The Last Universe [Hardcover]

William Sleator's evident fascination with quantum physics and different universes is on display again in this novel, which (like Strange Attractors before it) deals with bifurcations in the timeline. In "Strange Attractors" the characters actually used a time machine to visit these alternate timelines. This time around, all it takes is one sick boy and a maze.

There are several problems with this book. One is its attempt to be "modern". Sleator evidently wants to reach today's youth by incorporating their technology into his new books. This one begins with his main character instant messaging her friend, and he writes their conversation out exactly as he evidently imagines a teen would write an instant message. Maybe it's unfair to peg him for this one, but to me the entire effort seemed strained. He abbreviated some things but not others, and it didn't sound like a teenager, it sounded like an adult trying to sound like a teenager. It was also frustratingly vague at times. He never gave any specifics about what illness the sick boy actually has, though it would have taken only a hour's worth of internet research to find a disease or syndrome of some kind that had the symptoms he needed for his plot.

I was very disappointed by the ending. There are so many promising leads -- the fascinating probability clouds, the ever-changing vases, the hints at the other worlds -- that I could scarcely imagine all the places he could take the book in the end. But instead of something really fantastic, the ending is very ho-hum, and the "twist" at the end isn't handled well enough to really be a shocker. It's also not particularly scientific, or logical. And it's frustrating that so much is left unexplained in the book -- his explanation of illness "triggering" the garden's quantum effects, for example, or even giving some hints as to how the maze was built in the first place. Did the garden inherently possess quantum properties, or were they brought there by some magic-like science? Even little things in this book failed to impress. Each chapter has a little maze at the heading, but the maze always stays the same. Since the maze in the garden changes, it would have been interesting to see that one change too, kind of like the chapter-heading pictures in one of Michael Crichton's books. He also has an "Afterward" in the book, and for the life of me, I cannot understand why it's even there, since all it does is repeat what his characters have already said about quantum physics in the book. It's great that he wanted to have a solid lesson on the concept for his readers, but I'm sure his readers were smart enough to understand it without a repetitive and frankly condescending "explanation" at the end.

Still, there's a lot of great imagery here, especially with the descriptions Sleator gives of the garden. It's almost as if he's really been to such a place. :-) And he does manage to create an atmosphere of creepy tension, as always. I'm just disappointed that the pay-off wasn't better. Overall, it's definitely not one of his best books. Check out "Strange Attractors" The Boy Who Reversed Himself and The Boxes for more dazzling examples of how this amazing writer can handle the concepts of time travel and alternate universes. It may not sound like it from this review, but he's one of my favorite writers of all time, and since I know what he's capable of, I'm inclined to be harder on him when he doesn't meet his potential. I know he still has great stories to tell, so I look forward to reading those.

i first read William Sleator when i picked up The Green Futures of Tycho i fell in love, then i read the Boxes then i read this, this is the best book by William Sleator. Its creepy, it makes you think, its funny, and overall amazing. You learn all about Quantum Physics and fun stuff like that, so pick it up and read away

Susan has been afraid of the garden even before her brother became ill: now she must push his wheelchair into the garden daily to satisfy his sense of impending action there, and the strange formal gardens seem to reach out for them with its mazes and mysteries. Can they survive the impossible choices the mazes bring? Once again Sleator has provided older young adult readers with the unexpected, satisfying fantasy he's so noted for. Not one of William Sleator's many novels are 'alike' in theme, aside from the overall fantasy genre: all offer unexpected twists - and The Last Universe is no exception. A top winner, highly recommended.

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