Dark Matter is one of the best science fiction I have ever read, it keeps the reader engaged by consistently maintaining suspense throughout the story. It kept me thinking about the possibilities of what will happen next or trying to find an explanation of the event transpiring even though it was useless. I had an urge to read the novel in a single sitting and I did not like the idea of taking breaks or reading it later. A good science friction depends on the world building and the concept of multiverse or different reality fits it perfectly. Each different universe brought by taking a different choice made by character thus making an infinite number of universes.
Dark matter tells us the story about Jason Dessen who had been a world class physicist living with his wife Daniela and their teenage son Charlie. Both of them had their own dreams they wanted to pursue but after Daniela became pregnant they chose to sacrifice their dreams and get married. Jasen works as a high school teacher of physics in Chicago.
One day he received an invitation for a party from his old friend who had won a prestigious prize. From here things start to get interesting as Jason gets kidnapped and drugged by a mysterious masked man (who is another version of him) during return to his home, eventually found himself in an alternative universe and from there he struggles to find his way back home to his own family (which had become his only light).
Jason 2 (the masked one) had taken Jason’s place and lives with Daniela. From here the story moves like it on steroids or you can say fast paced but that does not make it less intriguing. As the concept of multiverse is involved we can pretty much guess that the difference between both Jason’s is that they took different choices to whether to sacrifice their dreams or not.
Those who are familiar with the concept of multiverse may find it easy to understand the story. As Jason who is in an unfamiliar world tries to make sense of things as he is pursued by his “colleagues” who think him to be their Jason and murders Daniela of that world. Jason meeting with Daniela confirms his doubts in being in a different universe and what other Jason wanted was to be in his life. I had doubts about Jason 2’s identity until Jason met Daniela of that world.
There was one thing that I find quite interesting which was the method of connecting door to another universe, the box which allows a person to in superposition allowing them exist in multiple state at once thus gives access to open doors to different universes but what allow all of this to work is drug which turn certain areas of brain to sleep.
There is no machine or any supernatural phenomena involved that helps to perceive the doors but only the human brain which I quite like as this shows the possibilities of the human brain which we are yet to discover.
The development of Jason after the long journey to his home. The one thing I was most surprised about in the story was when there were many Jason coming for different universes, it felt like some kind of pandora box was opened due to multiverse travel.
Here is when it really felt like the genre has changed to horror but it only made me feel quite intrigued. There were also some things I disliked like Jason accepting the concept of multiverse but it was limited to only his timeline, I feel like even if a little related to a different timeline was shown it would be better.
The story also leaves us with some lingering questions like “Is Jason’s world really his own world”, we see him travelling to many different realities while some are little different or completely different thus it leaves the question of did Jason travelled to some other Jason’s world. There are many Jason’s who returned from the multiverse so it makes us question Is there a ‘true’ (Jason from beginning) Jason, many people can easily forget the implication of Jason branching into many Jason. These questions are left for the reader to figure out on their own.
Overall, Dark Matter was an interesting novel to read, it had a little something for everyone. The love for Daniela that Jason had kept him moving throughout his journey. Daniela’s behaviour was quite good given the circumstance she found herself in and her trust shown for Jason. The ending was quite unexpected and Jason’s love for his home (family)was enough that he was ready to fight all the other Jason. I would highly recommend dark matter especially to those who love science friction and any engaging novel. For more books reviews click https://tirtales.com/category/book-reviews/.