This was another wild ride from Blake Crouch!
It was my second book from him, and just like with Dark Matter, you hVe to focus quite intensely at times to understand the scientific explanations.
The main idea was an interesting concept to explore and definitely something that I’ll remember!

Thank you for my review copy!

Recursion by Blake Crouch is a pageturner and a detailed science-fiction thought provoking story about time, identity, and memory

Where do I start with this one! Recursion by Blake Crouch is such a mind blowing and unique book and it’s hard to know what to say. Apart from I LOVED IT!

Thanks to Pan Macmillan for giving me for giving me a copy of this book for review consideration. As always, no matter what the source of the book, you get my honest, unbiased opinion.

MY THOUGHTS ON RECURSION

I do think it would be very useful to know what recursion means before you start this book, I didn’t. But it’s such a brilliant title for the loop the loop plotline.

Recursion : “the repeated application of a recursive procedure or definition”
This book brings a whole new meaning to déjà vu. As I travelled the plotlines over and over, my mind wandered down the most exciting and confusing warren of rabbit holes. I could hardly think straight I was so busy trying to keep everything unravelled, but it was a challenge I loved undertaking.

The science was well explained, again I’ll say challenging, but well worth the effort as it added extra layers to the complexity of the plot. And no complaints about the pace here; the flow is electrifying and action-packed.

I feel Blake Crouch’s books are an exciting, twisty and dark blend of sci-fi and thrillers and that makes them very unique reads for me. I actually picked up his first book Dark Matter by mistake thinking it was a thriller, and it was the best mistake I ever made.

Love, love, love these books and whatever new genre he seems to have invented for himself!

WHO SHOULD READ RECURSION BY BLAKE CROUCH

Highly recommended if you love twisty, science fiction and alternate reality plotlines. Fans of Parallel by Lauren Miller and Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid should also like this one. Note these two books are pretty different to Recursion, but I think if you like one, you’ll like the other.

This was my first Blake Crouch novel but for sure not my last - I found this absolutely excellent. I don’t read SciFi very often but this was well-written, cleverly crafted, original, complex but easy to get into, with a fabulous cast of multi-layered characters and above all it was great fun to read. Highly recommended to anyone who likes good story-telling and mind-bending thought experiments!

Another complicated weird story from Blake Crouch but that is exactly why I love his books. The story did lose me at times but as long as you suspend all belief and not try and work it out too much it is highly enjoyable. Dont know how he comes up with his storylines but cannot wait til the next one.

Definitely one of my favourite reads from Netgalley from one of my favourite authors Blake Crouch never fails to deliver.
How many times would you relive your life and what would you change.....................think of the consequences very carefully!!
Great story line and great characters read this late into the night as needed to know what happened, you won't be disappointed.
Review posted on Amazon

I adored Dark Matter so couldn't wait to read Recursion. I was not disappointed - another cracking read and firmly places him on my "must read" list!

Im a big fan of Blake Crouch but sadly i didn't enjoy this as much as Dark Matter. It is still a really good story i jsut felt it was overly repitive. I'll be looking out for more new books from this author.

Wow. I haven't read a book that has completely consumed my life in a LONG time.

I read this over 3 days and even when I put it down to go to work, I was totally invested in the story and the characters and was obsessing over what was going to happen next. Maybe that's normal for some people but, for me, it takes an extremely good book to get into my mind and stay there, even when I'm not actually reading it.

This is my first Blake Crouch novel but certainly won't be the last. I'll definitely be going back to read more of his stuff if it's even half as good as this. The writing is just incredible. There are so many intricacies involved in weaving the plot of Recursion together but the pay off when those strands are pulled together is just mind-blowing.

If you haven't read this, please do. It's such a quick read but you'll definitely be thinking about it long after.

Thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me with a copy to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

The story itself took me by surprise, and all the twists and endings were also unexpected which is nice when you’re reading a tense thriller. About half way through the book I started getting worried and questioning what else could the author possibly put in, and how is he going to continue the story. But Blake Crouch weaved all the lines spectacularly well into one, intrinsic story. I loved the concept of the book itself and I’m really interested in how our brains process memories in general. Therefore, reading sci-fi related to that is always alluring. I also thought that it was just as good as the first book I’ve read by Blake Crouch.

Ok, so this book is now the front runner in the race for the one that has made me say 'WTAF' the most, as well as the most times that I have put a book down and considered whether my brain can cope with carrying on!
I don't even know how to review it!
Safe to say that if you liked Dark Matter, then this type of dark, mind-bending story will be right up your street!

This is a story about memories.
A number of people are suffering from False Memory Syndrome FMS. Barry Sutton is a NYPD officer looking into the story of a woman suffering from FMS, who committed suicide in front of him. He stumbles into something unexpected. Helena Smith is a neuroscientist whose mother suffers from Alzheimer's. Helena wants to find a way to preserve memories. Somewhere along the book their stories intertwine.
Blake Crouch is a very talented writer. This story is exiting, tragic and full of action. Although at times I was little confused with all the different timelines.
Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a copy of this book.

Blake Crouch does it again. The Wayward Pines trilogy and Dark Matter were works of perfection. Recursion was not quite up there with them but it was damn close.
Time travel and future tech are his specialities and it shows. As per usual some of the scientific terminologies went over my head. If you find yourself struggling with it also, I urge you to read on just let it wash over you. it's worth it.
With a gripping storyline and wonderfully connectable characters, this was another brilliant read from BC.

I'm not usually interested in this genre of book, however I was recommended Dark Matter by this author and it was incredible, so I requested Recursion hoping for more of the same.
Well, I got it, and more! Recursion is wonderfully written and really absorbed me into the storyline.
I'll be looking for more from Blake Crouch in the future

Blake Crouch’s follow-up to the fantastic Dark Matter was a very ambitious endeavour - a deep exploration into humanity’s relationship with time and memory, embodied within a tech thriller... perhaps a bit too ambitious. Whilst at times the novel grips you, and you appreciate the effort in making a coherent story about consciousness time travel, it sometimes feels very muddled. It was good, just not great, and after the high expectations of Dark Matter, can’t help but feel a bit of a let down. Let’s give it a 3.75 out of 5!

I have read a few of Blake Crouch's novels and was completely blown away by Dark Matter. I could not wait to get my hands on Recursion and I was hoping for another fast paced sci-fi adventure and that is certainly what I got!

This novel tells the story of Barry (a sometime NYPD cop) and Helena (a leading scientist in the field of memory research) as they move through memories and life times in order to prevent humans detroying the world. Helena was consumed by the desire to build a memory chair to help patients with Alzheimers hold on to key memories, however when the technology is leaked, human kind becomes greedy and so begins the downfall of humanity.

I enjoyed the dual narrative as I feel moving between characters keeps me on my toes, however I found the last 100 pages or so a little monotonous as we moved from failed memory timeline to the next. In my opinion, this is a lot more hard sci-fi than Dark Matter and at times I felt lost in all the technical and scientific theory, but once I stopped trying to understand every word of those explanatory sections, I relaxed into the story and was moved along by the plot.

It certainly makes the reader think about memories and the way in which we approach and live our lives and those parts were very moving. Overall, an enjoyable read and I would recommend it but it lacked that extra something for me.

Wow, what a wild time I had reading this book. Right from the onset it's clear that it is going to be a thought-provoking, gripping and thrilling novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat and it sure doesn't disappoint.

Given that the key theme of the story is of memories, Crouch does a great job of scene-setting by supplying enough details for each scene to be clear and distinct, ensuring that the reader feels immersed in the story and can recall scenes when they are referred back to. I appreciate good scene-setting in any novel, but it is particularly important to this one due to the nature of the plot.

There's a fair deal of science involved in the story, both in Helena's initial research and later on when she is dealing with the fallout of what's happened. I found it all rather believable, to the extent that it caused me to have a bit of an existential crisis when she and other characters are discussing our perception of time/reality. That's not a bad thing as such - more like a testament to the effort that's gone into making the novel one that really has an impact on the reader.

It does take a reasonable amount of brain power to keep up with everything that happens as there's quite a lot of jumping between characters and timelines, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend the book to someone who is looking for a light read. If however you're after something that will grab your attention, blow your mind and leave you feeling a little breathless, then this book is it.

OH. MY. GOD. Recursion’s got to be one of the most addictive books I’ve read this year so far. What starts as an apparently simple suicide investigation soon turns into something bigger and with much more dire consequences. I thought I knew where the plot was going but I kept getting surprised with every twist and turn the story took. A cleverly plotted, thrilling and heartbreaking book that will keep you reading until you’ve turned the last page.

A great introduction to Blake Crouch’s work. I’ll definitely have to read Dark Matter asap.

Time travel is real. Barry Sutton, a police officer, tries to coax a suicidal woman off a building’s edge. Helena Smith, a neuroscientist, wants to help those (including her mother) whose memories are lost due to Alzheimer’s disease.
Marcus Slade, a very wealthy inventor, puts Helena’s dream into practice by creating a chair where memories can be recreated and relived. Whilst Helena’s invention is well-meant, it has catastrophic consequences.

I had great expectations for this as I was blown away by Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter but I didn’t think this was as good. I was reading a certain scene then, without warning, all of a sudden it jumps into another scenario with change of town, country, weather etc. It felt very disjointed. Don’t get me wrong, this was brilliantly written but to be honest it got confusing with all the flitting back and forth.

This wasn’t really for me, but if you love sci-fi and time-travel novels this comes highly recommended.

Rating: 3.5/5

8/10

Blake Crouch is a name that makes me devour everything he produces. The Pines trilogy and Dark Matter were enough to show me I like his style and his thinking. When I saw this on NetGalley there was no way I would pass it up and I'm glad I read it, this is another hit and bound to do really well.

Initially it was hard to see how the two characters were connected due to differing time lines and very separate storylines but things soon came together. It's not an overly complicated novel but it does require you to keep your wits about you. There are many time jumps and differing paths. How Blake Crouch came up with the concept of this and the impact that it would have on everyone and everything is beyond me, it all plays out in a believable way though and you find yourself nodding along as if it is all plausible (I really hope not).

My only criticism would be [that it became a little repetitive near the end of the novel with a lot of repeating of timelines trying to get things to come together. This is a minor criticism though and not one that took up masses of the book.

Well worth a read and there is plenty of interesting ideas and characters to make this a quick, riveting read. I can't wait to see what crazy shit Blake Crouch comes up with next. (I've also got some of his older stuff to be going at too!)