Book Review: Reprise

Reviewed by Genevieve Hartman

A steamy sci-fi novel replete with time travel, Dungeons & Dragons, and danger

Reprise by Zilla Novikov follows Eddy Courant, a Canadian scientist living in a world not unlike our own, who studies time loops. Despite all the traveling in time, Eddy’s research is unfortunately going nowhere. So when she is offered a postdoc position with Dr. François Gagnon, giving her the opportunity to ditch her teaching load and forgo an unattainable tenure status at her current job, Eddy jumps at the chance. It helps that François has excellent funding for his lab, and he’s brilliant, refined, and easy on the eyes—just like his wife, Mara. 

Between running ever-increasingly dangerous lab experiements where Eddy must travel back in time to the Shadowrealm only to die on repeat, Eddy cozies up to the Gagnon family, enjoying weekly D&D nights at their residence, and joining the family watch party for the wildly popular TV show, Night Beats.

But the lines between the Shadowrealm and reality (the Middlerealm) grow more and more blurred, and Eddy begins to wonder whether her antics and affairs in the Shadowrealm might catch up with her. To top it off, there’s the ever-increasing pressure from François’s funders to test a dangerous bioweapon in the Shadowrealm that threatens the lives of Canada’s top officials—and even world peace. Maybe Eddy is in over her head…

Reprise is nothing short of a whirlwind. Novikov’s complicated science of time travel and time loops is original and engaging. Eddy is a bit of a mess and is still figuring out how to be an adult, but she’s also a genius and completely dedicated to her research (and to the Night Beats fandom). And when Eddy is dedicated, she’s also determined to get what she wants, whether that’s discovering ground-breaking technology, seducing her boss’s wife, or saving the world. She’s a nerd through and through, but that’s not a bad thing, and it helps make Eddy the quirky, well-realized character that she is. Readers can’t help but root for her, even when her choices are a little questionable. 

If Reprise has a downside, it’s that the book can be hard to follow. If Eddy is confused with what’s happening in the Shadowrealm versus in the Middlerealm, so are the readers. The addition of lengthy D&D campaigns adds another world to keep track of, so often there are three separate plot lines to navigate, each bleeding into the other in varying ways. While the worldbuilding is intricate and impressive, it also runs the risk of detracting from the story itself. 

Full of tension and twisting storylines, Reprise is a sci-fi novel that feels almost real. Its characters must follow the rigorous trials of the scientific method, as well as the terrifying possibility of the Shadowrealm, all while sorting out the complicated relationships forming between Eddy, Mara and François. This book is a breakneck journey, a loveletter to being a nerd, and a good time.

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