3.5

It's been a while since I finished the book, and I have tried reviewing it many times (including a time when I was almost done with the review and then accidentally deleted it but oh well), but there is just something about this book that makes it very difficult for me to articulate my feelings on it. I enjoyed a lot of this novel, but throughout it there seemed to be something that was dragging down my enjoyment.

The story follows Hayes, a filmmaker struggling with his film project, as he is dragged into a very secret research that he is supposedly the key to. He is now a part of a research facility holding the Envisioned, a strange device that predicts the future, invented by no other than himself (but from another universe). This is where he meets Yusuf, a physicist, and finds himself entangled in his research and developing feelings for Yusuf. That all comes to a point where he has to decide how far he's willing to go to protect Yusuf and how many people he's willing to sacrifice for that.

There is very little I can say about the book without giving too much away, so I'll be concise, starting with what I liked about the book. The book is very Hayes-focused, as it's all his perspectives, motivations and viewpoints, and that is what works so well in the book. Hayes is slightly unreliable, but very real and human. Through his mistakes and objectively bad decisions, you still find yourself rooting for him and understanding where he's coming from. I enjoyed the audiobook format for this novel, I think the narrator's voice and overall delivery fit in with Hayes as a character. I enjoyed how the novel examined motivation, and difficult questions and how it did (or did not) justify certain actions of the characters. For the most part I did like the world-building and the format of Hayes talking to the camera throughout the novel.

However, I also think some of the world-building was redundant, as the novel went into high detail on things that were subsequently dropped, which only served to take me out of the story and leave it for a moment. Also, I did enjoy Hayes and Yusuf as a couple, but I wish we had seen more of them in the build-up of the novel. I feel like if we're to believe this is the love you're willing to shatter worlds for, you have to show it a bit more rather than just tell us it is ground-breaking.

Nonetheless, I still very much enjoyed this book, and if you're in the market for a gay scifi story about the multiverse and how far you're willing to go for love, this is the right story for you!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

I received a copy for an honest review. Interesting concept but too convoluted. Jumping from different times distracted from the story even though it was the main theme of the story. The characters were well written and fleshed out.

Tavares really nailed it with his debut novel. A Fractured Infinity is a twisting, mind-bending, love filled romp through the multiverse.

Hayes Figuerido has sequestered himself in the woods to finish his latest documentary when a team of scientists, led by Yusuf Hassan, show up telling him he is a vital part of unlocking a new device called the Envisioner. Taken to a secret lab, Hayes discovers it may not be him who is the key, but rather an alternate version of himself.

I will admit that the first third of the book did have a pacing issue. I put the book down for a while because the stakes felt low and I got a bit lost in the weeds. The book is set in a sci-fi future and Tavares really beautifully lays out a complex and rich world to explore. Hayes and Yusuf are magnetic, I adored watching their relationship flourish. I really appreciated the nuance of Hayes as a film-maker, including his mentally staged scenes, because it added an alternate lens to a very science heavy book.

Beautiful first book, beautiful read, go check it out, can't wait to read Tavares' next work: Welcome to Forever!

"A Fractured Infinity" was a captivating adventure through space, time, alternate universes, and the relationships of those involved.

Hayes was an interesting MC with a strong voice and engaging character arc. Him and Yusuf made an interesting pair and I was rooting for them from the start.

I love sci-fi for the unique themes it explores, and this book delivered. Central themes included the nature of free will and personal choices, as well as the lengths we might go to to protect the ones we love. I was very invested in seeing what choices the characters would make when faced with impossible situations.

I'm glad I chose the audiobook format for "A Fractured Infinity" because the narrators voice really brought the characters to life. There were a few moments where I couldn't tell who was speaking, but mostly I was immersed completely in the reading experience. I think the pacing was perfect and I enjoyed the dynamic way that the narrator spoke.

Overall, I would recommend this book for those who love LGBTQ+ sci-fi or anyone looking for a thought-provoking story.

I loved the (very accurate) blurb of this book and got very excited, but unfortunately it ended up not being my thing at all.

The main character narrated the whole story, talking into a video camera, and made many, many comments and references that would not be understood until the end of the book, which was always annoying. It also led to the narrating being unreliable and honestly just chaotic. This chaos went on through the whole story and the MC not really understanding what he was talking about really showed and resulted in much confusion for me as a listener. In addition, he also talked so much about irrelevant things that I got really bored with the book, too.
The style in which the book was narrated seemed charming at first with all the advice for how to turn it into a cool movie, but as almost every third sentence referenced to that, it got old really fast and felt like too much and by the end was just plain annoying.
The MC is not very likeable, which I think was the plan (hopefully), but the love interest was very charming. Unfortunately he seemed a bit flat and mostly like something the MC could obsess over saving instead of a three-dimensional character.
The villains… I’m not even sure they are the real villains here, it’s evenly split between them and the MC. But at least they were interesting.
The story itself would have been very interesting, even amazing, had the storytelling been as good as the story itself. Sadly it was overshadowed by this.

I don’t know if I would have liked the book more had I read it in physical form instead of listening to it, but I don’t think that audio is the right fit for it due to it being so chaotic. The audio book narrator did a great job with what he was given though.

All in all a promising story that sadly fell short.

I’m sorry, I tried to read this, I got to about 30% and had to DNF. I felt like absolutely nothing was happening the entire time I read this. I was hooked by the premise of the book, but just wasn’t a fan of the execution. And I just couldn’t care about any of the characters either….

The audiobook narrator was good though! He might’ve been the reason I tried longer than I normally would.

Thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for the audioARC of this!

An interesting Sci-Fi thriller through the multiverse, questioning whether it’s worth killing many to save one person you love, and how far is too far? This kept me engaged and focused and wondering what would happen next the whole time. I especially liked when the couple met alternate versions of themself and saw sort of how they could’ve been.

Multicultural multiverse

In general I prefer science-fiction to fantasy. I have seen every episode of every "Star Trek" series but I did not even manage to sit through the whole first episode of "Game of Thrones". And "A Fractured Infinity" is a gay science-fíction novel that makes a point of being aware of that without being constrained by that. So this should be a perfect novel for me. And it would be if it was close to being a perfect novel. However, I did not find myself empathizing too much with the characters. I could grasp the central love story, but I did not really feel it. And many of the characters were not as interesting to me as they were certainly intended to be. And the whole filmmaker framing device did not really do anything for me, either.

I did appreciate, however, that the narrator makes a point of this being a love story between two non-white men instead of one of them being palatably mainstream. And there is a lot to that. One of my favorite couples in the history of TV were David and Keith on "Six Feet Under" - one of them was white. And if you look at other TV shows like "Glee", "Dynasty", "Desperate Housewives" - the white men dominate. (Of course, there is the sublime movie "Moonlight", so there are other narratives, but still.)

Science-fiction is another white cis straight male domain that has started to allow other voices to be heard, and even though "A Fractured Infinity" is not as strong as it could have been, its mere existence is great!

This book felt so familiar. Even now as I’ve finished it, it feels like another book but I can’t place which one. Either way, I enjoyed this futuristic story!

We follow our main characters as they work their way through some new technology which eventually allows for time travel. They find themselves in a bit of a pickle over this and joining them on their journey to figure out the logistics of the new technology was really something.

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to enjoy the audiobook and I gotta say - no complaints. The narration was spot on; I felt the emotion alongside the characters and it added the necessary depth without overpowering the book. I was really great.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I went into this expecting a fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi thriller. Instead, it turned out to be a rather slow-paced, character-focused, internal thoughts/emotions kinda book. The whole first half was basically the main character finding out about this future telling machine and alternate realities, falling in love, and realizing how those things were changing him, plus some explanations about things from his past that affected him. Even when they started jumping to different realities, there’d be a brief bit of action or excitement, then an expanse of relative calm as they learned about the situation in the new place and tried to figure out what they were gonna do. This isn’t a bad thing though! I enjoyed being able to actually get to know the main character and understand how everything was affecting him.

I also enjoyed having a protagonist who was flawed but still someone I could root for. He’d made mistakes in his past. He’d hurt people. He was selfish sometimes. He made some questionable decisions. But there were people he cared deeply for. He seemed to try and look for the best in people. He could reflect on his own actions and feelings and realize when he’d done wrong. He wasn’t perfect. But he wasn’t bad either. At least, I don’t think he was.

The slow pace also let the love story and emotions within it come through. I think I would’ve liked seeing a bit more of the time they spent together, talking or hanging out, but I did believe the love between them, and especially the love Hayes had for Yusuf.

There weren’t actually that many, but the alternate realities they visited were fascinating. Not so much the worlds themselves (they were fairly similar to ours), more the situations they found themselves in where they landed and the different versions of themselves they met and what their lives were like. And how, in all these adjacent realities, Hayes and Yusuf always ended up together (even if it worked out better for some of the couples than others). And the ending was especially interesting.

This is a book you can enjoy for the story just as it is, or it’s one you can really think about. Were Hayes’s actions wrong? Would you have done the same? Who was really to blame? That sort of thing.

There was some diverse rep. Both Hayes and Yusuf were gay and POC. Yusuf might’ve been neurodivergent too, though no specific label was used.

I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Tom Picasso. Everything sounded natural, it seemed to suit the main character well, and different characters sounded not drastically different but different enough to keep track of.

Overall, this was a book with imperfect characters, interesting sci-fi elements, a very character-focused story, and a love story that will make you think.

I love sci-fi and I love queer stories, so this should be completely my jam. And to an extent it was. I loved the concept, I found it very intriguing and it was decently well done. It was a thrilling ride and I was compelled to read on to see how it was all going to resolve.

There were a couple of things that hampered my enjoyment. Firstly - there were a lot of film references. Like a lot - not of actual films, but things like referring to scenes being a film montage. I think it was supposed to be funny, but I just found it annoying because it happened throughout the book. Secondly - while I appreciated the fact that the main characters were gay, their relationship didn't feel fully developed. It was very much told that they had a nice relationship and loved each other rather than being shown. I was just not invested in the relationship and the plot very much hinged on us believing that these main characters couldn't live without each other.

However, aside form these things, I did think it was well written and if this is the direction that the author continues to go in for future books I will certainly be reading more.

The audiobook was kindly provided by the publisher and Netgalley. The narration was very well done and felt like a high quality production.

A Fractured Infinity is an exciting, queer multiversal sci-fi love story. There was great world-building and I really enjoyed the narrative voice.

Hay ciertos temas de la ciencia ficción que se encuentran entre mis favoritos y uno de ellos son los universos múltiples, porque dan tanto juego que cada libro puede ser completamente distinto del anterior que hayas leído con la misma base. En esta ocasión he escuchado la novela de debut de Nathan Tavares, A Fractured Infinity, que tiene tanto puntos positivos como negativos, así que intentaré explicar un poquito estas sensaciones encontradas tras su lectura.

Me ha gustado mucho la voz escogida para el protagonista, porque Hayes Figueiredo es un director cinematográfico y eso transpira en cada página del libro. No es solo por la aproximación eminentemente visual de la novela, si no por esas roturas constantes de la cuarta pared y esa utilización tan ágil y acertada de los símiles entre la narración escrita y la visual. Es una manera estupenda de introducirnos en la mente del protagonista definir muchas de las escenas como si se desarrollaran en un estudio de cine.


La idea de partida es que uno de los múltiples universos posibles el propio Figueiredo (versión científico adelantado a su tiempo) crea el Envisioner, un artefacto capaz de predecir el futuro. ¿Dónde queda entonces el libre albedrío? Esta pregunta tan profunda no es algo a lo que vayamos a encontrar respuesta en estas páginas (para eso mejor Ted Chiang) ya que a causa de la llegada de este aparato a muchos universos Hayes se verá atrapado en una huida desesperada para salvar a la persona que ama.

Sin duda, el autor utiliza de forma intencionada los viajes a través de universos paralelos como un medio para relatar una historia de amor, en vez de como un fin en sí misma. Me gustan muchísimo los detalles con los que va plagando cada nuevo universo que resultan bastante verosímiles pero nunca llegan a ser repetitivos, gracias a una imaginación desbordante. Sin embargo, me parece una pena que este emocionante periplo se supedite tanto a la historia romántica aunque sea el leit motiv de la novela se siente demasiado forzada.

La narración de Tom Picasso me parece muy acertada, haciendo hincapié en los momentos de duda del protagonista al igual que cuando toma decisiones apelando al corazón en vez de la razón. Un trabajo impecable.

La verdad, para ser una primera novela con una premisa tan compleja como el multiverso creo que Nathan Tavares sale bastante bien parado. A ver con qué nos sorprende la próxima vez.

DNF at 45%

The style of storytelling is extremely hard to follow especially in audiobook format
I was honestly confused at several points and had to register to section’s repeatedly
Narrator was blah

I’ll give it a try in print form, may be easier to follow

Okay this one is complicated. I'm pretty underwhelmed, honestly. I think this story has a lot of potential. Imagine Rick and Morty but the protagonists are two gay adults in a relationship and the tone is much more sincere. The beginning really confused me and muddied the waters. There was so much going on that I was honestly kinda taken aback. Aliens, time travel, parallel universes, stuff about physics that's just generally my least favorite kind of science. The beginning had so much back and forth with the characters background and I couldn't tell whether Hayes and Yosef were at the start of a possible romance or if they were already in a relationship. I kind of wish the beginning was slower, had less back and forth, and started off simpler and built up complexity as it went along rather than the other way around.
I will say once we got to the one third mark I was deeply invested. I loved the jumping around different dimensions and with the motif of love being a constant element was just an amazing reading experience. I liked how they explored the different versions of themselves and how it showed that both Hayes and Yosef had scary parts to them. We read through Hayes POV and while he tries hard to stay oblivious to both their flaws, they are clear to the audience without it coming across as naive or plot convenient. Hayes is a morally gray character who I don't think was in the wrong with any of his motives, which is very hard when writing a morally gray character. I think the writing style was very intellectual and felt somewhat timeless.
That being said once we got to the end I started to loose interest. It's funny that most books have very strong endings and beginnings but a weak middle and this book has a powerhouse of a middle but a lackluster beginning. I think that's because the middle part felt like an episodic series that's fun to follow but the endings felt like they were part of a big novel and that disconnect made the episodic feeling middle very strong on it's own but the start and end felt incomplete. Now as for what actually happened, I hated the ending. I think it would have been more powerful storytelling if Yosef had died and the universe was set right, leaving Hayes grieving over what he did and accepting the heavy burden of what he did to match the message of the rest of the novel. Or even Hayes dying and we switch to Yosef's POV at the end where he sees Hayes unfinished documentary of all the two went through and Yosef carries the burden of knowing what could have been and how the public has no idea of the devastating future they almost faced. The first would have worked because Hayes could finally realize the weight of his. actions and come to understand how important everyone/everything is in the grand scheme of things. The second would have worked because Yosef could recognize how one person can change the world and reflect in feelings of importance vs insignificance to land hard on a good message. Instead we got a weak ending where they both live and the happy conclusion is jarring to what we just read and sort of tone deaf to the actual severity of what they did.
Overall I think the author is incredibly powerful at writing prose and is very clearly an intelligent person. But I think he bit off more than he could chew. I see this a lot in debut novels where the author puts all their ideas into one book and it gets crowded and the important parts get watered down. We could do without the aliens or the exposition about world history from the time the book takes place. It would have worked better if he focused on multiple dimensions and the relationship between Yosef and Hayes. Although while I think the storytelling and exposition had too much going on, the prose and tone was very well done. The author knows how to establish strong characterization throughout the novel by showing and not telling.

Rep: gay mc with depression, Egyptian Muslim gay li, Japanese aroace sc

Time traveling gays! That’s what got me interested. This book shows how far the main character will go to save the one he loves, even traversing multiple universes and knowing that saving him will somehow cause the death of billions of people.

It was really interesting read and concept. They had the technology to (somewhat) predict the future, even in different universes, with what reminded me of a Magic 8 Ball lol They had to ask it questions, but they didn’t always get clear answers.

It was really cool seeing them jump from one universe to the next, on the run, every time finding that world’s version of themselves. They looked alike, but don’t have the same names or even necessarily have the same personality. The state of the planet is also different in every universe they go to.

Hayes is a very flawed, messy morally gray character. He’s relatable, smart and caring. He struggles with his mental health a lot. He’ll do whatever it takes to save Yussef. But that also makes him selfish, since saving his boyfriend means the death of billions. He also messes around in alternate universes to save themselves, in turn causing damage and death wherever they go. He even seems to manipulate readers, as he’s telling us the story. Nevertheless, you still root for him and Yussef. You want them to be safe and live happy.

I loved seeing Hayes and Yussef’s relationship grow and evolve. It was interesting to see that they’re together in other universes as well. Makes you think they’re destined to be together.

I loved the queer rep. It’s not every day you get to read a book about queer characters time traveling. There’s even an aroace character! The words aren’t used, but she explains her lack of desires. There’s also POC characters. I love to see the diversity.

The narrator did a great job. The cover is really cool!

Overall, I really enjoyed this queer time traveling book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book

How far will one go to save the life of the person they love?
This was an entertaining book. It did feel sometimes that a lot was packed in and I think I would have enjoyed it more with the plot slowed down a bit. I think it did a good job showcasing dualities of our personalities and how both good and bad can co-exist in each of us.
And, as always, I'm loving the queer representation.