An entertaining, if somewhat incredible book about topics such as the multiverse, quantum mechanics, the nature of death, etc. Written by a combination of a scientist, Robert Lanza and a science fiction writer, Nancy Kress, the book tries to share complex topics in a manner that can be understood by the lay person.

Worthwhile as an introduction to these topics and as a good summer read.

I don't know what happened, but Nancy Kress lost all craft for this book.

CONTENT WARNING:

Spoiler

sexual assault, sick child, loss of a child, cancer, loss of a partner, terrorism, mass shootings, social media attacks

Things that were great:

-The concept. How we live knowing that consciousness is just a sort of Descartes "I doubt (or I think) therefore I am" is very interesting.

-Cast of characters: Outside our legal framework and capitalism, these were cool characters to get to know.

-The world. I was super interested in exploring consciousness in the world of social media attacks in particular, it seemed like we'd go somewhere where shame was fabricated, which would have been very cool.

The rest:

-Bad writing. I'm sorry but there was no connective tissue, everything was surface level, telegraphed painfully, nothing led to something else, and it was overdone by at least 100 pages.

-Bad plotting. As an offshoot of my first point, the plot here was painfully spare and obvious.

-Dialogue. Also painful.

-We don't deal with the pain. There's a lot of big topics and we just do not feel the impact of them.

I'd tried Beggars in Spain and found it also not emotionally resonant. Unfortunately I just don't think this author has a style I can appreciate.

Observer by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress attempts to blend science fiction with philosophical exploration, but it ultimately falls short on several fronts. While the premise of a story centered on consciousness, reality, and the role of the observer sounds fascinating, the execution leaves much to be desired. For a book with such grand philosophical ambitions, it feels oddly shallow, bogged down by unrealistic plot points, one-dimensional characters, and a complete lack of genuine suspense.

I understood this novel as Lanza's attempt present his ideas concerning quantum mechanics in a more accessible format. After reading, I still don't quite fully grasp his notions of the primacy of the observer, and maybe in time this novel will be a work of prophetic fiction. But as a work of fiction I felt Observer was a bit too overly dramatic and predictable. Each relationship in the novel seemed to exist only to become a catalyst for characters to engage with medical research into quantum mechanics. Therefore it was hard to take the interpersonal aspects of this novel seriously, and at times it even came across to me as a cheap plot device to talk more about bio-centrism or quantum entanglement. The concepts expressed by Lanza in this novel are certainly worthy of a science fiction masterpiece, but this just wasn't it in my opinion. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Loved the plot, I’m a sucker for a good science fiction! Knocked down from 5 because I felt the pacing was off (major plot points happening in the last couple chapters of the book) and because I felt like the theory was explained wayyyy too many times (like, I got it the first time, thanks). Still highly recommend for lovers of science fiction!

Extremely interesting and thought provoking. This book introduced the concept of the "primacy of the observer" theory in an approachable way and left me wanting to learn more.

Thank you to The Story Plant and NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Observers was a wild story that breached the theories of a world beyond our known consciousness. At times it was hard to understand, using physics jargon to relay the theory in question: what if there were other universes in which to create existence by simply observing it?

It was clear a lot of research and care was put into this novel as information was packed into this novel. Following a disgraced neurosurgeon, Dr. Caroline Soames-Watkins, on her hunt for a new job after coming forward with a sexual assault allegation against an esteem doctor. In her search, Caro is offered a job by her recluse Nobel prize winning great-uncle, working in a rural mystery facility in the Caribbean.

An eclectic group of scientists and tech analysts work to research the known and unknown consciousness whilst Caro combats her personal issues as well as struggling to grasp the concept of her great-uncle’s theory in order to commit to her role.

Observer was an interesting ride of science and what the advancement of technology could mean in the wrong hands. At times it was difficult and borderline impossible to understand without prior knowledge of physics, but it proved for an captivating story. I was very disappointed with the ending as it felt rushed as thought Lanza and Kress attempted to nip everything in the bud without full closure. Another issue is the writing of Caro’s character, whilst carrying many traumatic responses from her childhood, her constant need and attraction from every man in the novel reads a very ‘written by a man’.

Overall, I rate this novel 2.5 out of 5 stars (rounded up to 3)

Dr. Caroline “Caro” Soames-Watkin’s, a rising neurosurgeon finds herself without a job after a sexual harassment case blows up in her face. With her sister and nieces care in her mind she accepts a position doing clinical research on a ground breaking new brain surgery from her estranged genius uncle Dr. Watkins.

Initially the book drew me in with compelling characters and the mystery suspense of the Grand Cayman clinical trial and multiverse brain experiment. As I got deeper into the chapters I started to struggle with the sheer amount of information and word count.

This story has a lot of scientific terminology, specifically quantum physics and the multiverse. Initially I appreciated the long drawn out break down of the theories and information but it eventually became repetitive.

The book is also entirely too long. At 384 pages it’s too wordy and there are too many secondary characters that are hard to connect with. With that amount of pages you’d think the reader could walk away with a solid connection and understanding of every characters but that didn’t happen. I think this book could have been chopped down by at least 100 pages.

Overall this is a middle of the road book. The concept is interesting and the main characters are easy to invest in, but ultimately the execution is lacking and that is why it’s a 3/5 for me.

Thank you to the National Book Network for sending me a copy to review.

Caroline "Caro" Soames-Watkins is a talented neurosurgeon and after an accusation of sexual assault against another respected surgeon, she finds herself jobless, maxed out on her credit cards, and desperate to continue to support her sister, a single mother with two young daughters, one of whom is severely disabled.

Meanwhile, in the Caymans, Noble prize-winning scientist Sam Watkins, Caro's great uncle, has set up a research centre which delves into esoteric research into consciousness, time, reality, and immortality.

Sam extends Caro a job offer when he needs a neurosurgeon and after hesitation as she has never met the man, Caro accepts, and discovers that the research is soon to test the hypothesis of multiverses, which ties into Sam's search for immortality, which is particularly pertinent to him as he's in late stage cancer.

Soon it becomes clear that someone has leaked the proprietary research when the outside world collides with the secrecy of the research compound.


So, basically, I did not enjoy this book. While I initially found the characters interesting, pretty soon the book was turned into a long description of one of the author's hypotheses, "the primacy of the observer" where nothing exists until someone observes it. This idea extends to the objects around us, and even to the universe itself.

Just as the book started to get interesting because of the character interactions, I just lost interest thanks to all the physics exposition and the story dragged itself to its not very interesting end.

Thank you to Netgalley and to The Story Plant for this ARC in exchange for my review.