"Arcadia" by Iain Pears

This was a great read. Arcadia is truly multifaceted. It is a mix of fantasy, Sci-Fi, dystopian, historical fiction and time travel. This blending of genres as well as the complex plot and multiple points of view reminded me of Cloud Atlas, Station Eleven, and The Queen of the Tearling. So if you liked any of those, you will probably enjoy Arcadia as well.

I jumped into the book without knowing anything about the plot and I do believe this is the best way to approach this particular novel. That way various twists are revealed gradually and nothing is spoiled. The narrative switches back and forth between three different worlds/time periods. We start out in 1962 in Oxford where Professor Henry Lytten starts writing a novel about a world, completely different from ours. A few pages after that, the reader realizes that the world he has invented is real.

The world building in this book is intricate, the plot is engaging, and the characters are interesting and complex. The only weak point for me was the romance in the novel. It is by no means a major focus of the plot, however, in great contrast to the rest of the book, the romantic story line was quite juvenile and unconvincing.  I had a hard time believing that two complete strangers from different worlds who barely spent an hour together would start professing their undying love for each other. The entire scene between Rosie (disguised as a boy) and Pamarchon made me cringe. So I ended up docking one star from the overall rating because of the author’s halfhearted attempt at adding romance to the plot.

Overall, an excellent novel, I enjoyed it immensely and will definitely be reading more of Iain Pears’ work. 4 out of 5 stars.