A QUANTUM UNREALITY
Some books are harder to review than others.
Observer is a story about a young doctor, Caroline, who goes to an island, where her great uncle Sam Watkins is conducting barely-ethical experimentation on people. It’s about quantum theory, multiverse, and parallel realities. It’s about the very essence of reality. Look around you – is what you see real, or is it just a construct of your consciousness? Of collective consciousness? Nothing exists outside of conscious observation, not time, not matter, not space, nothing.
This was a really interesting premise, so I started the book, and for a while, I was underwhelmed. I kept putting the book down, but something niggled at me to pick it back up. The more I read, the more I realized that this is one of those rare books that combine plot and character development effortlessly. I liked the plot and all the advancements, but I mostly fell in love with the characters – Caroline, her sister, the little Kayla, Trevor (another doctor), Dr Weigbert (Sam Watkins’ friend and originator of the theory), and even Julian, with whom I had a love-hate relationship.
The thing is, even though it’s a supremely well researched book, and even though the characters will get you invested in them… at times I felt like I was being lectured. I even had to skim some of it because even though the quantum physics parts were somewhat interesting, I still thought some of it was info-dumping. Maybe it was needed, I don’t know. I could do with less of those.
In the end, I really enjoyed this amazing journey of reality and parallel worlds – a true scientific look, not so much science fiction – even though I thought the experiment itself was dangerous for human psyches. What I really didn’t enjoy was the ending. Beware – horrible ending. I was so angry when I read it… maybe it was necessary for the plot, but it was definitely cruel to those of us who loved the characters. Maybe another reader will forgive the authors, but I am still raw from it.
If you enjoy quantum physics, have questions about parallel realities, and want to learn more about it, and at the same time follow supremely real people deal with the ins and outs of it, this is your book. Just don’t expect a happy ending, please. Or well, it was sort of happy, if you count the epilogue.
Be careful. Enjoy the crazy ride. Still, excellent story.
Reviewed by Violeta Nedkova
