The Quantum Garden is Derek Künsken’s sequel to The Quantum Magician (2018). All the usual suspects are back, zipping around the galaxy and the timelines in the good ship Calculated Risk. This time Belisarius and his crew are looking for a new home for the homo quantus. Along the way, they have to rescue a transtemporal vegetable consciousness dubbed the Hortus quantus. Saint Matthew is still convinced that he is not an AI. And our protagonist, Belisarius, is still as conflicted as ever: “His capacity for denial was pulling a con on his guilt, playing on his own desperation. People fell for cons because they wanted a quick fix, a magic bullet, something to shortcut slow suffering. He wanted to be conned, but he knew he couldn’t. He had to take responsibility for all that he’d done, intentional or not.”
Time travel is dangerous in the quantum realm. As the high-pressure specialist Vincent Stills, who I wish had more scenes, puts it: “I don’t know shit about time travel, but it seems to me that if some cocksucker sneezes wrong, history puts our huevos in the cutter.” But what do you expect from baseline humans who are, as Stills says, “spineless and chicken-shit.”
Post-human, time-traveling, quantum romance is also tricky. Consider this bit of marital discord: “I thought you invited me into your marriage because you saw something in me. And then, not even weeks ago, I realized you’d only married me to avoid a causal violation.”
Bottom line: The Quantum Evolution series continues to be fun. ( )

A re-read: for my book club, and because I want to finally get my hands on Book 3 ;-)

In my view, the second instalment in The Quantum Evolution is a richer and more enjoyable novel. (I loved the world-building, but had trouble with the rather standard heist plot in The Quantum Magician.) Here, there is more focus on character, together with some interesting plot twists involving time travel and quantum "magic". I liked following Colonel Ayen Iekanjika's POV as well, as she became one of the main characters in this book (and I hope to see more of her in the sequel).
Thank you, Derek Künsken, for a great space opera. ( )

No spoilers, but there's a lot to love in this follow-up to the Quantum Magician.

For those of us who love it, there's a lot of hi-tech spec-speak with near-autistic mental states and high-computation, but there's also time-travel, a brand new con, and a twisty-turvy plot.

Sounds pretty standard, tho, right? There's a non-usual interesting tidbit that arrives, however. And I can't talk about it. You know. Fight club. But I really, really enjoyed the alien intelligences and everything surrounding them. You might say the hint is in the title of the book.

:)

This one may or may not be as strong as the first book, but there's nothing wrong with it. Slightly slow in the start, a bit heavy (or just right) on the quantum cognition stuff, but I figure that's something half of us either love or hate as a whole. :)

( )

Not as elaborate

In my review of "The Quantum Thief", Mr. Künsken's opening book in this series, I complained that it was too complex to read straight through. This book does not suffer from that fault. It is no trouble to get straight through it. My problem is that I don't know anything more than the usual about quantum physics and so I don't actually believe the book's suppositions and story line. In addition, I missed entirely why it is that they team needs core samples from the past to move through the time gates. Huh?

Nevertheless, the book is a good mid-series book with lots of plot movement and maneuvering to set up the next stage in the story.

I have another physics question though: How much energy is released in a matter / anti-matter explosion? That's an important question that I can't explain. At the very least, I think that Bel's ship should be more damaged than it is from Scarecrow's AM attack.

I received a review copy of "The Quantum Garden" by Derek Künsken from the publisher Rebellion Publishing through NetGalley.com. ( )