Quantum Coin (Coin, #2)

4.5/5 stars.

I really hope this isn’t the last book in this series, guys. “Quantum Coin” goes to even more crazy places (and finds crazier people) compared to book one, and yet at the same time, I was pretty satisfied with the ending we’re given here. Hands down, the “Coin” universe is a pretty great one and one of my favorites of the year so far. If you like your YA full of action and wonderful surprises, be sure to check out the second book in the “Coin” series, “Quantum Coin”.

In this second bo

4.5/5 stars.

In this second book, the stakes have been hugely raised to the point where EVERYTHING in almost every arena is at stake. And it all might be all Ephraim’s (well, his older self in the future alternate universe within the multiverse as a whole) fault. Myers really does a great job of building tension this entire book, and it feels like he’s really hit his stride in this second book in all areas. There are more love rombuses (or is it rombii?), more alternate selves (three Jena/Zoes, holy crap), more mysteries put forth and later answered, and everything is starting to fall apart. I just absolutely love how dire everything is in this book. There is tension on literally every page, and those books are the best kinds of books.

The world that Myers has created (well, the Multiverse) gets expanded in this volume in the series – both in terms of more worlds, and also in terms of the past, present, and future. To expand your world in terms of locales is great, but to expand it along the time axis of things is just downright ballsy, and I applaud Myers for doing worldbuilding with time as well as places. Along with this worldbuilding with time, we also get an expansion of characters – older Nathaniel, Ephraim, and Jena as well as Earth’s ultimate, horrible future that gets its Big Reveal at the end of the book. And all of these older versions of our characters knit back into the expanded world so very well (one of my marks of good worldbuilding? check!), and it was generally such a satisfying thing to read that by the end of the book, I was sad that it was all over.

The characters get even more real, with their present and future selves, and they explore themselves in a way that they really couldn’t in book one. Book one really sets the stage, and in this book, we really get to explore the world through the characters’ eyes. There’s tons of conflict between the characters and their analogs (alternate selves), and that’s always gratifying. There’s no free lunch and no easy answer in this book, and you really get to see the characters try to find an answer that will save their individual worlds and the multiverse as a whole, you get to see them work for that answer. And it may not be the one that they want in the end – it may be, in fact, the worse solution out of the lot. Yet, it’s their only choice. Just like I love books that hit on the “there may not be any salvation/redemption/happy ending” theme in life, this book also hits on those themes, too. What do you do when there may be no happy ending? The characters have to go through that, and it bonds you to them.

The sensory imagery/language still kind of has a way to go, but at the same time, it’s come a lot farther in this book. I would say that this is Myers’ weakest area in the entire book, but it’s still better than it was in book one. Good going, Myers!

I loved the ending, but I still have the feeling that things may not be entirely finished in the “Coin” universe. At least, I hope that’s the case. But at the same time, I’m really satisfied with the ending we were given – definitely a HEA for our immediate main characters (Nathaniel, Jena, Zoe, and Ephraim). And it was a believable HEA, too. So I’m pretty satisfied there.

Final verdict? If you’ve read book one, you definitely have to read this book! But if you haven’t read book one, warning – you might be a little confused by this book alone. Still, this is definitely one of the best books of 2012 so far, so either way, definitely give the “Coin” books a try! “Quantum Coin” will be out from Pyr/Prometheus Books on October 2, 2012 in North America, so be sure to check it out then!

(posted to goodreads, shelfari, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com)

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