The Infinite Miles

I was not prepared for the trip that this book brought me on. Definitely grounded in Dr Who esque fantasy, not sure on criculatability. A second round purchase for most libraries.

What if, one day, you discover your favorite tv show is actual real?

What if, on that same day, you discover that time travel exists?

What if, that ever night, you learn that your best friend left you and everyone to travel the universe?

And what if you're now faced with saving your best friend from herself, and everyone else, from ominous threat?

What would you do?

This is a book that deserves to be re-read, and if you're a fan of Dr. Who or Quantum Leap, you need to add The Infinite Miles to your TBR list!

Hannah Fergesen's The Infinite Miles was such a fun and insightful romp about time and space, exploring the intricacies of what makes a truly good friendship. I really enjoyed the Doctor Who homages, and I think this will appeal to a wide variety of sci-fi lovers, Whovians and beyond.

This book takes place in an alternate universe. Some things are the same, some are different. The author wants the reader to be able to see ourselves in this world…and oh boy, it was fun to do so.

This book is very clearly inspired by Doctor Who. Miles is the Doctor, Peggy the companion, and Peggy’s best friend Harper is the person left behind. The TARDIS? That is a 1972 Dodge Charger called Argo.

And … and … in this reality Harper and Peggy grew up watching a tv show about Argo and the Argonaut, somehow based on Miles life and travels through space and time. He doesn’t have a clue which of his companions gave him up to a tv producer, but someone did. Imagine being Peggy…you find out that your all time favorite tv character is real and invites you along for adventures. So cool.

Then … Peggy goes missing. Harper is waiting around for her ever since they had a huge falling out three years earlier, until Peggy comes back. But … Peggy isn’t Peggy anymore. Miles “saves” Harper but … what if he was burnt out, tired of losing companions, and ditches Harper in the 1970s after her best friend’s body was taken over by an alien parasite? What should Harper do?

I really enjoyed this. Now, you have to take this book for what it is. Don’t go into it hoping for something that will blow the genre wide open. If you are a fan of doctor who and want to read something that is fan fictiony but also has a tone and feeling of it’s own, please go for it! I lied earlier, Miles is NOT the doctor, the Argo is NOT the TARDIS, but they were clearly inspired by them. There is a strong overarching story, a hero you can and will root for (Harper), and the Argo is amazing. I will admit, I really didn’t like Peggy, but that is okay. I do wish she deserved Harper’s love and loyalty though.

Enough from me. If you want to read the book after reading this review? Go get it as soon as you are able. Strong four star rating.

Bonus points: the books title is super cute and punny. Love it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an arc of this book.

This was an extremely enjoyable debut novel by Hannah Fergesen. Oftentimes novels like this start off string but can lose my interest yet this one held my attention the entire time.

I love a good story that circle backs which this one does beautifully. Yes it most definitely takes elements from Doctor Who and other fun pop culture elements but it works very well with in the storyline. It’s more a what if you found out that your favorite science fiction show of all time was real and suddenly you are in the midst of the craziest adventure ever.

Harper is a character that grows a great deal and gets the closure she needs in order to move forward in her life. Sometimes this novel is mind boggling but in such fun ways.

First, I want to say that I want to give this 4.5 stars, but that isn't an option. I really enjoyed the fun time travel story that felt like it would be a great mini-series. On to the story: imagine a world much like ours with a TV show about a time and space traveler, and you are a huge fan of the show. Now imagine that traveler is based on a real person, and you meet that real person. And now you are off to solve the problem of an infectious alien being that has control over your best friend. It all sounds a bit like a story arc from Dr. Who, I know, but that is part of the fun. The real time and space traveler, Miles, is quite a bit more fallible than the TV version, and his companion, in this case a early 20s woman, is the strength and heart of the story. I don't want to reveal too much info here, but if you like fun time travel, action and adventure, and alien worlds, this is a book to check out.

Come for the time travel, stay for the heartwarming and strong female lead,, enjoy a romp through the 1970s, and be terrified of an infectious mind altering being spreading across the universe to create a hive mind of all beings.

Please someone make this into a TV show.

The Infinite Miles was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I was not let down! I loved this story about friendship and fandom, set across time and space. My one minor qualm was that some of the more technical stuff went a wee bit above my head, but that did not take away my enjoyment of this great story! I am going to tell you why I liked it, because that is always fun!

►It felt like a love story to fandom. So, as likely everyone reading this knows, I am inordinately enamored with The 100. Like, it has become a huge part of my life, even after Jason tried to ruin our lives it ended. So from the start, I could relate to Harper and Peggy's love for Infinite Voyage, and how deeply it had rooted itself in their lives and friendship. I know this is an homage of sorts to Doctor Who, but the truth is, anyone who has felt deeply about any fandom can relate to this story.

►The characters were great. I loved Harper, I really did. She just felt so realistic, so... average, and I don't mean that in a negative way! Just that she could be any of us, having the ups and downs of regular life, when she's thrown into this time traveling, alien mess. And so, she fumbles. A lot, because we would too. But she clearly has the best interests of her friends, and even strangers, at heart, which made me feel that much more invested.

►I also really enjoyed the world building. So, this alien collective mind thing reminded me of The 100, where they are kind of a hive mind of sorts? And just like in The 100, these beings somehow got the idea that they should be able to control all the species, which is really annoying, especially if you are part of a species that doesn't fancy being controlled, as humans are. So that was compelling in itself, but the time travel stuff was really fascinating too. I don't really want to tell you much about what kind of time travel this is (is it weird that there are like, "brands" of time travel? Well- I worry that if I tell you what "brand" this is it'll give away too much, so shh), but I haven't seen a ton of its kind, and I really was intrigued by it!

►There are a lot of great twists! I love when I am like "ahhh so THAT is why that thing happened!" and everything falls into place and makes you feel satisfied. There is a lot of that in this story, and I dug it. A lot.

Bottom Line: While the time travel and alien aspects are awesome, the warmth and strength of the characters is what made me really love this book!

thanks to netgalley for e-arc. full review closer to release.

Imagine if Doctor Who was based on a real life time traveling alien, and the Doctor was actually beloved artist and actor, David Bowie. Then, instead of a police box, his ship is an old muscle car akin to the DeLorean of back to the future. That is nostalgia to the max, and it is effectively the set up of this book, with all the major players renamed likely for copyright reasons. TLDR: I loved it; it was almost perfect. 4.5/5 stars

It's not secret that this book is leaning heavily on the success and popularity of other works. That can be lazy or it can be ambitious. In this case, I think it is ambitious. Fergesen isn't just using nostalgia for the attention. It is clear that she has a deep love for the inspirations behind this book. It is engrained in every aspect of the book, but it doesn't stop them from making the story their own. That isn't just in the twists that utterly flip the cannon of these other works on their head. They're taking preexisting entities to create a framework and then reimagines them in her own unique way. To me, that is really what makes this book work.

Our Doctor is not the Doctor, but in many ways, he reads like him. I couldn't help but imagine every piece of dialogue from him in the voice of David Tenant (even if he is a David Bowie archetype). But the way he talks it expands the perception I have of the doctor, bring a level of realism that doesn't exist within the more family friendly inspiration.

The biggest issue I had with the book was with the direction it took in toward the end. It felt Whovian enough, but it felt out of place in the world Fergesen had developed (i.e., one with more realistic consequence). Fergesen, I think intentionally, foreshadows where the story is going. Its really the central thesis of the story: love over hate. I like the central thesis, but I wanted to see a deeper implemention than the somewhat surface level exploration that is, I think, common in the classic mythos. More consequence would have given the story more weight. If I'm being honest, there were some inconsistencies toward the end that needed addressing too, but I'm not as bothered by those.

I'll be rereading this when its released on audio, and I am very curious to see whether the story works so well after all the mystery and surprise is gone. That will be the ultimate test to whether my love for this was in the story or the nostalgia.