Read Dates: July 10, 2021 – July 11, 2021
Date Published: May 30, 2020
Source: Free ebook via OnineBookClub.org in exchange for an honest review
From Amazon:
Worldlines is the first novel in the Many Worlds series, and is a psychological thriller sitting firmly in the science fiction genre. Specifically, it resides in the visionary and metaphysical sub-genre, as well as using elements of hard science fiction and magical realism.
The Many Worlds series of novels imply that we live in a multiverse, and that everything that we experience is true in some manner or another. Not just the world around us that we see every day, but also our dreams and our hallucinations. The books hypothesise that these dreams and hallucinations allow each of us to see other worldlines within the multiverse and, in the context of lucid dreaming, be able to control someone else’s life. You will then explore various worldlines within that multiverse, and the devastating consequences when they inadvertently interact with one another.
Taking that hypothesis further, if we really do live in a multiverse, it would open up the possibility of immortality for each of us. The idea that our consciousness would always choose the path of least resistance, and therefore regardless of the scenario, we would always experience survival from our own perspective. In layman’s terms that means that if you and I were involved in an accident, you could experience my death, I may experience yours, but we’d both survive from our own perspective. We’d both continue to live our lives in separate worldlines.
This psychological thriller uses the butterfly effect to explore how different one person’s life can be based on what, at the time, appear the most trivial of actions. But sometimes, actions in one worldline, can have catastrophic consequences in another.
Follow the many lives of Gary Jackson through this hard science fiction novel, as with the assistance of his true love, Michelle Peyton, his best friend, Sinead O’Brien, and his physics tutor, Professor Leyton Buzzard, they attempt to unravel the secrets of the multiverse.
At time of writing the book, described as a metaphysical treat by Independent Book Review, has received over 200 4/4 reviews from the readers of Online Book Club, and currently sits 12th in their ongoing Book Of The Year poll for 2020, 5th in the science fiction category. It will also be featured as their Book Of The Month in July 2021.
Meanwhile, in another place, Physics student Gary Jackson finds himself in prison for a murder he has no memory of committing. Can the dreamer help the student get acquitted for a murder everyone saw him commit? Or will Gary spend his life in prison for someone else’s crime?
WOW. Just… wow. I will admit that at first, I was a bit bored. I felt the author was rambling a bit and I wrote in my notes, “What is this guy on about?” Well, I’ll tell ya… I wasn’t ready. I was in NO WAY ready. I arrived at a chapter where it was incredibly clear I was still residing with the same characters but the situation had completely changed. But it would, wouldn’t it? If, say, we were in a different dimension.
I love science fiction books but this was not what I am used to. I’m used to space stories complete with battles and interplanetary weaponry. Or stories about other species on different planets and the trials and climates they face. Not this. This was crazy! This was a whole new experience for me and I loved it!
Our main characters that we revolve around throughout each worldline are Gary, Michelle, and Sinead. Along with their families, of course. Sinead’s mother, Mary, plays a huge role in this story as well if you ask me. Mainly, though, Gary who finds that his professor might not be far off on his in depth tangent on life or death situations along with all the possible outcomes and the idea that all the possible outcomes have been played out in other parallel universes. This intrigued me from the start and I was excited to see where the story would go since there was NO WAY this book would have focused on this tangent so closely if it wasn’t going to matter later.
Is it not possible that whilst we sleep, our consciousness drifts into neighbouring Worldlines, passing through different eventualities, each one making perfect sense in that moment? Yet you wake up, you remember the journey through those Worldlines, and it’s only then you think about the lack of continuity. At this point, you just shrug it off as a weird dream, but I wake up in a morning, and I can recall a dream. This means I have made conscious memories, in my sleep, whilst I was unconscious. How do you explain that?”
What, then, would happen if you became entangled in the crimes of a version of you from a parallel universe? What if you did something to land yourself in cuffs but you have no memory of doing it as it wasn’t you who did it in the first place? It was, instead, a you from a parallel universe. These are the things that kept me up at night.
Seriously though, after four hours of non stop reading and obsessing over the premise of this novel, I decided I should never sleep again, lest I end up in a parallel universe by accident and do something to ruin that dimension’s me.
Is any of this making sense?
This question brings me to my next point on this book. The author made this wild and complex idea into a story that was easily followed. Not once did I get lost in all the science behind what was happening. Guest wrote this book in a way that we could all understand and appreciate what was going on. While reading this book, you’ll jump back and forth between all the different worldlines, but the way he presents it is so easy to follow. Not once did I have to go back to make sure I understood what I just read.
“I can’t process all of this,” I said. “It’s like there’s been a glitch in the matrix.” “That would be no more far-fetched a theory than you having been possessed by someone from another Worldline,” she commented.
I found myself gasping out loud multiple times while reading this. I was so enthralled by what was going on. I never could have seen any of it coming. It was fantastic! When I finally finished reading that first night, I kept my husband up talking about the book and debating what this might mean if the theories in this story were real. And if I’m being honest, this book has me believing.
This book is a wild ride and I wish I could say more but I really don’t want to give anything away. This book was so much fun to read and I would highly recommend it to anyone with an open mind who loves sci-fi mind-benders.
I mean, honestly, where else can you get a book that give you a sad ending, a happy ending, and a cliffhanger simultaneously!?
If you like reading books that make you forget who you are and where you are, I implore you to read this. But don’t just read it, become it. Do whatever you have to do to get in the zone so that there is nothing except you and this book. If you can immerse yourself completely, it is a wonderfully mind-boggling experience that will have you up at night wondering what parallel universe yous might do to your universe. 😉
But unconsciousness, and sleep by definition, would seem to disprove that theory. And yet we dream and make conscious memories in our sleep. The two facts don’t tally. There must be a missing link.”
✌💛
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