WIZZY WIG: THANATOS RISING, BOOK 2 by Tiffany Pitts – Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Humor

Have you ever wondered what might happen if you unknowingly ripped a hole in the space-time continuum? Jake and Kix find out firsthand just how much madness can ensue when this exact conundrum befalls them in Wizzy Wig: Thanatos Rising Book Two by Tiffany Pitts, a fun and quirky Sci-Fi romp that fans of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams are sure to enjoy.

The evening begins innocently enough when Jake invites Kix over with a pizza to help him solve a wave function experiment. While Kix relaxes on the couch, Jake turns his attention to an experiment he’s come up with based on the idea of Schrödinger’s cat, except instead of a cat in a box, Jake’s version uses a pizza in a box. For those unfamiliar with the concept of Schrödinger’s cat, this thought experiment posits that an unobservable cat in a box is simultaneously alive and dead—essentially the cat can exist in any or no state at all. Jake hypothesizes that an unobservable pizza in a box is inherently similar—it could exist in any state as well—and thus can have its toppings changed if one knows the right math—which he does.

Jake turns his attention to his computer and does his best not to be distracted by Kix’s (striped) tights and his massive crush on her while he attempts to alter the toppings on the unseen pizza in the box. He succeeds. And the world as they know it is altered in incredible, yet difficult to see ways. Soon, Kix is on the run for her life from the genuinely creepy and disturbing Brad, a far more sinister version of her neighbor Thad, who has crossed over from another version of reality.

Enter Thanatos, Dark Lord of the Underworld, otherwise known as Toesy. Toesy is not your normal housecat. Firstly he is part demon, secondly, he has thumbs that help him open doors (a souvenir from a previous experiment of Jake’s in book one) and lastly, he’s got Executive Wartime Consigliore Steve…the voice inside his head who helps him strategize his battles. As a cat, Toesy is a natural ‘boundary walker’ and quickly realizes what the other characters do not—that the hole Jake ripped in the space-time continuum by solving his wave experiment has caused the distinct versions of the multiverse to overlap and merge in terrifying ways.

Wizzy Wig is told through the shifting perspectives of its diverse cast of characters, some of whom are alternate versions of each other. Multiple storylines that may at first be confusing come together in the end to create a complex story set in the heart of modern Seattle. Readers should note that this isn’t the type of novel one can halfway pay attention to. Wizzy Wig requires all of a reader’s attention. We are dealing with the space-time continuum after all and characters do not only cross from one reality to another in easily tracked ways. The realities themselves overlap and merge at times, and characters may appear as one or the other version of themselves or even change personalities altogether.

Pitts has crafted a fun, complex, modern Sci-Fi novel in which nothing is off limits. Multiverses exist, murderous banana spiders find their way into apartment buildings, sugar gliders seek their freedom, readers find themselves in the mind of a sociopath, and the boy who just may get the girl, if they can both survive long enough. Wizzy Wig: Thanatos Rising is an entertaining and quirky Sci-Fi novel, and while there are some punctuation errors throughout, it doesn’t detract from the story. Readers will find clever and resourceful heroes worth cheering for in this second installment of the Thanatos Rising series.