My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publisher: Tor Books
Summary: Day One
No one can remember anything--who they are, family and friends, or even how to read. Reality has fragmented and Earth consists of an islands of rock floating in an endless sky. Food, water, electricity--gone, except for what people can find, and they can't find much.
Faller's pockets contain tantalizing clues: a photo of himself and a woman he can't remember, a toy solider with a parachute, and a mysterious map drawn in blood. With only these materials as a guide, he makes a leap of faith from the edge of the world to find the woman and set things right.
He encounters other floating islands, impossible replicas of himself and others, and learns that one man hates him enough to take revenge for actions Faller can't even remember.
I'm a big fan of McIntosh and have read all but one of his non-YA books, so he's definitely a Must Read for me. I have to say, I don't think this one is his best (I think that title is still safely held by Love Minus Eighty, if you're wondering). I liked how the story was told in tandem (with Faller, awaking after some apocalyptic event where everyone's memories have been summarily wiped and the world broken up into seemingly floating islands in the atmosphere & the past thread centering on Peter Sandoval & other scientific researchers having made a seminal breakthrough) but the science was a bit... thin in explanation, so I felt this was skirting more the fantasy category. I'm not the biggest fantasy fan so that likely explains my reticence here. To be clear, I didn't need this to go hard scifi but this needed a bit more firming up for the central characters to be so steeped in physics. Still, this was full of interesting ideas and imagery and that's something I definitely think McIntosh excelled at. There are quite a few things that will remain with me for a bit so this wasn't a wasted read in any way.
I'd recommend this but not as your entry to McIntosh's books (try Defenders or Love Minus Eighty). It's a quick read and not a bad weekend book.
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