I was a fan of the first book in this series, and this new installation has only made me like the series even more. Actually, I found this to be even a little more accessible than the first book. The first book was a little farther reaching in scope, doing the necessary world-building. With that out of the way, the second book was able to flow a little better.

We spend most of the time with our favourite quantum magician, Bellisarius Arjona, and the woman who first hired him, Ayen Iekanjika. Along the way, we also get some insight into the Scarecrow. What I found most interesting, though, were the plant-based intelligences.

There's a lot of rumination about quantum states. Like the first book in this series, there's discussion of superpositions and what it means to perceive all the probabilities at once without collapsing the quantum state. Some of it made me think of the book _Quarantine_ by Greg Egan.

The main thrust of the book makes use of the time gates from the first book. I'm a sucker for time travel stories, and this is handled very well. A lot of thought experiments concerning paradoxes and what-not.

I hope there's another book in the series.

I read the first in this series and enjoyed it, despite its frequent tragedies and challenging setting, so I requested this one from Netgalley. Thanks to the publisher for granting the request.

I found it easier to follow than the first, though like the first one, it does have a long series of events in which things get worse for the characters and they have to make terrible choices. Like the first, it ends with at least a hint of hope. Unlike the first, it doesn't really incorporate a heist.

It's a complex setting, with several kinds of genetically engineered posthuman, AIs, time travel, quantum effects and aliens. It's not just your generic paint-by-numbers space opera, for sure. As well, it's a powerful emotional story about people having their deepest beliefs about themselves and their lives challenged and having to come to terms with their responsibility for terrible consequences of their actions.

If that's something you're looking for, I recommend it highly; it's done with a good deal of skill.

This was a great sci-fi novel, I had forgotten to read the first book in the series but I still really enjoyed reading this one.

The Quantum Garden by Derek Künsken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

No spoilers, but there's a lot to love in this follow-up to the Quantum Magician.

For those of us who love it, there's a lot of hi-tech spec-speak with near-autistic mental states and high-computation, but there's also time-travel, a brand new con, and a twisty-turvy plot.

Sounds pretty standard, tho, right? There's a non-usual interesting tidbit that arrives, however. And I can't talk about it. You know. Fight club. But I really, really enjoyed the alien intelligences and everything surrounding them. You might say the hint is in the title of the book.

:)

This one may or may not be as strong as the first book, but there's nothing wrong with it. Slightly slow in the start, a bit heavy (or just right) on the quantum cognition stuff, but I figure that's something half of us either love or hate as a whole. :)

Kunsken has written an imaginative novel about wormholes and time travel. I enjoyed the plot and am looking forward to his next novel.