Amazing. Mind-blowing. Highly recommended!!!

I haven’t read too many science fiction books but this one tops the charts for me. There is nothing in this book which I disliked and even after several days of finishing it, the story is still living with me in my mind and heart.

Dark Matter ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
Author: Blake Crouch
Publisher: Penguin Random House

Blake’s writing is beyond impressive to express such a philosophical and technical story at the same time with such great emotions. The concept isn’t something which I heard for the first time but the story woven around it is beyond explicable.

How many times do we think about a different choice we could have made? This book presents the different choices which exist in a different world and lets us experience them.

This page-turner is an awesome choice for an action-packed thriller. I was completely engrossed until the end and didn’t want it to finish. Completely unpredictable, this book offers thrills, love, emotions, science and mystery.

I cannot wait to read more of Blake’s work.

My first buddy read and my first book by Andy Weir. It is one of the highly recommended science fiction books. One of the rare books which I’ve read after watching the movie based on it.

“The Martian” is about Mark Watney, a NASA scientist who gets stranded on Mars alone and he has next to none chance of survival there. Mark is extremely smart, trained to survive in adverse conditions and extremely funny. I really loved his character who proves that you can have a great sense of humour even when you have zero chance of survival. I never felt any character so alive and real as Andy.

Andy Weir’s choice of narrating from Mark’s perspective is commendable which I found different and better than the movie. The shift in the narration gives the reader a 360 degree view of the situation from NASA’s office and Mars. Having minimum planetary knowledge and various chemical reactions, this book was able to keep me on the edge and I kept turning pages to know more about Mark’s rescue plan.

The language of the book is very clean and witty. I did find some technical details in the middle of the book a little overwhelming and I tried to skim it but it was hard not to read them.

If you like reading science fiction, this is a MUST read. Also, if you have already seen the movie, the book is a MUST read because you’ll find a lot of dissimilarities between the book and the movie.

My second book by John Marrs after “The One” and John did it again for me. I love his sci-fi writing and the concept of future he presents doesn’t seem too far from the present. It almost seems realistic with his supporting facts and figures.

The Passengers is about the self-driven cars being used sometime in the near future in Britain where eight passengers are stuck in their individual self-driven (autonomous) cars because a hacker has hacked into their car’s system and they are set to a fatal collision. The decision is left to the public whom they want to save as they can save only one passenger. All the eight passengers have one thing in common as they all are hiding a secret.

The Passengers remind me of my Artificial Intelligence class during college which taught us the fine line between the use and abuse of technology. John Marrs has a commendable writing style and his flow of writing with small chapters and a suspense at the end of each chapter made this book unputdownable for me. Not forgetting to mention the the brilliant job of penning down the multiple characters who never seem to lose the plot. Each character has its own detailed backstory and importance in the plot.

The Passengers offers a bit of warning in a satirical sense and it is entertaining at the same time. If you are looking for a quick, entertaining and, a bit dark read - grab “The Passengers”.

This is my first book by Charles Soule so I am completely unbiased in my opinions of this book without comparing it with its predecessors by Charles.

“Anyone” is about the creation of “Flash”, a technology which enables its user (prime) to transfer their consciousness into another person’s body while the host’s (vessel’s) consciousness becomes inactive. The story is beyond interesting and so is Soule’s storyboarding.

I really enjoyed my wild ride into Charles brilliant writing of two alternate timelines. One timeline when the “flash” was invented and another one 25 years later when it is being used/abused worldwide.

This action-packed science-fiction is full of scientific terms which are complex yet realistic. The confluence of both the timelines has been so exciting and full of twists. Short chapters and a twist at the end of each chapter kept me intrigued and I couldn’t turn pages fast enough.

Charles Soule has brilliantly put his foot forward with his futuristic science-fiction novel which talks about the elephant in the room, the ethical use of technology and the fine line between its use and abuse.

I really liked Charles writing and his book. I am confident to say that if it was my first book by Charles Soule, it wasn't my last from him. I am sure that I am going to have this book’s hangover for a while.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Perennial for sending me an advance copy to review.