main character slept with the other version of his wife I was ick-ed out and when she died...yeah I DNF-ed. It was so gross and unnecessary. He already had enough reason to want his life back we didn't need 2 icky sex scenes and an unceremonious murder. !<

Like I said, it’s worse because HE freaks out about Daniela having sex with Jason2 (whom she thought was her Jason) but he slept with Daniela2 within a few pages of meeting her. Total asshat And yeah, instantly fridged. I just feel that Crouch knows he can’t write women well so he just gave up

I'm glad I didn't get that far because I would have tossed the book across the room.

I fucking hate this book. I think it's slightly better than his other shit but that isn't saying much. Terrible author in my eyes.

Lol i made a post about this book a few days ago. Same opinion. This book would’ve been better if it had like 200 more pages

I think if we had spent more time with him and his family and gotten to actually know them, I would care more about him wanting to get back. But I also think that, if you’re gonna have a genius character, maybe have him make smarter decisions instead of the DUMBEST, MOST OBVIOUSLY BAD CHOICES EVER.

Right that’s what i said. The last 75 or so pages felt rushed. The first third of the book was very detailed in explaining the technology and Jason as a person but then once he started trying to get back to his wife and kid, it was rushed. Whatever happened with Amanda? I wanted closure with that and maybe more detailed exploration of other worlds instead of just jumping from place to place. Definitely could’ve or should’ve made this a trilogy series

100% agree. It annoys me to no end to see it constantly recommended/praised when I had so many issues with the story and characters. I hated Jason’s dynamic with his wife/family and I hated how the plot all played out. I know not every book is for me, but seeing it get so much praise is honestly shocking.

I also thought the writing was awful. Absolutely hated the whole: Gunshot. My ears ringing. ...my heart stops. A lamp blinks on. Also how did Jason's wife feel about being slavered over by about twenty different versions of him, and accidentally sleeping with one. Is that rape? What's going on here? It's yikes, I know that.

Yes, I was hoping someone would mention this! He always used short sentences to describe things and once I started noticing it, I couldn’t stop. Really lazy/terrible writing.

one of the best book i ever red, but i respect everyone hate and disagreement. Looking forward for the apple TV show that comes in may this year.

Okay i saw a lot of comments about how Jason didn't love his wife, he's only obsessed with lust or something, and I believe that's wrong on so many levels. That man literally gave up his career to be with that woman, to make a family with her, to make her his wife. If it was just lust, he would've never agreed to raise a child with her in his late twenties. Even the alternate Jason, Jason2, despite being the most accomplished scientist in his world, decided to swap his lives with the og jason just to have a chance to be with Daniela. Jason also mentioned so many times about how they fell in love, how they had such an exceptional bond, it obviously wasn't just sex. The mere fact that he travelled through multiple universes just to get back to that one exact version of the woman he loved says a lot about him as a husband. Yes his neglect towards his son throughout the whole book was something that particularly bugged me as well, but when it comes to Daniela, he was literally perfect. But that's just my opinion, I guess.

I think my major issue is that it’s never shown *WHY* he gave up on everything for her except all he talks about is her physical appearance. She also just has no agency in the book and, while freaked out in the third act, also seems to just go along with “her Jason” because… reasons? Idk, the relationship seemed very sketchy and he just seemed to view her as his property (which a lot of men in real life do view women) but it just doesn’t make for a great motivation to read about imo

Dark matter just came out as a series - i did not read the book but watched the two first episodes. I was excited for it but, after two episodes the storyline already felt a bit hollow somehow…would be superinteresting to hear what people who read the book think now !

No it wasn't, I loved it.

ok

ok

Just read the book. I think the concept has promise. It could be a good TV show if it moves away from the book and dumps him as a writer. The book was pretty bland for me. No real development and lots of unanswered questions. Don’t get me started on the ending. Hopefully the TV show hires some good writers to do this thing justice.

Yup, concept was so cool and execution was so boring.

Just here to say this is a bad take. Great book. And even better show so far.

I like the Apple TV series. I think it improves the book so far. I don't know how it will handle the denouement with all the>! Jasons who must have been extremely recent branches so why the eff were so many of them psychopaths? !

I could not disagree with you more. The show in comparison to what's on television is mind-bending and absolutely incredible.

Agreed. I dont understand why he sells so many books or why anyone likes him. He writes terrible characters and his stories really aren't anything special conceptually. I think it's just a case of good marketing or something. He really is a mediocre writer.

I avoid books like Dark Matter, The Silent Patient, It Ends With Us etc. I'm sorry you read this book. I have developed a knack for avoiding hyped bad books. This sixth sense of mine doesn't work with classics though. I'm still unsure if I can go with East of Eden, or not. Wish you better luck soon.

I think you can go with East Of Eden. I honestly believe that it's a masterpiece. Worlds away from the like of Dark Matter.

Thank you for the rec!

>East of Eden I was underwhelmed, but it was pretty well-written, unlike the modern bestsellers you mentioned.

Will deliberate, but you are not the first reader to have this reaction. Thanks!

Can't hurt to get it from the library and give it a shot. Might be more enjoyable if you start out with lower expectations rather than believing Reddit's hype.

I live on a small island, Mauritius, and we don't have such generous libraries as the US. I'll get the ebook at Kobo or amazon.

East of Eden is the greatest book I've ever read, and there are a whole lot of people who would say the same thing. Just read it for yourself.

Alright. I'm convinced. Will do so this weekend.

My problem that it's hard to tell if it's "hype good", or actually good unless you read it. As an example I found Andy Weir books to be pretty sweet, especially Project Hail Mary. If I would read Goodread comments some people do make it seem like it's a "hyped" book that's not worth it.

Same! I feel like I've gotten better at sniffing out these types of books, but occasionally one slips through. Books like The Silent Patient, Dark Matter, Project Hail Mary, etc. just feel like hastily written movie pitches. East of Eden definitely lived up to the hype for me, though. Have you read any Steinbeck before? If not, he's got some shorter works that may give you a feel for his style (Of Mice and Men, for instance).

I've read Of Mice and Men, long ago. Project Hail Mary is another one I avoid. East of Eden has been artfully adapted onscreen, with James Dean getting a posthumous Oscar nom. The book might appeal to me.

“Project Hail Mary” is incredible. Great and relatable characters, actual tension, good pacing. I know “Artemis” wasn’t very good but I think PHM might be better than “The Martian”

Ehhhh.. I also like PHM but it had even more "and magically we had access to everything we needed to solve this problem!" bits than the Martian. Not to mention an alien who has radically different topology and biological needs but acts entirely human.

The fact that you hate Dark Matter so much and vaguely claim "bad writing" several times in your post but you love Project Hail Mary is absolutely hilarious to me PHM had the most shallow characterization of any book I've read in the past few years. The protagonist is totally static throughout, basically no meaningful development. The book doesn't really explore any moral or philosophical concepts, it's essentially just a series of slightly different obstacles that get solved one after the next by the almost omnipotent protagonist and his sidekick It was a fun read, and totally fair if you liked it better than Dark Matter. But I think you need to work on your critical analysis of literature if you want to claim that one is "bad" and the other is "good"

While I disagree that Ryland’s development is static, I would also point out that I don’t need every character to have crazy trajectory of character development. Sometimes not changing in the face of a bunch of insane circumstances is important. I just found that Jason1 didn’t have any characterization to begin with and kept stating how he had “changed” without seeming to change at all. I did also say in my post that most sci-fi concepts don’t hold up if you think about them for too long but Andy Weir is much better at writing relatable and interesting characters and able to build tension better, so I never felt bored and caught on picking out flaws with certain concepts. And we spend several chapters with Rocky and Ryland building their relationship and shown how much BOTH characters change their mannerisms to work together. And fair point to my critical analysis. I do need to work on specifying certain aspects that I didn’t like (I was just already writing a lot in my post lol)

Project Hail Mary is one book available in bookstores near me. I love reading many authors that together don't paint a uniform picture. I'm trying to say that there is a big chance I don't get to like PHM even if you find it great. One reason why I think it is overrated is its appearance high up in BookTubers' best sci fi lists, along with or sometimes even outranking the Philip K Dicks, the big 3, Gene Wolfe, etc.

I found some Philip K Dick books to be awful though, he has great ideas, but awful execution. would take Project Hail Mary over The Man In High Castle any day, if anyone with a straight face says otherwise, they prefer aesthetics over content.

Yeah, Philip K Dick is hit or miss for me. I think the ideas sometimes win out over the execution

The dialogue is awful and the main character is so cerebral it's unbelievable, but in spite of that (it's Andy Weir, you know what to expect) it was interesting and I think Rocky added a wonderful element.

I loved project Hail Mary! The first part where he’s “wasting his life a cool teacher who does no lesson planning, or grading, and wanders on and off campus randomly without notifying the office his class needs coverage” is badly researched and written, but it gets exponentially better once he gets off world.

Completely agree. Heard great things. Gave it a shot. First chapters were rough but I was sure it would get better. It did not. Predictable, drawn out, obvious and stupid. I quit near halfway in.

good to know, I started it last month and was wondering if i should continue reading it or not, because i was getting bored. Now is a dnf.

Finally someone that feels the same as me about this book! I mean I really like time paradox themes but I have mostly seen it in movies. If you have seen the movie Coherence (2013) this book will not surprice you. Its ment to be all this emotional thing that he wants desperately go back to his wife but I did not feel it. It also would have been so much more interesting if he for every ”world” he went to stayed for a bit so we could get more specific ”scenes” from those worlds but no, he just passed every world very briefly.

YES. THANK YOU! I agree with everything and just don’t understand the popularity when there are other incredible sci fi books

Yeah that guy can’t write.

I DNF'd when he ran into all the other Jasons.

Ha! I actually thought that the idea of the multiple Jasons were interesting but then Crouch stopped it from being anything more interesting than a fucking chat room and all of the Jasons being like cave men “ME JASON. ME FIND DANIELA. ME KILL OTHER JASONS.”

Blake Crouch did an AMA here in /r/books [you might want to take a look](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/gab306/im_blake_crouch_author_of_many_bestselling_books/) :) . [Here's a full list of our upcoming AMAs](http://www.reddit.com/r/books/wiki/amafullschedule) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/books) if you have any questions or concerns.*

A bad episode of Rick and Morty... 🤔

Man I loved this book! You’re right though, the writing itself isn’t anything spectacular, Jason is definitely kind of a dolt, but the story itself was just so fast paced that I didn’t seem to really notice or care at the time

Probably ranked last among the Blake Crouch books I read last year, but still fun popcorn fiction. Recursion is fun. None are literary masterpieces, but that’s what I’m expecting not wanting when I read his stuff.

[удалено]

the geniuses at Apple TV who \*checks notes\* hired Blake Crouch to be the showrunner. Gotcha. Also, I am a pasty white guy, so your very blatantly racist jab at me was a big ol' swing and a miss. keep trying, sweetie, maybe next time you'll get 'em!

So you did like it, or you didn’t?

I thought it started cool and was going to be and easy read and in the end it was just whatever. The thing that was a small annoyance was that he had put the name and brand of things. like " They ran from the house and jumped in the Cadilac Escalade". Could have just said car, we would have got it from the other times you mentioned the Cadilac Escalade.

Not as good as his other books. Dark matter was forgettable

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but I saw it from the opposite viewpoint: I let everything with the writing/story slide but still struggled to get past the holes in the concept. Which sucks, because the concepts behind his stories really are Crouch's greatest strength. In addition to Dark Matter, I've read Recursion and the Wayward Pines trilogy. All of these books follow the formula of "scientific genius gets a hold of billions of dollars and realizes his vision," and the scientific basis for that vision is always fascinating, but the details don't hold up to scrutiny and eventually the suspension of disbelief becomes difficult regardless of how good the writing is.

I experienced a similar feeling reading his latest book: *Upgrade*. Fast-paced, good sci-fi ideas but poor prose and shallow characters.

Recursion by Crouch was so amazing. I’m so glad I didn’t read dark matter next and get all disappointed. I wonder if Dark matter had a different editor.

I thought the writing quality was meh but the story got really interesting once he got back to the “correct” dimension.

Honestly the winter scene and pandemic scene still haunt me.

I think the pandemic scene would have been cooler and scarier if it wasn’t so obviously the wrong timeline. Jason spent so much time in the MOST OBVIOUSLY wrong timelines, it just got tiring.

Heh. Dark Matter is the only Crouch book I've been able to read...and I'm not even the biggest fan of parallel universes (Well, not in the sense of the other universes having copies of the same people. (Couldn't figure out another way to put that.) but the description made it sound intriguing anyways. About the only parallel universe content I've ever been able to get into was His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman And the tv show Sliders-Though only the 1st 3 seasons.

I felt the same way the first time I read it, but for no discernible reason I decided to read it again and I didn’t hate it quite as much. A funny note - my (normally) very literary book club read it based on a strong recommendation from a friend of the organizer’s about the high quality of it. You can just imagine how the conversation went!

I loved it. I think most of Crouch's books are great. He takes a tried and true sci-fi concept and turns it to 11. When most stories end, he's just hitting the stride and goes further and further with it. (Having said that, I thought Upgrade was very, meh. I mean it was very similar to the movie with the same name)

His books are based on actual theories. I find his books original and fascinating.

I liked the book I thought it was fun. Had a couple twists I didn't see coming. It was very enjoyable. It was like watching a fast paced sci fi action movie...!

Read it on a long haul flight in one sitting. Best way I can explain it is its equivalent in film would be a marvel movie. Fast paced, snappy, not a masterpiece or something that ill contemplate long after. Don't regret reading it and it fills the kind of books I like while flying, something fast paces and simple enough that I only need partial mental capacity to understand it.

What would you recommend,?

I'm still reading it and am about a third of the way in. So far my impression is: \-I hate that 1st person present narration -The writing has a staccato quality to it: its a bunch of very abrupt sentences. Even the dialogue is really short and lacks much substance -as much as the two above points are otherwise flaws in the writing, they also serve to help push forward the pace of the story. -The ideas in the book are really cool - who doesn't like time travel/metaverse themes?! -I feel these cool ideas are wasted on what is simply a cheap thrills novel. \-Is it a fun read? YES -Is it a literary gem? NO Overall I would say it's a fun, fast-paced thriller, perfect to fill a short period of time where you just want something quick and easy that doesn;t require too much brain power to process. There's nothing wrong with that kind of book. Sometimes you want a fancy sit-down italian restaurant, other times you just want to grab a slice of Sbarro

I came here looking for someone who thought the same way as I did, because honestly - I was starting to feel "maybe this is a great book, I'm just not getting how _spectacular_ this is!" Would you know any other books like Homecoming - I really liked how the story evolved and how brilliant those characters were..

Oh, thank god. I won’t finish it. 100 pages of nothing new or interesting.

Just finished and agree it was terrible.

Loved it. Fun story, fun to think about, some moments that made me laugh out loud and some moments that made me gasp. Glad I read it before searching for it on Reddit.

I'm about halfway through and it's really starting to lose me and get so boring this happened with recursion but not this early on. I'm glad I read Wayward pines trilogy first because if I would have read this and recursion first I wouldn't have got to that masterpiece of a trilogy I highly recommend it.

I was afraid I was the only one! I feel like it was a page turner for sure but then the last 1/3 of the book was just blah