I was provided an ALC of this book through NetGalley. Thank you to Darkly Lem and Blackstone Publishing for letting me listen to this book and all opinions are my own.

I believe this is a first book in a series and there is a lot going on in sense of world building , very interesting ways of travel through universes that are soo different in atmosphere, species, laws of physics and other matters. So many people, places, and plots to keep track of, with many threads and details you have to remember and brings you to a great ending to this book.
I really enjoyed the writing style and the beautiful world building. There are also many ethical and other themes that are woven in this book. I loved most of the characters and I have found a few to dislike completely.

This would be above 4 stars - more like 4.3 for me mostly because it tries to do so much although it is a relatively ok sized listen, at once and it can be confusing with jumps between the stories, but then again our characters are doing the same through the book.
The narrator for this book was excellent and made it easier to follow and I hope he will be doing the follow up novels, which I will be surely reading when they become available.

This book is a wild ride of massive proportions. This is science fiction meets the west wing. It's one of those stories that you try to explain to a friend only to fall down a rabbit hole of details.
The team that is Darkly Lem has stitched together a mind bending story of travelers jumping from body to body across universes. The story focuses on the lives of several operatives on different sides of a multi-universe power struggle.

I really enjoyed the world building and the character development in this book. Getting used to the terms and culture of travelers was a small hurdle at the beginning, but before long it seems oddly easy. There is a good amount of action and a lot of political intrigue.

I think the only real issue I had was near the end. I don't want to post to much and spoil the plot, but there is a lot of time in the book dedicated to three characters that have a fateful encounter in the very first chapter. I didn't feel like their story went anywhere of value in this volume. I enjoyed how their various encounters unraveled more of the mechanics of the Simulacrum, but there just wasn't much payoff for all their maneuvering.

I really enjoyed the weird journey of this book. This is a very different kind of sci-fi story and I'm really happy with the final product. I look forward to what comes nex.t

I was provided both an ALC and ARC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

Dion Graham was a fantastic narrator! I enjoyed the different voices he gave the the various characters and he did different accents as each character moved from world to world at times. Such a fantastic performance!

This is perfect for fans of Caldwell Turnbull's No Gods, No Monsters and the Convergence Saga. Turnbull is a member of the author who make up Darkly Lem, the other authors in the collaboration are Josh Eure, Craig Lincoln, Ben Murphy, and M. Darusha Wehm. This didn't feel like it was written by multiple authors, and felt like a cohesive effort by the five members that make up Darkly Lem. If you enjoy that style of writing and storytelling you will enjoy this sci-fi, speculative fiction. This touches on politics, philosophy, environmental factors, corruption, self-reflection, and more.

Overall I really enjoyed this. It is strange in the best way, and while the pacing is a bit slow that fit the plot as it develops and the characters move about the multiverse. It is told from several different perspectives, but I had a hard time telling the characters apart and perhaps that was by design. There is a definite undertone of self-reflection by the characters as they move from place to place and they question their own identities. A major part of the plot is that characters can travel the multiverse and they inhabit different "husks" in different worlds. Their consciousness travels, while their "prime body" stays put, but don't quote me on that I'm still not 100% clear on that point. Some people have the ability to travel on their own, while others can move multiple people at once and the characters visit something akin to a train station to travel. It wasn't always clear if the character was another person when they traveled or if they were themselves, and that was a bit confusing for me. This is one of those books that I feel like upon re-read I would really understand the world and the science much better. I enjoyed the various characters once I got comfortable with their plotlines and motivations. There is alot going on and I was left with that feeling of "What did I just read?" when I was done. With this book that is meant as a huge compliment to the authors as I want to start over and dive back in because this book was so intriguing and interesting. I want to pick up on all of those things that I missed the first time through and pay closer attention to certain characters. I believe this is the beginning of a series and will 100% continue on.