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The Quantum July by Ron King
01/12/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Delacorte Press/Random House. 244 page hardback. Price: $15.99 (US), $20.99 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-385-73418-9. Buy The Quantum July in the USA - or Buy The Quantum July in the UK  check out websites: www.randomhouse.com/teens
'The Quantum July' is an ambitious teen novel for first time author Ron King. Not only has he got to please a younger audience but at the same time explain quantum theory, Schrödinger's dead/alive imaginary cat, pocket universes and alternative realities. That would be tough in adult SF.
Rather than write on too a grandiose a scale, King has taken to showing the effects on teenage Danny Parsons whose barn becomes the nexus for change. One side of reality he has a father and on the other he hasn't but has Bridget, a younger super-bright sister, who explains what is going on. Ultimately, the decision as to which reality or fusion of which belongs to Danny.
The problem is that the scale of the story clouds what is going on with family angst rather than Science Fiction. The plotting device isn't always necessary and indeed, had it been a choice between two families rather than alternative realities, this story would have worked equally as well.
This doesn't mean to say author Ron King doesn't have some potential as a writer, it's just not sure which camp he really wants to belong to. If its in SF, then he needs to focus on elements that aren't so transferable between genres. If its for teens, he'll need to show he can do more than tell stories about family life. The real test for books of this sort is the teen market as opposed to someone like me nearly thrice their age. From the science angle though, I'm not that convinced that teens will have any firmer grasp of quantum mechanics after they've read this book.
GF Willmetts
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