Review of 'The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
"The world is ending, as it always must. But the end of the world is getting faster."
My review: wow!
I go through peaks and valleys with my books. I will have a stretch of excellent novels and then hit a rough patch where nothing appeals to me. I had just come off abandoning a multi book series even though the first novel was appealing on every level and shrugged my shoulders and thought "why not" to The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.
Like a stray cat that showed up on your doorstep one day I don't know what lead me to Harry August. One day my Kindle was empty, and the next it was there. It didn't go through the proper process of being added to my To Read list, it jumped the queue and waited patiently for me. I want to credit r/fantasy but …
"The world is ending, as it always must. But the end of the world is getting faster."
My review: wow!
I go through peaks and valleys with my books. I will have a stretch of excellent novels and then hit a rough patch where nothing appeals to me. I had just come off abandoning a multi book series even though the first novel was appealing on every level and shrugged my shoulders and thought "why not" to The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.
Like a stray cat that showed up on your doorstep one day I don't know what lead me to Harry August. One day my Kindle was empty, and the next it was there. It didn't go through the proper process of being added to my To Read list, it jumped the queue and waited patiently for me. I want to credit r/fantasy but the details are hazy. Wherever the recommendation came from it also lead me to This Is How You Lose the Time War, which was a breath of fresh air as I jumped from one series to the next.
All of this is necessary to set the stage for my mindset. I wanted something engaging, that would make me read one more chapter than I would normally do, and linger in my thoughts when I wasn't reading. Enter The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.
Men must be decent first, and brilliant later, otherwise you're not helping people, just servicing the machine.
I connected with this book immediately. I was intrigued from chapter one and was hooked shortly after. I knew nothing about the book going in and perhaps that helped grow my seed of interest in this book so rapidly. Because I knew nothing going in I will keep my review extremely vague.
What are we, how do we live? Are we, in fact, little more than consciousnesses flitting between an endless series of parallel universes, which we then alter by our deeds?
The only way I can safely describe this story is that it's clever.
Claire North approached a genre of story in a way I have never experienced before. I found the narrative so engaging that the typical questions I want to ask to understand the science were not necessary. I was able to put my inquiring mind on hold and enjoy the ride as each chapter helped peel back a layer of the onion.
The timeline wasn't told in a linear fashion and I liked those interludes backwards or providing some exposition to help explain Harry August's actions. The pace was steady as the scope and time that this story covers required a deliberate build up and time to let the story develop.
This is a chess game where the endgame is already known and the moves made throughout are just as thrilling as the conclusion. Claire North delivered a complex story while ensuring the readers knew just enough of the active timeline to follow along.
Too many bright ideas happened too fast...and not enough time to consider the consequences.
This is a story about chaos theory and trying to understand who has control of the butterfly. This is a story about humanity, their inherent flaws and if civilization is better, or worse, for experiencing these flaws.
In addition to the genres this book works in there are also themes of religion, faith, and existentialism. The reader is challenged to look at the consequences of human, and technology, advancement and evaluate if too much too soon is a problem. The concepts are never preachy and only lightly offer the reader an opportunity to reflect on them.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August was the palate cleanser I needed and was a thoroughly entertaining read front to back.