So Good!!

I absolutely loved this book...everything about it was wonderful. Very rarely do I want to re-listen to a book, but as soon as I finished this one I started it again. And I enjoyed it even more the second time... It really is fabulous, and is definitely on my 'Favourite Book' list.

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Life is perception.

"Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St John Mandel (@emilystjohnmandel) is a book about Time Travel, and Simulation Hypothesis made famous by Nick Bostrom. This is my first novel by the modern author, and toward the end, I felt like it was worthwhile. In my reading experience, she reminds me of a more sane version of Philip K Dick without the pulp feel, more level-headed and calm in its sprinkling of items throughout the novel for it to all come together.

It's hard to review the book without revealing the author's bag of tricks. If you like a short sci-fi (I hate the term "speculative fiction"), that covers modes of time across centuries, this is a fun read.

When humanity meets the cold heartedness of a potential false reality, you are left with a novel that leaves you questioning your habits, and whether a slight bump into a new frequency, would find you somewhere else, entirely.

"Sometimes you don't know you're going to throw a grenade until you've already pulled the pin."

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loved this read

The way the author played with time and space kept me captivated through out. I loved Kirsten Potter as a narrator. could listen to that voice all day

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Enjoyable listen

A good companion for a long drive, after a slowish start. Great narration and easy to follow at 1.15 x speed. It wasn't quite as compelling as I'd expected..... some books are just better read than listened to and this may be one of them. Imaginative and entertaining nevertheless.

Very disappointing

The book has been critically acclaimed but frankly I found it lacked coherence and contained several plot holes. The protagonist interviews his later self and doesn’t realise it? Really? It takes a long while to get going and it’s really only interesting in the last few chapters. Having a range of different narrators distracts rather than enhances and some of them were unsuited to the part they narrated.
Overall a very disappointing plot - which promised a lot and delivered far less than I expected.

Intriguing time travel

I found this quite imaginative and satisfying, although it’s unclear why the Time Travel Institute travels, and it seems they cause the anomalies they’re investigating without realising it.

Intriguing setup

Started out with an intriguing setup - was really looking forward to seeing what happened when the stories merged but was pretty disappointed to discover a fairy unoriginal convergence. Still, an easy holiday novel but not an escape from pandemic vibes.

not my thing

it's clever but drags on, wasn't to my liking but has good reviews so give it a go. I found some of the narrators annoying which didn't help.

Brilliant science fiction.

Original and engaging. Listened to the whole thing in a single sitting. One of my favourite books of 2022.

gripping

such an unusual story. I loved the plot and the characters as well as the various narrators. a perfect book to listen to in our "post covid" world.