A Quantum Love Story
by Mike Chen
A Quantum Love Story came out yesterday, just a few days before what is probably the most iconic of all time loop stories settings, Groundhog’s Day. In A Quantum Love Story, Mariana Pineda is grieving the loss of her step sister/best friend, which has nudged her into making changes in her life like finding a new job to replace her current role helping to develop memory targeting drugs. She can’t resist though holding on one last week so she can be involved with a project with a top secret particle accelerator, a project that would have been her bff’s dream job. What was supposed to be a new start, becomes a constant loop though as Mariana is one of only two people who realize they are in a time loop when something with the generator goes horribly wrong. As Carter, with his eidetic memory, and Mariana, whose memory has been pharmaceutically enhanced, try to break the cycle, they discover love under the most unusual circumstances. The characters of Carter and Mariana are well developed and their romance is sweet. The second half of the novel took it in a direction I wasn’t expecting and although romance is is in the title, this novel has much more to say about life and relationships. First you see what the characters do when there are no consequences and then what must be done if even the smallest thing could end the world. The novel is set in the near future and has very positive view of AI as having potential for not only research assistance, but also companionship. If you love Groundhog’s Day, this is definitely one to checkout.
The Tainted Cup
by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Tainted Cup draws inspiration from the partnership of famous detective duos from the past like Sherlock Holmes and Watson, but with a huge helping of amazing fantasy world building. Ana Dolabra is an eccentric detective who often chooses to go about blind folded to hone her other senses. Her recently acquired assistant, Dinios Kol, has been enhanced so as to have perfect recall of anything he sees or hears. The two must uses their detecting skills to resolve a mystery surrounding high powered officers who are killed by trees secretly germinating inside of them and sprouting unexpectedly from their body, which might be part of larger scheme involving the giant leviathan beasts that lurk in the seas around their walled cities. I like that the border between magic and science is blurred in the story and that the focus is on biomechanical inventions and enhancements. It reminded me a bit of another creative biomech novel The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach. The novel will be released on February 6. This is the first of the Shadow of the Leviathan series and with such a richly developed fantasy world, I can’t wait to see what will next be in store for Ana and Dinios.
Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services
Hoboken Library Staff Picks 