[Review] The Many Worlds of Albie Bright - Christopher Edge

Summary:   Stephen Albie Bright leads a happy, normal life. Well, as normal as it gets with two astrophysicist parents who named their son after their favorite scientists, Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. 

   But then Albie’s mother dies of cancer, and his world is shattered. When his father explains that she might be alive in a parallel universe, Albie knows he has to find her. So, armed with a box, a laptop, and a banana, Albie sets out to do just that. 

   Of course, when you’re universe-hopping for the very first time, it’s difficult to find the one you want. As Albie searches, he discovers some pretty big surprises about himself and our universe(s), and stumbles upon the answers to life’s most challenging questions.

   A poignant, funny, and heartwarming adventure, this extraordinary novel is for anyone who has ever been curious. (Pub Date: May 30, 2017)


Review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Thank you to the publisher for giving me this opportunity.

I was very glad to be able to read this story because it is very different from what I usually pick for myself, and yet I found it lovely.

Albie has lost his mother but something his dad says sends him into an adventure—in some parallel universe his mother is still alive, and he's set on finding. With a few adaptations, he creates a machine that creates the paradox he needs to open the door to the other lives he might have had.

Surely, because grief and moving forward is the theme, this is the kind of book to be enjoyed by anyone, kids or grown-ups or anyone in between.

Despite the author's easy explanations, or maybe even because they were so easy, the method Albie finds is incredibly hard to believe. And the weird applications to theory were as unrealistic. However, it didn't get in the way of my enjoying it, because the how is definitely not the point. He could have just stumbled into a magical portal. His journey and the conclusions both Albie and me as the reader reach by the end were really the thing.

I'd actually rate it a 3.5 not for the quality but for lack of creativity. Yes, it was entertaining but the information was nothing new—authors seem in love with the Schrodinger's cat lately— and as mentioned, the application lacked verisimilitude. I believe a book of this kind needs a little more oomph.

And yet, it was really cute. I believe that because this is children's fiction, the book is rather short. This didn't make it rushed in no way. Nonetheless, it did make me yearn for more by the time I reached the ending.

Rating: 4 out of 5.