"A dystopian satire, a story about -storytelling, believing and listening--
A Highly Unlikely Scenario is ultimately a history of our own strange world."
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New York Times Book Review "[A] dizzying fabulist debut."
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Washington Post "Ultimately, more than incantations and codes, it's family Cantor cares about.
A Highly Unlikely Scenario is about just that: Familial wisdom and love lost and found and shared anew, finally, conquering all."
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Daily Beast An
io9 pick for the Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2014
"[Cantor's] imagination is exhilarating -- A Highly Unlikely Scenario will appeal to fans of sci-fi and people who just like to laugh."
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Cosmopolitan's 10 Books by Women You Have to Read This Spring "A treat for those who like zippy sci-fi paced like the stories of Kurt Vonnegut."
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Time Out New York "Rachel Cantor joins the ranks of authors who are able to turn philosophical concepts into whiz-bang plots, and make them funny as well. Throw in some family dysfunction, time travel, a librarian ingénue, and the possible destruction of the world, and you've got an adventure story replete with nerdy delights."
--Tor "The book's plot, which concerns a future where fast food corporations run the world, is deliciously weird enough to work in its own warped way, walking the line between straight fantasy and fiction."
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Flavorwire A Hall of Fame Bestseller in The Millions One of Liberty Hardy's (RiverRun Bookstore) Must-Read Books from Indie Presses for 2014, on
Book Riot "A heroic tale unlike any other: a novel that is not about a quest but about learning that the world--our world--is full of extraordinary, mysterious wonders."
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Kenyon Review "This debut novel is a present to both sci-fi and humor fans alike."
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Barnes & Noble Book Blog, January indie books roundup "In this roller-coaster debut, fast-food corporations rule the world and a peon customer-service worker has to save it... Cantor is in control of her material, and successful dystopian satire makes more sense while you're lost in it."
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Heeb, Best Books of the Year "Brooklyn-based writer Rachel Cantor has created a whole new world in her debut novel -- a humorous and playful science fiction story."
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Brooklyn Eagle "Delightful... The sense of excitement in Cantor's prose, which propels this familiar story of a few silly, frightened people braving their way through a maddening, baffling world, is what compels us to keep reading."
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The Rumpus A Book of the Week pick from WORD bookstore on Largehearted Boy "An intrepid debut."
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Kirkus Reviews "Cantor suspends disbelief and creates a loony world entirely of her own, which is terrifically funny and effortlessly enjoyable... Highly entertaining and adventurous."
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Publishers Weekly "[A] rambunctiously smart, pun-spiked, and sweet dystopian romantic comedy... Cantor's funny and charming metaphysical adventure and love story is a wily inquiry into questions of perception, knowledge, mystery, legacy, and love."
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Booklist "Cantor's novel will be a great hit for fans of Douglas Adams's
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe. There's a lot going on here, and all of it is amusing."
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Library Journal "The great pleasure of such novels is the world-building, in which the author invents a new universe while playfully commenting on our own. And what Cantor does of this is great, her impish prose and dry wit perfectly suited to the task."
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The Telegraph (UK) "It's as if Kurt Vonnegut and Italo Calvino collaborated to write a comic book sci-fi adventure and persuaded Chagall to do the drawings. One of the freshest and mostly lively novels I have encountered for quite a while."
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Jim Crace, author of Harvest and The Pesthouse
"
A Highly Unlikely Scenario is a joyful book, full of the energy of undiluted invention and the thoughtful imagination of a writer to watch. It's a wild ride and much more--funny, intelligent and entirely pleasing."
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A.L. Kennedy, author of Day "Cosmic and comic, full of philosophy, mysticism and celestial whimsy. A story of listening, of souls and bodies, that is at once both profoundly wild and wildly profound."
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Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe "Part Italo Calvino, part Ray Bradbury, in this extraordinary novel, Rachel Cantor explores questions of self-knowledge, true love and family, all while saving the world--and winning readers--in the past, present, and future."
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Hannah Tinti, author of The Good Thief "A sharp, witty, and immensely entertaining debut... Cantor's skill in rendering complex and highly believable characters makes for an unexpectedly moving tale."
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Emily St. John Mandel,
author of The Lola Quartet "I didn't know I needed a mystical Jewish Douglas Adams in my life, but Rachel Cantor is it, and her
Guide makes me
shep naches every time I turn a page. Buy this book,
bubeleh! It will surprise you in ways large and small, and it will fill you with delight."
--Emily Barton, author of Brookland