M.A. Rothman’s Multiverse, a book review
I have previously confessed my nightly leisure reading is often lazy at best. I often drift to sleep mid-sentence and pick up the Kindle reader hours later, completely lost. It takes me far longer to read a book than it does my nocturnal spouse, for I imagine and dream whole chapters that I later discover were not in print. Then I regroup and reread until I’m off and running again.
So for all that, I should not be someone taking on a “‘wow factor’ science, as hard science meets pop-science time-travel” book.
However, I did it, and I’m glad.
M.A. Rothman’s Multiverse: A Technothriller had a great description, and cover and flattering ratings. I was eager to read it, for this book sits adjacent to my novels in some ways. Discoveries are made that will change the whole world. In Rothman’s, it’s a (very credible) element of time travel. In mine, it’s teleportation. In both, ‘bad guys’ are involved from the present and the future, and in both the intention is to affect time travel/teleportation in its infancy to change the world of tomorrow. Rothman’s book has a strong female protagonist, as does mine. Similar points of view and narrative vantage points are taken.
My series has faults. I’m the first to admit this. Readers will find so much unbelievable stuff goes by with little more than a shrug and absolutely no explanation. It’s as if I expect readers to know these things already. Actually, my rationale is that the characters aren’t going to sit around and jabber hours of exposition when they’re living on the edge. I also cannot slow my narration down to molasses with too much techno—babble. When I read a book, I want to be immersed in the world of it and figure it out for myself.
Rothman’s book immerses readers in a potent and dizzying pool of hard science—I find it wholly find convincing—but drowning. He resolves time travel issues I’ve just left to fantasy. He makes me fully believe that the scientific solutions his main character espouses are pure genius and pure science and not to be questioned. In the afterword I learned Rothman comes from a science background, and let me tell you, there’s no doubt about it. His writing is convincing!
However, my sleepy reader self struggles some in the first third of the book. I kept reading because I believed in the book’s description. I just knew there would be a payoff eventually that lived up to the hype, reviews, and awesome cover art.
Fortunately, there was. I cannot spoil it for you, but I can tell you there’s all the action inside to merit the technoTHRILLER genre under which Multiverse is shelved. Once all that ramps up, I found myself losing sleep as I burnt through pages toward the story’s resolution. I left the book like I do any good book, wanting the story to continue. I’m happy there are three more volumes in the series.
I’m sharing this to reinforce the idea that—despite what my wife says—there is good reason to keep on reading. Keep the faith. Turn the page. Believe in the author and the book’s marketing. It pays off in M.A. Rothman’s Multiverse: A Technothriller.
