I did like Dark Matter. It is not a must-read, but very entertaining nonetheless. The first 100 pages are possibly the most exciting I have ever read. The pacing is very strong later on as well. I am looking forward to the movie adaptation, it cannot be anything less than awesome!

A bit more detail. The plot is exactly like an SMBC comic ([a:Zach Weinersmith|4094380|Zach Weinersmith|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]). A fairly good one! The basic setup is evident from the first pages: In an alternative timeline Jason has invented a machine to go into parallel timelines. He came to this timeline, kidnapped our Jason and took his place! (Very minor spoiler.) This much is evident to the reader. It is fairly common fare for web comics.

But the twist is that Dark Matter presents this 100% seriously. The core of the plot goes further, and I would say even gets sillier over time. But the comic-like events are padded with well detailed action sequences. And most importantly, these action sequences are overlaid with a close examination of the protagonist's emotions and thoughts.

It is this emotional roller coaster that really takes you on a great ride, while the underpinnings of constant action and fairy-tale physics do a great job of supporting it.

Regarding the physics:

How does the box pop into existence in all timelines?

There is no singular world that all the Jasons would land in. Their home-world has also split into an infinite number of worlds while they were away: in one Jason2 was hit by a bus, in another he won a second Pavia award, in a third one he became an alcoholic. (Wait, my bad. Strangely, all the characters except Charlie are already alcoholics from the start of the book.)

The book seems to confuse "infinite" with "about a hundred". A Jason arrives who went to hell, another who left Amanda to freeze, another who did who knows what. But what about the Jason who stopped to scratch his ear at the last second and should have arrived a second later? What about the one who only considered scratching his ear, and should have arrived between these two? There should be a firehose of Jasons exploding out of the box, destroying Chicago and doubling the mass of the Earth by the end of the story.

I recognize that my last two complaints sort of balance each other out. In one I say the Jasons should be distributed across an infinite number of home-worlds. In the other I say there should be infinitely more of them. Maybe. I am not sold.


Anyway, it is great fun thinking about such weird things!