Source: Borrowed from the Pasco County Library System
Pub. Date: April 5, 2022
Synopsis: Goodreads

Why did I choose to read this book?

If I’m being very honest, I wasn’t going to read this one. I did see it on The Lists but a pandemic time travel story just wasn’t something I wanted to bring into my brain space on purpose. Then I saw friends reading it and liking it with at least 3 stars on Goodreads, so I decided to give it a try. I was peer pressured, that’s why I chose to read this book.

What is this book about?

This book is about having a choice in the midst of inevitability. It’s about how you get a chance to live your life but eventually you have to give in to what you were meant to be, and what you were meant to be was shaped by the choices you made. Time travel loops and timeline cops with the occasional pandemic experience in for good measure – this book is not about good things, it’s about how we manage to eke out a silver lining when the entire sky is only dark clouds and everything seems predetermined.

What is notable about the story? Was anything not so great?

I combined these sections for this review, because what was notable about this story was how forgettable it was. I still think about Blake Crouch’s Recursion every now and then because it was an amazing disaster/time travel novel, but when I finished Sea of Tranquility it felt like it was one of those books that you know was written with the purpose of winning awards. There were so many different themes that were introduced, and we never get to see them all finished out, so for a college lit analysis class (or i.e. “The Industry”) it’s a golden egg filled with discussion, but for the average reader when you get to the ending/twist it’s like a deflated balloon. I remember closing the back cover and saying out loud “that’s it?” I read all the way through to the end, so it’s not fair to say that I was bored because the story was gripping enough to hold me. I guess I was just disappointed and underwhelmed.

What’s the verdict?

2 stars on Goodreads because I made it to the end, but I can’t go higher because it’s too bland and forgettable. If you want to read a better version of this, go get Recursion by Blake Crouch.

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