The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North – – fantasy

Harry August gets to relive life over and over again. When Harry dies, he is reborn at the same place and time, with all of his memories intact. At the end of one of his lives, Harry is visited by a young girl with a message passed down through others of his kind: the world is ending and now it’s his job to figure out what to do about it.

I loved Harry August. He was a great character, not without his flaws, who was simply trying to save the world. He meets and befriends Vincent, another of his kind, and figures out it is he who wants to destroy the future. At first, Harry helps him in his task, but later decides he cannot continue further. Vincent goes down a dangerous path of destroying others of the Cronus Club and continuing to advance technology years ahead of its time in an effort to create his greatest achievement: a quantum mirror.

I think that Harry loved Vincent in his own way. They crossed paths many times and despite the fact that Vincent kills him twice and tries to force him to forget his past lives, Harry continues to attach himself to his side. He even saves Vincent’s life, only to destroy it later. There really was a deep connection between the two men, who had centuries worth of time and experience together and apart.

If I didn’t think too much about how the time traveling worked, this book was amazing. I loved learning about Harry’s past lives and all of the things he was able to accomplish. The people he met, the places he visited, the ultimate task of destroying a friend, kept me at rapt attention. I still want more Harry August, if you can believe it, and I wish there was more of him to explore.