One of the nice things about reading a multiple universe novel by an actual scientist is that you know the science will be right, but I often worry that the story will be less of the focus than the science. Happily that’s not the case in Neve Maslakovic’s book Regarding Ducks and Universes. The novel is a fun (and often funny) look at what happens if we get linked together with an alternate universe that is split off from ours. Not only do we see how the different worlds evolved differently after the split, but also how the people who were split off are different than their alternate people. So, why are we regarding Ducks?

In January 1986, the universe is split in two around the area where Professor Singh is doing some experiments. He manages to make a link between the newly split universes and, after a lot of work from scientists in both universe, it’s possible for people to go and visit the alternate universe (labeled Universe A and Universe B). To help regulate this, a cross-universe governmental agency (DIM–Department of Information Management)has come up with a bunch of regulations to control the flow of information and limit the ability of a person in one universe to meet their alter (alternate version in the other universe) without approval from both alters.

Felix Sayers is a writer for a culinary company in Universe A. When his boss brings in new equipment, Felix’s job is write a user manual, possible recipes and other information for the purchaser of the equipment. But Felix really wants to be a mystery writer. When his great Aunt dies and leaves him some dolphin knick-nacks and a photograph which proves that Felix was born before the split (meaning he has an alter in Universe B) instead of after the split (which he parents had told him), Felix is determined to find out if his alter has written the novel that he hasn’t gotten around to writing yet.

Felix gets caught up in some fun and funny situations and is pursued by two groups of scientists who think that he might have part of the key to determine what caused this universe split. Maslakovic does a great job keeping the plot moving and making Felix a great characters. The other characters aren’t quite as fleshed out and there more coincidences along the way than I would expect. But the real star of the book is the alternate universe. We get to see how small changes in one universe caused big ripple effects which lead to dramatic differences in the two universes. We are also challenged with the question of why just two, why not an infinite number of universes. And how can a duck have such a dramatic impact in how the two universes changed. Overall it’s a quick fun read. I think Maslakovic is a writer to watch as she clearly knows how to structure a fun story, but needs some work on plot and characterization. Overall I really enjoyed the book. Recommended.