I received this book from the author for no charge.I really enjoyed this book - I have a real weakness for action with a science fiction twist. A good idea well executed. It reminds me of Ancilary Justice.

I am not sure what it was, but Patchwerk didn't manage to captivate me on a level that made me want to keep going. It got a lot better in the second half, but by then my enthusiasm was somewhat eroded already.The concept here is an interesting one: One version of reality bleeding into others, parallel universes combining to great effects. But in the execution I felt it was lacking. A lot of time is spent on action and chase sequences, all aboard a train/ship/whatever the current reality turn...

Multiverses, all of which look interesting, and none of which we get to look at very long.

This wasn't a bad book it was just a little weird and hard to follow at times. I think it would have worked better as a novel instead of a novella. I also wasn't a fan of the whole thing being just one chapter. Still it was well-written and I definitely want to check out other books by the author.

This was a very odd story to listen to. The narrator, Tim Gerard Reynolds, is one of the best in the business -- but in this case he kept changing accents not only in the dialogue but also in the exposition, and I also kept thinking that he was forgetting how the characters' names were pronounced. Now, it turns out that neither of these things were Reynolds's fault (though I still think changing the accent in the exposition was a bad idea), but they resulted in a head-scratching listening experi...

The book description of Patchwerk tells us it is set on a large airship with Dran Florrian trying to prevent a powerful group of well-connected thieves from stealing his invention, Palimpsest. The device is capable of breaking down barriers between alternate universes. This is probably an example of where book blurbs are useful because, at a 138 pages, Patchwerk is the type of writing that falls into the category of short story/novella, so does not have much space in which to world build. Withou...

Meddling with reality is dangerous.It's especially dangerous when your enemy has gotten possession of your device and doesn't understand important aspects of it, has removed all safety features--and intends to use it as a weapon.And when the device itself has its own opinions on what's "harmful" and what's not.Florrian is traveling with the device that will prove all his scientific theories when a rival organization attempts to steal it. The drastic action he takes can potentially threaten the f...

FUN!!!

"Patchwerk" is the third selection I've read of Tor.com's novella publishing series. It's nice that I can read these in a brief afternoon. I finished this one while at the library on the day it was due.It's hard to talk about Patchwerk without spoiling the conceit of the novel. I had a similar difficulty with The Last Witness, the last Tor.com novella I read, but these stories couldn't be more different. Patchwerk doesn't try too hard to hide its premise, so I don't feel bad about spoiling it. D...

A short, punchy, pulpy adventure story of science, espionage, and infinite universes. It's the kind of high-imagination weirdness that I love so much.

A scientist turns spy to try and steal back (or disable) his own machine – the palimpsest. He fears it can be used as a type of bomb. But then he finds his ex-wife is helping his enemy.888This was rather interesting… but did something very confusing and with an audiobook, it was hard to tell if it was the book or me.An intriguing idea but I don’t think it worked as well as it could have.3 starsIn the Tor audio collection – the blue one.

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.25 of 5Dr. Dran Florrian is heading away from New York with a device he calls a "Palimpsest" - a device that is the culmination of five years hard work. The Palimpsest is a machine that can reach into other realities and of course, that means it's a device that is going to be wanted by some of the more unsavory types, specifically Harlan Dorric - a man who has already taken something very valuable from Dran. And so Florrian is

I believe there is only one word to describe this Sci-Fi/Thriller novella - Exhausting. But don't get me wrong here, not exhausting in a bad way, more in the fact that the story starts at pace and doesn't really have anywhere the reader would want to stop until the final page - at which point a few hours (admittedly, enjoyable hours) have passed. The basic premise of Patchwerk is that Dran Florrian has invented a machine, The Palimpsest, that can manipulate alternate universes. A 'shady organisa...

I received a free advance copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.I had no idea what to expect when I opened Patchwerk, aside from what the cover blurb says about it, so it was a complete and mostly pleasant surprise. I’d never heard of David Tallerman before, and this is the only thing I’ve ever read by him. Patchwerk is a type of sci-fi story that I don’t usually seek out—the “man invents something ill-advised and hijinks ensue” sort—so it was an interesting change of pace, althoug...

Enjoyed this Sci-Fi novella. A tale of scientist that has created a machine, the Palimpsest, that if in the wrong hands, could be used as a weapon and so he decides to do something about it, but his rival tracks him down and tries to stop him.The story twists and turns through alternate universes that the Palimpsest creates, as the protagonist flees from his rival and his goons. The transition from one alternate reality to the next in the story are seamless, although a bit confusing at first. Bu...

I recently read an article about how fantasy and science fiction don't fit the novella mold, since the shortened length limits the world-building, which the author felt was critical to the genres. I guess this is true, but it's easy to draw a fantasy or science fiction world with broad strokes. In Patchwerk, Tallerman leads us into the story with a character whose body modification -- a set of gills -- will be used to clear the toxins from the air, for which he will be paid a small stipend, but

This review originally appeared on Pop Verse.This is what science fiction writing should be. Having fun with outlandish ideas while keeping the prose simple and elegant. My love of SFF writing was born from reading Ursula Le Guin and Tallerman’s new novella follows in her daunting footsteps admirably.The complex and outlandish premise for Patchwerk works well in novella form. Long enough to be meaty, but short enough not to be taxing for the reader. It fits in well with Tor.com’s imprint. Tor.co...

I received this book from the publisher at no cost.This is a really hard story to talk about without major spoilers. So initially, let me know: the premise is quite clever - man makes machine that may well interfere with the very fabric of reality - and there are some nice points of world building. There's a point at which you may well wonder whether your version of the text has somehow been corrupted (I did), but it's actually the story itself, as you discover when you keep going (... unless yo...

Dr. Dran Florrian Palimpsest (software, self-destruct) has invented the ultimate reality programmed mind machine.It is of course not flawless & if it ends up in the wrong hands it could wreak havoc. How will this story pan out? D’ren (pg. 34) D’rik (pg. 36) K’ren (pg. 41)I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one. A very awesome book cov...

(Received via Netgalley)You'd be forgiven for thinking that Patchwerk is a superhero story - the tagline on the front, and the very striking cover both sort of point that way. It isn't that, but it is a fast-paced, entertaining romp through a short space of time and a vast number of parallel realities. Patchwerk is reminiscent of such lost classics as Heinlein's North By Northwest, or Hitchcock's Number of the Beast – a Maguffin, a villain, a girl, and one long chase sequence that forms the core...