Tandem (Many-Worlds Trilogy, #1)

by Anna Jarzab

Read the book that Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of the LEGEND trilogy called, "A fascinating world of parallel universes, sexy doppelgangers, and breathtaking action. Such a fun and addictive read!"

 A captivating tale of rebellion and romance that spans parallel worlds.

Everything repeats.
You. Your best friend. Every person you know.
Many worlds, many lives—infinite possibilities.
Welcome to the multiverse.

Sixteen-year-old Sasha Lawson has only ever known one small, ordinary life. When she was young, she loved her grandfather's stories of parallel worlds, inhabited by girls who looked like her but led totally different lives. Sasha never believed such worlds were real—until now, when she finds herself thrust into one against her will.

To prevent imminent war, Sasha must slip into the life of an alternate version of herself, a princess who has vanished on the eve of her arranged marriage. If Sasha succeeds in fooling everyone, she will be returned home; if she fails, she'll be trapped in another girl's life forever. As time runs out, Sasha finds herself torn between two worlds, two lives, and two young men vying for her love—one who knows her secret, and one who believes she's someone she's not.  

"Clever and exhilarating—each page is a pleasure."—Ally Condie, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Matched

• ISBN13: 9780385742771
• Publish Date: 3 February 2014 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: IN
• Imprint: Random House USA Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I always get sucked in by books promising a fabulous multi-verse. It’s a really complicated theory for a book, where there’s a limited amount of space and a lot of explaining to do. I feel pretty confident in saying that from the scientific, worldbuilding POV, Tandem is the best YA multi-verse I’ve ever read. It’s such a complicated subject to get across and explanations need to justify suspension of disbelief, not just ask for it. I think Anna Jarzab did a really good job in that respect.

Unfortunately, because of the immensity of worldbuilding required – not just one, but two, and the theory of many others – a lot of the book was usurped by this. There were many scenes interjected to explain another possible inconsistency here or there, and it slowed the book down a lot. The presented plot just dragged. Tandem takes place over the course of a week, in which there’s political unrest and a hunt under way for the real princess Julianna, as well as the development of a love triangle… square… something. And honestly, all these things were interesting on their own, but there is a lot going on. With all that taking a back seat to worldbuilding explanations, other things felt underexplained and underdeveloped.

The characters, in particular, suffered from this. We get a pretty good idea about Sasha, because we’re in her head. Thomas, Grant, Julianna… all the other characters with important roles are relatively one-dimensional. Honestly, I get it. There was a lot of explaining to do and it was a bit overwhelming to include everything. There were areas in the worldbuilding I didn’t feel needed to be explained – such as Sasha’s visions, I’d’ve accepted them as an anomaly. And even though we were in Sasha’s head, she was very… pragmatic. She cursed herself for having crushes, but as a reader, I never really felt that bubbliness. I would have enjoyed a little more emotional depth from her.

To be honest? I’m surprised by how much I liked this book. The Many-Worlds series was cancelled by the publisher after low sales and interest in book two… but I feel like Anna Jarzab has a lot to offer. She took a chance and had some original ideas, which can be refreshing in a genre that likes to seize a trend and exploit it. I liked conspiracy, because despite its obviousness, I didn’t have all the details figured out. Her writing voice was easy to read, and the narrator did a great job. It was just the pacing that pulled it down – it was slow, and there’s no getting around that. Justifying the pacing as well as I might, there’s still the fact that it is slow.

As I’m reading this as part of Retelling-a-Thon’s Shakespeare week, it should be mentioned that this popped up on a lot of different lists as a retelling of Twelfth Night. I was pretty hesitant in my readathon announcement of this being an actual retelling.. and I still sort of feel that way. The play features as Sasha’s favorite book. As far as parallels go, the main theme is present: much like Viola has to step into Sebastien’s shoes, so Sasha has to step into Julianna’s. The relationship between Tandem and Twelfth Night is loose. It feels more respectful and inspired by the play than an actual retelling. I don’t think this is quite a proper retelling because there simply aren’t enough similarities.

As a story, if you’re patient enough to deal with the snail’s pace, this is a pretty good book. Certainly there’s the argument of the problematic nature of Thomas/Sasha’s relationship, but honestly this book reads like an adventure. If someone wanted to pull me into an alternate universe where I am a princess, I’m sure I could make it work somehow. I liked it enough that I would read the second book, even though I know the third will never be published. Not one I would push to the very top of my TBR, but I’m nonetheless interested.

[readingwithwrin]

3.5


" The world is far less random than it appears. Once you started paying attention, patterns emerged where before you only saw chaos."

Jarzab did beautifully on building the world of United Common Wealth and how the parallel universes worked. It was a little bit confusing at first, but after awhile it really starts to get explained, and shows how it all works.

I did really like Sasha as a character at first but towards the middle of the book, I started to really get annoyed with her due to her not doing what she was told to be able to get back home. Thankfully as the book went on though she started to get comfortable in her surroundings and she started to take charge of her/Juli's life somewhat and made me start liking her again.

What little bit of Juli we did get to see and know I really didn't have many feelings towards her. I got why she wanted out, but the fact that she thought it would actually work shows how naive she was. While I do understand her being naive it also annoyed me because of whom she trusted and who she ended up betraying in the end.

As for Thomas (KES Guard/Kidnapper) I really wanted to like him, and to just feel like he was just doing his job, and while he was, and I do think he did care for Sasha I also just couldn't trust him or like him very much and I'm still not even sure why.

Now for Callum who is the prince she is to marry. I did like him as a character and I did feel somewhat bad for him considering how horrible his mother is according to everyone else. Plus from seeing what little we did of her in the book I think her and the Queen of the United common wealth would make great friends considering how they both treat people. I did like him as a character and that he really did seem to care of Sasha/Juli but I was also slightly apprehensive about his motives for certain things.

As for the "love triangle" I really don't see one. While there are two love interest for Sasha she really only cares for one and is only using the other one to get to safety or to please everyone else. I do have problems with Sasha and Thomas relationship though since not only did he kidnap her I feel like partially she likes him so much because he is her savior whenever she gets into trouble and he is here only connection to get back home.


Overall I really did enjoy this book and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to Sasha now.

Slightly disappointed that this appears to be a trilogy and not a duology like I originally thought.

See more reviews like this on my blog

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/03/tandem-by-anna-jarzab.html
I loved Tandem. I'm looking at other reader reviews and wonder if they read the same book that I did. Tandem was incredible. A brilliant blend of science fiction, suspense and romance. I was highly anticipating it's release, the premise of a parallel universe isn't all too common in young adult, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Sasha had lost both her parents, and raised by her estranged grandfather, who she now couldn't imagine her life without. She's the quiet achiever who doesn't rely upon her peers, but longs for a more exciting life than the predictable one she seems to be stuck in. Little does she realise that her entire world is about to change, literally.

The teen is thrown into a parallel universe against her will, where she is almost a carbon copy of the Princess. Based on science fiction, Anna Jarzab created an incredibly engaging storyline that readers will invest in. Although Tandem doesn't contain long and boring scientific explanations, thank goodness, readers will need to be observant within the first few chapters to gauge the storyline as a whole. The characters are all interconnected, but Sasha shares a special bond with her Analog through a tether. Visions she assumed were vivid dreams, were events as seen through the eyes of her Princess counterpart. It allowed the storyline of both Sasha and Julianna to be told through two different points of view, through the one person.

Slow to begin but imperative to the storyline, once Sasha is taken through the Tandem, I was complexly engrossed. If this is the future of young adult science fiction, then readers are in for a brilliant ride. But be warned, it ends in what could be seen as a cliffhanger, I for one can't wait for the release of Tether, book two in the Many Worlds series.

Don't let the sci-fi elements scare you away from TANDEM, as the book feels more like a fantasy than anything else. The story is basically a version of THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK except with a female protagonist and a sci-fi twist involving parallel universes. It starts in our modern day world, but most of the book takes place in an alternate version North America that has a monarchy ruling it. There is a lot of political unrest and warring factions seeking to overthrow the government. So when the princess goes missing, they abduct her double (or analog) from our world.

As a premise, it's fun. As a twist on the classic THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, again it's fun. I even liked the sprinkling of theoretical physics that explain the multiverse and how people can move between worlds. The characters are what fell a little flat for me, and by extension, the romance. Sasha and Thomas were just a tad on the dull side. I never got really swept up in what was happening to them because of their portrayal. They both felt very standard.

That being said, the plot was inventive and offered up several fun and unexpected turns. I'm probably going to check out the sequel, TETHER, because I am curious to see how it all turns out. Hopefully the characters will be more engaging next time. As far as comparisons go in terms of story lines, TANDEM should appeal to fans of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series.

[Ashley]

Nose Graze — Young Adult book reviews

Tandem is a fun and original new take on parallel universes! I think this book really proves how you can take a similar idea and twist it into something totally different. I got hooked on the idea of parallel universes after reading Parallel by Lauren Miller. But despite both books being about parallel universes, they are both completely different. Actually, now that I think about it, if anything, the parallel universe concept in Tandem is similar to The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.

Tandem is far from lacking in the swoony boys department! I adored the romance in this book. There is a bit of a love triangle, but it's honestly not really a love triangle because although there are two boys in the picture, Sasha only has her eyes on one of them. I loved both guys though. Thomas is... well, he's kind of perfect. He's a high ranking security guy, which means he's pretty grown up and badass (despite being a teenager). But he's also a really, genuinely amazing guy. He promises to never lie to Sasha, and he doesn't! Throughout the entire book! And considering that he's a high up military guy in another universe, that kind of says a lot. Thomas is sweet, hot, romantic, and all around just deeeliiiicious!

Then we have Callum. Callum is super different from Thomas, but he's also a nice guy. He's a prince in the parallel world, but he's so down to earth. He acts just like a regular, nice, high school guy. But that's why I felt so bad for Callum. Sasha has to enter a parallel universe and pretend to be her parallel self (princess Juliana), because the real Juliana was kidnapped. But Callum thinks that Sasha is really Juliana, the woman he's been arranged to marry. So he's trying to really get to know her and ease into some kind of intimate life, since they'll be married... but Sasha has no intention of staying in this parallel universe forever. And I just felt so, so bad for Callum who was a nice guy trying to make the most of an arranged marriage, but little did he know that he wasn't even talking to the real princess Juliana this whole time! I just wanted to hug him.

I think the world building is definitely where Tandem was lacking. Some parts of the world building were done pretty well, like going over the idea of parallel universes and the science behind them—that was all fine. But the actual parallel universe that we spend most of the book in wasn't built up very well. There's clearly a ton of political unrest. There are two main kingdoms, which are divided up in the United States. But then there's also a rebellion group trying to dismantle both kingdoms and form like a democracy. But we get very little history about all of this and overall I didn't have a very good grasp of the world's history, why their politics was so messed up, etc. And since the politics were a huge part of the book, that was a bit of a bummer.

I sort of have a love/hate relationship with Sasha. She was okay at the very beginning, but as soon as she went into the parallel universe, she annoyed me. She cried a lot and she ignored common sense. I mean, I get that she was kidnapped and that's scary, but they laid out pretty clear terms and instructions for her and said they'd take her back if she followed them. They also said, "Hide your face because you're really recognizable here and it would be a really bad thing if people saw you." So she immediately ran out into the open, deliberately showed her face, and then people tried to kill her because of it. Yeah, nice job Sasha. But towards the end of the book, Sasha felt a lot more independent and sure of herself. She wasn't that teary, crying girl anymore. She actually took charge, uncovered secrets, and became a much stronger character.

Overall, Tandem is definitely worth reading. It's an interesting book with a sweet romance, and it leaves off in a phenomenal place. The end of the book really picked up and hooked me in!