A Fractured Infinity
Ratings1
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings1
Average rating3.5
A thrilling race across the multiverse to save the infinite Earths - and the love of your life - from total destruction for fans of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, The Time Traveller's Wife and Rick and Morty. Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner - a mysterious device that can predict the future. Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn't recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf... as his husband. As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple's story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf's life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf. With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space - soon he will have to decide how much he's willing to pay to save the love of his life.
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Despite glowing reviews in Publishers Weekly and The New York Times, I wonder if A Fractured Infinity will find much of an audience. It's marketed as a sci-fi novel, but the entire plot is hinges on its queer love story. It might appeal to romance readers, but its cover doesn't have cute cartoon illustrations so I doubt they'd pick it up (that's a slam on the publishers, not the readers). Despite these challenges, I hope readers of both genres will take a chance on this strong debut novel. Hayes is a snarky, broke, cynical documentary filmmaker who is shocked to learn that a) there are an infinite number of universes and b) in one of them, he is a brilliant scientist who has created a machine capable of predicting the future. As he tries to determine the nature of his relationship to his other self and the “Envisioner,” he also falls in love with Yusuf, a physicist who has been surreptitiously calculating how this unique technology could affect our world. But when the the Envisioner predicts that Yusuf must die in order to avoid a catastrophic, civilization-destroying pandemic (The Trolley Problem plus the Butterfly Effect), Hayes uses his new skills to hop to another multiverse, with Yusuf in tow. The beginning of the story is a little slow, but once the lovers become fugitives, the excitement ramps up. Because Hayes is a filmmaker, he can't help pulling back and describing some of the scenes with his Storyteller voice, complete with script pages and scene previews. These idiosyncrasies make the novel more interesting, although they allow Hayes to keep an emotional distance from the events, until the decisions he's made catch up with him. The love story between Hayes and Yusuf is understated but heartfelt. Hayes is one of those “I don't do relationships” guys and Yusuf is coded as autistic, unable to make flowery declarations of love but clearly head over heels for Hayes. Seeing their relationship play out in a variety of metaverses helps them better appreciate their own bond, and makes Hayes' decision even more agonizing, as he starts to realize that he can't run from the future forever.No spoilers, except to say that as a romance reader I was very satisfied with the ending. Hey [a:Nathan Tavares 21645853 Nathan Tavares https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1661466048p2/21645853.jpg], have you considered giving this book a cute title and a new cover, and then marketing directly to the romance community?
