Quantum Cage by Davis Bunn delivers a captivating blend of science fiction and suspense. When scientists accidentally establish contact with aliens, accountant Darren Costa is pulled into their world.

Bunn crafts an imaginative tale exploring the potential of quantum theory and the enigma of alien communication. As humans and aliens face threats, they must decipher a crucial formula to secure their survival.

With its fast-paced narrative and intriguing concepts, Quantum Cage will likely appeal to sci-fi fans who enjoy a thrilling race against time.

Quantum Cage is the story of a man joining a top secret team partially made up of old friends to mind meld with aliens while navigating dangers on Earth and on that other planet. In the relatively small count of pages it had, it accomplished a complete story arc with a satisfying conclusion. There was a twist I didn't quite see coming that was really well done. I really enjoyed the aliens and the transits and everything about that storyline. Weirdly, it was the human things that detracted from it. As a whole package, though, it wasn't bad, and I'm not mad I read it.

3.5 stars, rounded down for reasons I'll detail below.

I had some issues with it, though. For a short novel, there were parts that were unnecessarily repetitive (far, far too many scenes wasting sentences on descriptions of meals, for one). I found the narrative dragging in places, and I chalk that up to delaying information for the mystery of it, which ultimately just made things more confusing. I'm no physicist, certainly, but there were places where description of physics (or dreams, or alien society) felt bulked up with fluff, like a student might do when trying to hit the word count on an essay. Descriptions were long, but vague, sometimes nearly incomprehensible. Early on, I assumed it was to draw out the big reveals, but it wasn't something that lessened as the story progressed.

I started out really wanting to know more about Darren's family and his strained relationship with these old friends, but ultimately they didn't really matter much. Despite being told about his grief for his wife, I didn't feel it. I actually kind of hated her for forcing his separation from his friends for what felt like a really stupid reason. But unfortunately, the friend storyline didn't really give me what I wanted, either. They each had their own little story and/or backstory (Barry and his hotel sale, Tanaka and his good deeds), but they didn't really matter. Despite the story opening up with Darren and Barry (for faaar too long leading up to the alien reveal, which I knew from the blurb), Neil ended up being the most consequential to the plot. It all left me feeling like the friends could have been mashed into one old best friend to make for a much tighter story. There was a missed opportunity here, I feel.