Lulu Marketplace

"Continuity Slip"
Another awesome Noever novel, and definitely my favorite. As usual, the writing is fast, direct, gripping, and as usual I couldn’t wait to find out what happened on the next page, in the next chapter. Especially approaching the end. In Noever’s characteristic style, the story is driven by its people and their dialogues.

Continuity Slip is, in essence, an example of the 'many worlds' theory of quantum physics, and thus engages the reader to think. Woven through it is a love story where the entire universe seems posed against the characters. The reader follows Ray when two of these many worlds collide, and to the end I was left in a spin wondering which reality... More > was 'real.' Was there one ramp or two? Did Ray temporarily slip into a new reality, or did he leave one and enter another, or was it all in the mind? Makes you think, what is 'reality?' Does the question even make sense within the framework of the author’s cosmology? The concepts go well beyond the book and had me thinking about reality in a very real sense, something few books pull off.
< Less

"A Hollywood-style sci-fi romp"
Continuity Slip reads like an archetypal summer Hollywood movie. The writing is clean and polished. The narrative pushes forward relentlessly. Parallel universes are always fun, and the philosophical conceit at the heart of the novel -- the way little changes in experience might cumulatively impact a person's entire nature -- is intriguing. The protagonists make a likable couple, and their romance is not only part of the plot, but cleverly explains the plot as well (and yes, I know that sounds rather cryptic).

However, also like many big-studio films, Continuity Slip feels a little shallow. Although the novel raises interesting concepts, it never... More > fully explores them. All of the recondite discussion about alternate realities ends up serving only as background color for a standard murder mystery that could just as well have happened in this reality. The two plot threads never significantly mesh. Indeed, once the mystery is resolved, the shifting realities thread is wrapped-up very quickly, almost as an afterthought.

I look forward to reading more works by Till Noever. He plainly is very talented, and Continuity Slip is nothing if not professionally written. The strength of Noever's style and the affability of his characters easily carried me through the novel. I only wish that the journey had lived up to its full potential. < Less