The Quantum Magician was a wonderful bit of scifi worldbuilding and technology wrapped around a heist novel. Future tech harnessing time travel and the forces driving the inflation of the universe and you have to sneak it right through a wormhole and maybe steal it all on the way.

I had no idea how to top that… but was curious to see.

Turns out… time travel.

It’s a risky choice. Time travel at a small scale can be a lot of fun. It helps you pull off heists after all. And yet… when you try to make it significantly larger, you really have to deal with the question: how does time travel work in this universe?

Well… it’s never entirely answered. Things get all sorts of quantum and fuzzy. Effects proceed causes (and sometimes you get neat little loops with no original cause at all). Other than that, I’ll let you see how they deal with it all.

I do still love the side characters the most. We get more Scarecrow, which is fascinating. And of course Stills and anti-piss (you’ll just have to see it).

Overall, the first book is stronger. But this one has some fascinating ideas and I’m happy to get the chance to live in this world for just a few hours longer. Onward to see if it can be done–one more time. 😄