Review of "A Quantum Love Story: A Science Fiction Novel" by Mike Chen

Neuroscientist Mariana Pineda, who works for a company called ReLive - which enhances memories - is grief-stricken by the loss of her best friend Shay. Shay took off for a solo visit to Joshua Tree National Park and never returned. The authorities presume Shay is dead, and Mariana has just about given up hope.

Sad about Shay, and and bored with her job, Mariana is on the verge of submitting her resignation to ReLive when she receives an unexpected invitation. Several ReLive employees, including Mariana, are invited to tour the cutting edge Hawke Accelerator. Since physicist Shay would have loved to see the facility, Mariana grabs a photo of Shay and goes for the tour.



At Hawke, Mariana has a very strange experience. A Hawke technician named Carter Cho tells Mariana they've met before, though Mariana has no memory of this.



Carter convinces Mariana to stand at a particular spot at a specific time, and at the designated moment, a green beam shoots out of the Hawke Accelerator and hits Mariana. The next thing Mariana knows she's waking up in her bed on a Monday morning.





It turns out the Hawke Accelerator exploded, leading to a time loop that repeats every four days.



So the world 'resets' every four days, and everyone starts from scratch. The green beam allows Mariana and Carter to recall what happened, while the rest of the world is oblivious, just reliving the same four days over and over and over.

Mariana and Carter join forces to try to 'fix' the time loop, and much of the book covers their efforts along those lines.



The time loop has some very interesting characteristics. For example, Carter is a foodie who loves to cook and buy expensive take-out. Carter can spend tons of money on food, and when the world resets, his bank account is full again. So Carter and Mariana take advantage of this quirk to travel and have some fun, and everything is 'back to normal' after four days.





Nevertheless, Mariana and Carter are very serious about fixing the time loop, and - with the help of an AI named David - they try every which way to set things right. The twosome even manage to convince a Hawke scientist called Beckett to help them, but nothing works. Meanwhile, Mariana and Carter start to develop romantic feelings.



Whether it's because of this or something else, things then go seriously awry, and a new plan is required. To say more would be a spoiler.



I liked the first two-thirds of the book, but the 'new plan' was too drawn out and complicated (in my view). Still, the story has an interesting premise and would probably appeal to sci-fi fans.

Rating: 3 stars