A mind-bending, reality-altering corker of a novel. Hats off to Cole Haddon for this complex achievement. A book of this magnitude with so many dangling threads feels vast but so rewarding as connections are made and the reader grasps how this book hangs together. I really enjoyed Gracie and Bobby's story and the many, many additional stories threaded delicately together.

Psalms for the End of the World is an emotional kaleidoscope. The heart of this novel is about the personal experience of so many and how they come to be linked together. The cast of characters is wide, and fair to say, a bit confusing, but worth relaxing into the story with trust knowing it will all make sense further down the line. I loved the history jumping and the people living in all these differing timelines. Touching and sad, funny too. This novel delivers a story of epic scale with tenderness and compassion.

Couldn't finish it to be honest - think the interweaving of stories just became too much to get through to continue with the main plotline

This book is completely unique and yet somewhat familiar. There really is no easy way to describe it that doesn’t risk highlighting the premise that makes up the real heart of the book. It’s a book I think has the potential to polarise readers, one that it took me the best part of a week to read and absorb because there is a lot going on and a lot to think about.

It’s a book I really enjoyed, and that may seem a little strange to some as this is, potentially, as close as I’ve come to reading a science fiction style of novel for a very, very, long time. But beyond those elements which make us think long and hard about the very nature of existence, there is a mystery that feeds through the very centre of this novel. It is this that drew my attention, that and the moments of humour that have the capacity to both amuse some and, most likely, offend others.

This was a book I did need to concentrate on. There are so many threads, so many different stories that are told during the course of the story, that keeping track of the characters takes some doing. Ultimately, all roads lead in a very similar direction, but trying to guess what the ultimate destination might be seems almost impossible.

There was a moment when certain truths are spelt out, when the author pulls readers sharply towards an unexpected truth, and from that point on, watching events unfold is done with a kind of knowing smugness in that we are far more aware than any of the characters we are watching. But the author has many surprises still up his sleeve, and there are many revelations yet to come that have the capacity to upend everything you thought you knew.

The central characters of Gracie and Jones I did come to like pretty quickly. Good news as they lead reads on one heck of a journey. There are so many characters, all very clearly defined and unique, whose stories we become invested in for very different reasons, but in some respects this was one of the great challenges of the book. Keeping track of just where were were in both time and space. From 18th century France to a near future that is scarily believable, North and South America, London and many places in between and beyond.

There was one poignant moment in which the story talks of King Charles III, pages I read just a day after this became very much our new reality. Whilst it was a fleeting reference, it is just one of many factual references that infuse the novel, giving readers a real sense of time.

There is a strong sense of tension that informs the story, particularly as Jones is forced on the run, accused of a crime he could not have committed. But it is more the way in which the book questions the very fabric of reality – of the meaning of life, time, and religion – and makes the reader also think about the possibilities of a kind of virtual reality that is where the power of the book lies. At least I think it is. Maybe I didn’t really read the book after all. Who knows?

If you like your books to be unique, mind-bending and challenging, packed with great narrative and characters who will occupy far too much of your thoughts, this could well be the book for you. There are some moments that will make you stop and pause and wonder if you really read what you think you did, but just go with it. The rewards will be rich.

In 1962 Grace gets to know Robert in the diner where she works until one day everything is disrupted by the FBI who claim that Robert has been planting bombs and murdering people. Grace impulsively follows Robert as he goes on the run. This is just the start of an incredible story as you soon discover how many lives are connected to Grace and Robert’s experiences – not only across the world but spanning multiple times in history.

This is a truly epic story – there are so many ideas and emotions coming together in such a beautiful and fascinating book. I guarantee you will carry on thinking about it long after you have finished reading. The writing is excellent and every character has been thought out in such great detail.

Cole Haddon transports you to another time and place in a way that is so seamless, it was brilliant how he could switch the entire feel of the book from one chapter to the next. It is a complete rollercoaster of a story - just when you think there can’t be any more twists you’re hit with one that completely throws you. I loved that I never knew where the plot was heading.

I really did not want this book to end.

Thank you NetGalley and Headline Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I had no idea what I was in for with this novel - and whilst I rarely read longer novels that I am not sure I will definitely enjoy, I am so glad that I decided to read Psalms For The End Of The World. Truly a captivating and emotional literary journey through time and space that I would recommend everybody picks up.

Wow just wow this book is fabulous I adore a time travel novel and this one is vast ,complex and intelligent
From the start it is clear that the story is being told from multiple different points of view and at multiple times in history and is spread around the world
As you get deeper into the book you discover the complex and beautiful but sometimes traumatic stories of these people from African prince turned slave to a Jewish family in the Second World War and after .There are several characters that turn up repeatedly including a not so thinly disguised musician David Bowie complete with different coloured eyes .
The author cleverly slowly releases what turn out to be clues to what links these people .I loved the dawning understanding of the multiple worlds and what is behind them it was so gradual and fluid that I felt I’d understood it from the start .I hadn’t of course but there was no big reveal instead the author allows the full story to come out organically
This is a beautifully crafted book full or originality and wit ,yes it’s long but I was so glad I could spend time immersed in its pages .
Think Men I’m Black crossed with West world and you would be somewhere near
I loved the way when worlds were erased so were the chapter ends with some disappearing mud way through a sentence
Within the story by the author looks at anti-semitism and the racism suffered by black people on today’s world ,these heavy topics were covered in a way that was subtle and hard hitting at the same time .In the same way the slave trade and the Holocaust were backgrounds to some stories but I never felt lectured to
I would recommend to anyone who enjoys intelligent complex sci fi with a naturalistic time travel background full of interesting well defined characters .I loved this book
I was fortunate to be able to read this book early on NetGalley Uk
The book is published by Headline books 1st sSeptember 2022 it will be gifted by me this Christmas