Tuesday, August 11, 2020

YA Novels Explore the Multiverse

 Life in the multiverse, a hypothetical group of multiple universes, is a hot new topic in YA novels. The multiverse stories can use a variety of plot devices. e. lockhart's new novel Again and Again, follows the "ground hog day" approach, where the main character Adelaide experiences her relationship with a new love interest over and over with variations each time.  Patrick Ness's Burn employs a "wormhole" between universes in a story set in the Cold War era where a dragons versus human conflict is about to break out. Now and When by Sarah Bennett Wealer is a take off on the "butterfly effect" when the main character sees the future on her social media site and begins manipulating the present to change the future.

In Again and Again Adelaide Buchwald spends the summer following her junior year at Alabaster Prep experiencing a recent breakup, her brother Toby's opioid addiction and a new attraction to Jack in various timelines.  She meets Jack while walking five dogs for teachers at the prep school.  She has never forgotten his writing her a poem at a party two years ago.  The narrative explores various possibilities as to how their relationship will progress.  At the same time, she is working on a set design for Sam Shephard's Fool for Love,  mourning her lost love and reconnecting with her brother.  The question of reality versus imagination is not always easy for the reader to determine but is worth the work. 

Burn is a mashup of historical and science fiction which begins in 1957 in Frome, Washington.  Amid tensions of the Cold War, bi-racial Sarah Dewhust and her father hire a new worker for their failing farm.  The catch: the hired hand, Kazimir, is a centuries-old Russian blue dragon, who has knowledge of a prophecy involving Sarah and an upcoming war between humans and dragons.  Meanwhile in Canada, an assassin raised by the Believers, a religious cult that worships dragons, is headed south to kill her with two FBI agents in pursuit, seeking to stop what the cult has planned. Sarah and her friend Jason Inagawa, who just returned from an internment camp, seek Kazimir's protection from the perceived threat, when they are thrown into an alternate universe where things are similar, yet completely different. In this action-packed thriller, elements of prejudice and the fears of the Cold War era are explored amidst a genre-defying title of political intrigue and dragons!

Now and When introduces Skyler Finch who finds her nemesis Truman Alexander an incredibly annoying Know-it-all; so when her phone starts sending her notifications from the future, she is shocked to see herself married to Truman.  She decides she cannot let that happen and begins trying to change the future by manipulating the present. Although Skyler seems to have it all, academic success, happily married parents, and a perfect boyfriend, she is concerned by a threat to demolish a beloved community space and her best friend Harper's suicidal tendencies.  As she tries to change the future, she disturbs the present and ends up enlisting Truman's help to undo the harm she has done.  As she stumbles toward a solution, she finds that letting things play out on their own may not be so bad after all.

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