Quantum Coin: Review

Title: Quantum Coin
Author: E. C. Myers
Release Date: October 2012
Published By: Pyr
Pages: 340
Goodreads Rating: 4.03 stars

Review: Ephraim thought his universe-hopping days were over. But then an old friend crashes their senior prom: Jena's identical twin from a parallel world, Zoe. It turns out that Ephraim's problems have just begun, and they're much more complicated than his love life: The multiverse is at stake—and it might just be Ephraim's fault. The three of them band together to figure out how to save the multiverse, but ultimately, the solution may depend on how much they're willing to sacrifice for the sake of humanity - and themselves.

In general, no one ever likes sequels, but thankfully, QUANTUM COIN was an exception. I thoroughly enjoyed Fair Coin more than I had expected to, and the same is true for this follow-up, except I liked it even more. This has a full kind of story, by which I mean you can really sit down, open this, and get immediately enveloped into the plot. This is the sort of book that can really keep you occupied from start to finish without ever having the desire to poke plot holes or put it down for a bit. It's not that it's suspenseful per se, although there are certainly suspenseful parts, but the book itself is just inherently pleasurable to read.

By far the greatest aspect of this book would be the characters. Ephraim, Jena, and Zoe all feel like living, breathing people, and the character development they all experience is fantastic to read. Even better, all the different versions of themselves, be they "victims" of personality changes or age, have fascinating interactions and make for an entertaining but not confusing read. 

Most notable of all the character interactions would be Ephraim's love triangle with Jena and Zoe. Normally I find love triangles rather hard to believe and endlessly tiresome, but QUANTUM COIN does it differently. Because Jena and Zoe are different versions of the same base person, the fact that Ephraim has trouble choosing between them is actually believable, and the triangle itself is not done too heavy-handedly. I liked it in Fair Coin and it continues to work well here.

All in all, QUANTUM COIN was a superb follow-up to Fair Coin, blending together wonderful character development, an excellent romantic sub-plot, and fantastic pacing to a fast-moving plot to make a novel hard to put down. I look forward to picking up future books in the series, and recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the prequel.
 

Cliches in Novels

It happens all too often: you're reading a book, getting steadily absorbed in a plot, and then realize, to your dismay, that it's exactly like a million other plots you've read before. Congratulations, you've found another plot cliche.

These kinds of tropes and cliches bother me perhaps more than they should. When I read a book, I want something new and different. It doesn't have to exactly revolutionize fiction, but it shouldn't remind me of every other book I've read in my life, either.

That's why I always love it when I come across a book that seems like it's going to plant itself smack dab in the middle of cliche-land, and then ends up being completely different. One example I can think of is Fair Coin by E. C. Myers - you think it's going to be a stereotypical "wishing" book but then whoa, plot twist.

What other examples can you think of?

Fair Coin: Review

Title: Fair Coin

Author: E. C. Myers

Release Date: March 2012

Published By: Pyr

Pages: 285

Goodreads Rating: 3.53 stars

Review: Ephraim Scott is horrified when he comes home to see his mother collapsed from a suicide attempt because she claims she saw his dead body at the hospital. Among his dead double's belongings, he finds a coin. With a single flip, his mother changes from an alcoholic to a model mother, but the more flips he makes, the more things change... and not always the way he wants them to. The coin can give him anything he wants, if he learns to control its power before his luck runs out.

I thought FAIR COIN would be more or less your typical magic wishes novel, where the protagonist learns that his original life situation was better than making so many changes and so on and so forth. However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised at the rather unique (and science fiction-esque) explanation behind the "magic wishes". It was well-explained, believable, and very original compared to explanations I've seen in other books.

It was unique not just in its concept but also in its cast of characters. Each character was fully developed and original, particularly the entire scenario concerning one of the characters, Nate. Of course, I won't go into it in order to avoid spoilers, but he was particularly complex in a good way. In general, the characters felt real, as if they are captured personalities stuck on a page and could walk off at any moment.

All in all, FAIR COIN was a suspenseful and intriguing science fiction novel that takes a new spin on an old concept. From the un-put-down-able storyline to the well-developed cast of characters, this is a book for anyone who doesn't usually enjoy science fiction or just wants to read something with an interesting concept behind the plot.

Waiting on Wednesday (32)

This week, I'm waiting on...

Fair Coin by E. C. Myers. Here's what Goodreads has to say: Sixteen-year-old Ephraim Scott is horrified when he comes home from school and finds his mother unconscious at the kitchen table, clutching a bottle of pills. The reason for her suicide attempt is even more disturbing: she thought she’d identified Ephraim’s body at the hospital that day.

Among his dead double’s belongings, Ephraim finds a strange coin—a coin that grants wishes when he flips it. With a flick of his thumb, he can turn his alcoholic mother into a model parent and catch the eye of the girl he’s liked since second grade. But the coin doesn’t always change things for the better. And a bad flip can destroy other people’s lives as easily as it rebuilds his own.

The coin could give Ephraim everything he’s ever wanted—if he learns to control its power before his luck runs out.

Fair Coin releases in March 2012. Have you ever heard of this book? Do you want to read it? And what are you waiting on this Wednesday?