This is a most unusual book. There are three different parts, and depending on how you choose to read it, the story presents itself in different ways. It is a time-traveling marvel that can still be confusing at times if you are not really paying attention. I think this book will likely be quite divisive, as some people will love it and others may find it difficult and frustrating. Either way, it challenges the reader and that is something that I really did enjoy. I read the whole thing straight through, then opted for the other way to read it, which is an alternate chapter sequence. I think the alternating chapters is way better and less confusing, but you do you. I cannot imagine the amount of planning author Alex Landragin had to do in order to write this tome, but it has a big, epic scale and feel that is very satisfying, especially as this book finally finds its way to the 21st century in its storytelling. Try it. Put it down, but be sure to pick it back up again later. It is not an easy read but is quite satisfying if you make it through.

This book spiked my interest because of the structure, and I'm always up for some time/body travel.

You can read the story in a fixed order, jumping around between chapters (an idea similar to Cortazar's Hopscotsch), or you can read the book cover to cover, with each section serving as a short story.

The plot is unusual; a smaller civilization has the secret skill of crossing between people. They look into each other's eyes, and can cross bodies.
Now, there are variations: a person may cross with another, and the other may not know what happened, or a more skilled person can perform the crossing and both are aware of what has passed.
Their religion requires that each crossing have a return crossing, but as an unexpectant crossing happens to her lover, Alula also crosses in order to be with him, and her many lives of search for him begin.

There are many locations, characters and points of view in this story which require your attention. I decided to read jumping around, and I think it was the best decision for me as the sections can leave you hanging.

This book had an interesting concept-you could read it chronologically or by following each story through by hopping around to particular pages. I chose the linear route. It just didn't flow as easily for me-others have compared it to a puzzle box. I found that I wasn't in the mindset to keep track of it and found myself going back to look up info from my previous time reading. I would recommend reading it when you have focused time to read in a few sittings over shorter period of time.

I'm sad that it took me this long to read this book. This was gold! It was like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" for adults. I loved being able to take control of my experience. Outside of that uniqueness, I thought the writing was brilliant. The setting was amazing. I can't wait to see more people reading this book.

I absolutely loved this book. You can read it from front to back or you can read it in the "Baroness Sequence" I did both and loved both. This book will keep you up to finish it and find out what happens next. I loved this book. I wish there were more books like it.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

This is an engrossing and captivating story that you can read in different ways. It involves time travel and is set up where you can choose which arc to follow. The setting and ideas behind the story is excellent. I definitely recommend this for people who love a good Blake Crouch book.

#Crossings #Netgalley #StMartinsPress

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Alex Landragin for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

The story is told in three books by three different protagonists (or at least the reader thinks they are three). The introduction suggests that the book might be read in usual order or it might be read in some other sequence of chapters (the list of hw to is provided). I choose to read in usual order.

Overall, the story is nicely told with a few twists and unpredictable turn of events which keeps the reader interested. I think I liked first 2 books (stories) more than the last, even though the last one is the most explanatory.
Characters are well written and are multidimensional. I did not liked any of them in particular but it was my personal view, I just could not connect to anyone. In terms of plot, I find it enjoyable considering the constant changes.

Overall, good and solid book.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

4.5 stars.

I do love me a weird book and this totally fit the bill. I also love books about books, so...bonus! This is a total genre bender and I loved it. A bit historical fiction, a bit mythology, a bit fantasy, a bit thriller, and all of it a lot of fun.

The writing is super ambitious, as is the premise, and I thought it was executed wonderfully. Do not expect this to be a fluff read, as it does require attention and inquisition along the way. The reader does need to be an active participant to glean the full intent.

I read it in the Baroness Sequence, but do want to read it again in the original order. The story is very complex and there are a LOT of characters to keep track of, but the story is still very well-written and intriguing. It feels like a book where pieces are continually found in rereads. I'm still left with a bit of a swimming head and will need at least one reread to feel like I grasp the situation enough.

There is a lot of time jumping and switching of POVs by reading in the Baroness sequence, so those who prefer one POV at a time and a more linear style of story will do better to read it as written. I can see the potential of it being slightly less enjoyable in this way, but not detrimentally so if you keep in mind that the stories are meant to connect. I am glad that I read it in the order I did as I think it helped me weave the story together a bit more solidly.

I loved the weaving of different cultures, historical events, and people. It is such a clever book with atmospheric writing that does not feel overly flowery or inaccessible. It is a monumental work spanning several decades and lifetimes. There is so much at work here that I cannot help but be truly impressed with the intelligence and creativity it must have taken to create. This will be a book that I will be putting on my own bookshelf to enjoy again in the future and I will be looking forward to more of Landragin's work.

I'm not completely sure how I feel about this book yet. As the reader, you are given the choice of reading this book linearly, which reads as three separate short stories, or in a sequence referred to as the Baroness sequence, which jumps around and reads like a novel. My reading FOMO was kicking in so I chose the Baroness sequence. I am still glad I took this path, but it was a lot of work for me to keep this story straight! I was reading on my Kindle and I kept my phone open with the Kindle app to try to see where I was in the story. There is more than one first person perspective, which threw me off in the beginning. Once I figured out the rhythm it flowed much better for me, although I still found myself occasionally questioning how to tie what I was currently reading with what I had already read! Another part of my problem was most likely attributed to reading this across many days. If I had invested more time in one sitting, I may have been less confused?

A "crossing" is the transference of one soul to another; sometimes the other soul can retain their memory and sometimes they can't. Once I "got it", I thought this was ultimately a wonderful love story. There is a little bit of a twist in this story that had me trusting no one to be who they might appear to be, especially toward the end. (Another frustration I had was never really knowing how far along I was in the story since I was jumping around. Turns out percentages and page numbers matter to me!)

All this said, I think this book is quite the pièce de résistance. (Still in a French mindset. 😉) I think the author had quite the undertaking and weaving these stories as he did was very ambitious! I may re-read linearly just too see what that experience would be!

Giving this book a 4 rating. I am more likely a 3.5 rounded up because I spent so much time being confused, but applaud the creativity!

Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Excerpt from BookBrowse Review (see link below):

"Crossings is a beautiful, if slightly messy, time-bending debut. It reads like a vampire novel, sans vampires. It zigs and zags like a classic "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" book, but offers limited choices. The book is Francophile, while damning of French imperialism. It's compelling and confusing, interesting and sometimes extraneous. Never have I so thoroughly enjoyed a book while concurrently hoping the labyrinthine madness I was reading would come to an end."

An absorbing and interesting story with the right mix of mystery and magic. Original and yet familiar. I found it moved along at a good pace but never felt that characters or situations were underdeveloped. The movement through history, from the now to the beginning and back again was easy to follow. A great read and well suited to help while away my isolation during the pandemic.

This took me awhile to get through and I missed the archive date of this book because of it, but not because it was bad. Oh no, in fact it absorbed me so much I wanted to savor every second with it. This book is stunningly innovative and showcases the transmigration of character's souls by forcing you to re-read the novel in different ways. This isn't a one and done experience but rather one that forces you to re-evaluate how you're experiencing the novel. Deep, thought provoking, unforgettable. Loved it.

Growing up, I was a big fan of the Choose Your Own Adventure books where you get to choose between a couple options to get to a different ending. This wasn't quite like that but close enough that I was intrigued. You can either read in the conventional way as a series of short stories or in the "Baroness sequence" , which jumps between chapters throughout the book and different points of view of the characters. A little bit historical fiction, a little bit sci-fi. This is such a great book!
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This book defies characterization. Thinking that I would better understand the story if I read the chapters in time sequence rather than as separate stories as published, so I followed the chapter order in the "author's note". I think that was a mistake. I suggest that the reader read the stories straight through as published, piecing together the puzzle pieces which will fall into place by the end. Regardless I still enjoyed the book. It's a love story that spans time and numerous tragedies.

3.5 stars. An enjoyable but overly gimmicky David Mitchell homage, with two separate choose-your-own-adventure paths for the reader to follow. Being stodgy and lame, I read it from cover to cover instead of bravely hopscotching forth on the Baroness Sequence, but maybe that would have enhanced the experience of reading this literary-ish attempt at a thriller. The novel contains three distinct narratives: the first a scenery-chewing confession by a depraved Charles Baudelaire in exile, the second a wild manuscript chase by an unbelievably heroic Walter Benjamin through Nazi-occupied Paris, and the third recounts the seven lives of a body-swapping nomadic soul from the South Seas to antebellum New Orleans back to Paris. Solving this puzzle box of intrigue kept the pages turning, and the prose was suitably overwrought, but this was an upscale version of junk food: entertaining at the time in large portions, but not particularly memorable a few hours after reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for offering me an ARC in exchange for this unbiased review.

My favorite kind of book- inventive and engrossing! While reading, I was reminded of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas in that it is telling a story from multiple perspectives over a long period of time. It didn't quite reach the level of Cloud Atlas, but close enough for me to have really enjoyed it. I read this using the 'Baroness Sequence' which I recommend. I do admit to being tempted to read it again straight through, but haven't yet. Overall a great read!

I was impressed by the ambitious scope and storycraft of this novel, that seeks to marry three seemingly disparate plot lines into an cohesive whole via their commonality under the narrator’s guise.

While I liked the idea of this, the book feels a bit too “everything but the kitchen sink because of it,” and the separate threads don’t quite come together as they should to form a single unifying plot.

This is somewhat due to the fact that one storyline was far better than the others. The Baudelaire plot thread was a clever joy to read. I can’t help but wonder what this novel could have been had the other two been more like this one or if it had been allowed to stand alone using a different overall premise.

The other two don’t quite measure up, and none of the three seem to marry well with one another.

It’s clear that Landragin is a gifted writer, and I expect he’s got a great novel in him somewhere. This one probably needed less content, a more cohesive unifying concept, and a stricter editor.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for the arc.

Wow. I don’t know where it is safe to begin on this review since there are two ways to read this novel. I went into this completely blind and I really feel everyone should do the same. It was such a magical experience. You can read the novel the way it was written or read it in the “Baroness Sequence” (I chose the latter). I would personally classify this as magical realism with lots of timelines and I definitely recommend to readers who are fans of Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

I was a big fan of this novel and I hope you get enough of an idea about it from my review because it is best to just read it. I will definitely be purchasing my own finalised copy!

Months ago, I saw an ad for this book and I immediately requested it on Net Galley. The premise sounded so intriguing! When I read the prologue I knew I needed to wait and get a physical copy. I'm so glad that I did because it was so much fun reading The Baroness Sequence this way! I definitely want to try reading it the traditional way also, to see what it's like.

I feel like I can't describe much of it without spoiling things, but this is the most unique story I've read in years. The ending left me with a few questions, but after going back and rereading the preface I think that was the point... I am desperately hoping my friends will read it soon, because there are so many things I need to discuss!

I would recommend this to anyone who is wanting to read something new and different!

This premises of this is so unique that I was very much looking forward to it. I feel like I’m in the minority here, but this book was not for me. The plot moved along so slowly. I even tried an alternate “path” for reading and it still didn’t work for me.

I will not be sharing my opinion on this title in a full review outside of NetGalley.