Bender

by Alexander Rigby

Two souls. Four love stories.

Ancient Egypt. Renaissance Italy. 1980s Pittsburgh. Futuristic Argentina.

Bender tells the story of four couples across space and time, chronicling their relationships from the moments they meet, until their love stories ultimately end. These interconnecting tales follow a princess who falls for a slave, two men whose love is taboo, a dysfunctional couple struggling to make it work, and two women who discover a fascinating machine that reveals they’ve lived multiple past lives.

322 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2016

Reviews

[USOM · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the main issues taken up in the novel is the question of whether our past lives expose who we really are, at an essential level, and what this says about humanity. What impact do these lives and experiences have on our present and who are we really? It almost feels as if this is a series of short stories, that are interlaced together to tell a larger story, to paint a grander picture about who we are and what our lives mean if we live again and again. What role do we play and where does fate come into play?

There are big questions at work here and I do not think all of them are as explored as I would have liked, but the examination of fate and love, I felt, were well developed. This story asks question after question and does not serve us easy answers. It is open-ended and we are left to make up our own minds and come to terms with ourselves.

full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/revi...
Disclaimer: The Author sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of Bender I'm exchange for an honest review.

The idea of human souls living more than one life is a popular one, but the idea of a machine being able to show you your previous lives is, as far as I am aware a pretty unique one. I felt that Rigby explained the hypothetical science behind his machine in a thorough way and yet still made sense to people who aren't scientifically minded.

Out of the four storylines, my favourite was the one set in Ancient Egypt, but the one set in futuristic Argentina definitely drove the novel as a whole as it was during these sections that the plot progressed and that had the most plot twists.

My main criticism is that the dialogue in the older storylines wasn't distinguished from those in the more modern ones. For example, would they have said I'm rather than I am?

I would definitely be interested in reading more work by Alexander Rigby.

[Mandy (MP Book Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I voluntarily reviewed this book and I have not been compensated in any way.

In this book you will find the story of four couples in different times through their relationships and the ultimate end of those relationships ending with the last couple who discover through a revolutionary machine called Bender that they have lived multiple past lives. These couples are in Ancient Egypt. Renaissance Italy. 1980's Pittsburgh and Futuristic Argentina.

This book was well written and I found the whole concept of the story quite fascinating. It took a little getting used to the changes between the different couples/times but as I read further into the story I became more into the whole story and concept. Well worth reading no matter what genre of story you enjoy.

[Cathy Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very excited to read this book. Alexander Rigby is probably my favorite new author and I have had it for months waiting for the time to dedicate to it. With that being said, I was disappointed in it for quite awhile. But don't let that stop you from reading it.

The story covers the journey of two soul mates through time. Each time period a different relationship, different people, but the same souls. We would go from Ancient Egypt to Renaissance Italy to modern day Pittsburgh to the future. I am admittedly not a very big fan of science fiction and maybe that was why I didn't necessarily akin to the book the same feelings I had towards Rigby's other two titles although time travel was involved in those as well. However, as I realized these were characters that were essentially the same people just living different lives at different times and the fact that they found each other over and over made me fall in love with them myself.

There were obstacles each and every time between the two, but each time it was the one they wanted to be with. I would like to think that this can be true for us all. Maybe I'm being a hopeless romantic or maybe I have wishful thinking, but I certainly would like to believe that there is that someone out there that we bind ourselves to no matter what the circumstances and that maybe we can be brave enough to recognize it and accept it no matter what the scenario.

As I finished this book, I didn't want it to end. I wanted to here another story of how they came together and what ensued. I ended up wanting more and that's all I can ask for in a good book.

[Callitia · Rating 4 out of 5]

..."Bender is a machine that scrutinizes the fabric of who you are, going deeper than the reality of the body, delving into the spirit of the mind , transferring into the soul to find out where it has gone before."

A "couple," whose past lives have crossed at least three times, in the future, with the use of Bender, try to make it work on the fourth shot.... Can we change our futures even though the past has repeated itself countless times? Will their souls finally come together and spend their "lives" together forever?

This is a well written book with four stories going on in different times, about the same "couple" that fall deeply in love. But, no matter how much they love each other, there are so many other social triggers and situations that effect their relationship.

[Danna Olay · Rating 3 out of 5]

So . . . Bender. I have incredibly mixed feelings about this book. Overall, it was one of my least favorite reading experiences ever.

" I’ve loved you three times before Riley Dawes. And we’ve never had a happy ending, not on the shores of the Nile Delta in Ancient Egypt when you could have been queen, not at the end of the Renaissance in Italy when we were both men whose passion had to remain unseen, and not during the late twentieth century in the city of Pittsburgh when you turned out to be so mean. "

Let's start with the Setting.
Each of the 4 lifetime's settings were very easy to digest, without getting any of them mixed up in your head. You could recognize the consistence of the different locations without having to go through info dumps, besides the necessary descriptions.
I especially liked the technological creations in the futuristic Argentina, such as the synchons and auto-service tables. I have some issues with the spiral elevator though, that one needs more work. None of the tech advancements seemed too impossible to believe either, so it was good that it felt closer to reality.

The Writing.
I liked Rigby's prose well enough, but more often than not, the words felt forced or overdone, as if the author was trying too hard to make sentences sound pretty.

Sometimes it seemed as if Rigby was trying to be profound or poetic, but again, since the writing style was overdone, the meaning doesn't really come across as I think the author would have hoped. Here's a few examples . . .

" I had taken her heart and microwaved it. I had caused it to explode, the bombs I’d dropped going back in time and falling upon my car before I ever slammed into hers. I was erasing myself from her life, from the rest of her existence. "

What does it even mean to microwave a heart?!? And how is that an analogy to heartbreak?? The rest of it is just . . . very bumpy.

" When I closed my eyes, all I could picture was a massive gathering of women surrounding the four walls of where we laid within, their arms ripping off their heads as they thrust their bosoms forward, throwing their skulls against us, their hips gyrating as they screeched in dismay, cursing the sexual contemplations Ciro and I had been arguing about. I wept. "

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have just "wept", I would've been too horrified of that whole image to fall asleep ever again. •_•

" She did not speak once the slivers of deceased faded trees rested in her hands "

" By professing my confessions to Desiree, regardless of whether or not they were true, I aimed to build a horizontal dam, a means of stopping the flood from coming forth along the rivers, the lakes, and the creeks surging as one, drumming repetitively. Little did I know I was constructing my unnatural feat of humanity along the edges of the ocean. "

. . . See what I mean with trying to sound pretty?
My brain is too tired to even understand that last part . . . Also, "deceased faded trees" is apparently a fancy way of saying "paper" I just— 😐
There's a whole lot more of those eyebrow-raising phrases throughout the book. I'm not sure how I even survived it all.

But it wasn't all bad. There were quite a few undeniably great lines in there, such as this gem here . . .

" Fighting an urge was noble if the impulse was a wicked one, but denying a longing that was driven by a rightful passion should never be chased away from existence, especially if the only reason for its trepidation was caused by the confused misery of strangers. "

Some parts of this book truly were profound though, and made me sob, but they were generally sad crying or angry crying.

Now, the Characters. ‼️Spoilers ahead‼️

I guess the thing that really drove me crazy during this whole experience was the way each story began. The gist of it all : Love at First Sight. **shudders**

I do not understand the author's obsession with physical appearances. As if physical attraction was the founding connection between all of the characters, across all lifetimes.

I cannot even tell you how many times I cringed and gagged from all of the "love at first sight" and "you're so perfectly perfect" twaddling, yikes 🤮

But it wasn't just that love at first sight was a trope here; the constant and sometimes insistent descriptions of physical beauty can be found throughout the book, as if there to remind the reader that that's how their relationships began, and would continue to exist, as long as they were "gorgeous" to look at (the word 'gorgeous' alone appears about a hundred times in this story *_*)
There were even instances when the character would use the word 'monster' or 'deformed' in such a way that truly cemented their beliefs in physical perfection. **and I cringe again as I type all that** 😖

ALSO:::
Did I say I cringed a lot with all the love at first sight stuff? WELL. How many times, in how many books, in how many kinds of stories . . . must a GIRL notice . . . how perfect . . . a MAN'S MUSCLES ARE??!?!
Not only that, but the man complimenting his own muscles as well, as if he couldn't believe he was built so prettily too??? 🤮🤮🤮

Moving on . . . It definitely bothered me that some of the characters' manner of speech did not reflect their era nor their personalities.
The most jarring of all was Reed from 1980s Pittsburgh. He was an absolute arrogant jerk-face, and yet he spoke as if he rehearsed a proper monologue, or he was reading a very old book, interspersed with curses (which were shockingly the only appropriate parts of his speech).
Another one that'll have you wide-eyed-and-head-tilted was 12-year-old Roberto, speaking like the wisest old man there ever was . . . It was so weird •_•

But enough with the cringing!

The characters from Ancient Egypt and Florence were my favorites to read; Rashida & Chathis offering the most dramatic events in the book, while Renzen & Ciro had the most conflict, both internally and externally.

The couple from Pittsburgh annoyed me to no end – both Reed and Claire being the most selfish and vainest people in existence, ignoring the impending consequences of their decisions for as long as they possibly could (I pretty much wanted to skip this chapter every time just to get to the next one in Argentina, where the story indeed made the most progress).

I liked Riley & Catherine's connection, mostly because they weren't love at first sight, but rather curiosity at first sight. Sure, they still ogled each other's beauty, but that wasn't the point. Their chemistry was enough to entice, although their relationship felt at times forced, simply because of the fact they knew they had met in previous lives before, and from mere curiosity on Riley's part. Their love story was the least developed because their chapters were focused more on explaining and moving the entire story forward.

The idea of reincarnation was a bit lost on me though, in a weird sort of way.
I knew the characters were supposedly transcendences of the same soul, but that's just it : Besides their names always beginning with the same letter, and the colors of their hair never-changing . . . there wasn't much resemblance with the characters' personalities to connect them with one another. Where was the essence of the one soul that could be found in each persona? Please don't tell me it was that R could never drive, or C could never swim – those were merely technical skills (or lack thereof), not things that truly make up a character. Each incarnation was inexplicably different in comparison with the rest, so it was a little hard to believe they were actually rebirths rather than potential realities.

I did love the wide range of emotions Bender explored with its characters nonetheless, from the highest of blisses to the internal chaoses to the lowest of hopelessnesses.

However, I do wish there were POVs from the C characters as well – I found them interesting enough to want to see into their minds too. I especially wanted to know more about Ciro's fears and how they ultimately break him, and how Catherine's memories of her past lives affected how she lived in the present, and her search for Riley.

And this brings me to some unanswered questions . . .
What keeps bringing these two souls together? Out of all of the people they've met in each lifetime, was it really just the two of them who keep meeting? Was there a purpose in them meeting only to tragically end every time? If they finally lived happily ever after, would that then become their last lives?
Also, how was Bender even invented? (And how were they able to build it entirely and make it function perfectly within just two years?) ((Also, why was the machine named "Bender"? Is it bending anything??))
Plus, I'd like to know how Chathis (and the Pharaoh) reacted to Rashida's death as well. What became of Renzen since the demons outside had finally clawed at his courage? How had Claire come to forgiveness in the end? I'd also like to find out what happened with Catherine's Andromeda mission; did they find what they were looking for? Was she able to communicate with Riley (or Earth) after that?

And lastly, was the final chapter in the book THE chapter that R & C have been waiting for? . . . or am I merely overthinking it and the final chapter was in fact just an open ending? 😅

The more I think about Bender, the more I find it to really be a good study of love and relationships, and of course societal history toward these, which always fills me with so much anger towards humanity and all of the injustice they used to condone (and sometimes still do).

" I try to tell myself even the most horrible things that happen in life do so for a reason. It’s the only way I can find any justice in the universe. "

Reading aftereffect : This book made me want to strive to be an even kinder person.

I just cannot shake how outrageously frustrated it made me feel while reading. It's not a bad book, I simply did not like how mostly negative my experience with Bender was. Like I said, mixed feelings.

I received an ARC from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bender is a unique and intriguing work of romance and speculative fiction, based on an utterly beguiling premise, reaching across continents and millenia. If only I had enjoyed reading it.

The thing is, I really loved the concept of this book. Its take on love, predestination, past lives and soulmates is fascinating, and each of the four couples whose seemingly meant to be yet ultimately doomed relationships it tells of - in Ancient Egypt, Renaissance Florence, 1980's Pittsburgh, and futuristic Argentina - is interesting in its own way, keeping me invested in learning what happened to them. I loved that the two souls we follow through four lifetimes are not necessarily reborn in bodies of the same gender or attracted to the same gender in each of their lives. The ending, too, is very intriguing, though I wished the development leading up to it had been explored a little deeper.

Where it fell down for me is the execution. The writing simply did not work for me.

- Dialogue that was at times too stilted, at others too contemporary to feel right for Ancient Egypt or the Renaissance era.

- Clumsy word choices that were unintentionally comical, such as this little gem: "but it wasn't long before he became erect". Now, what is meant here is "he stood up straight", but I seriously doubt anyone read this as anything other than "he popped a boner".

- An excess of commas in places that didn't need them, a dearth of them in places one would very much expect to find them.

- Tortured, overly flowery prose with sentences that run on forever, losing themselves in a tangle of subordinate clauses. Now, writing style is very much a matter of taste, and just because it wasn't to my liking doesn't mean others might not enjoy it, so let me give you a couple of examples:

"Letting the last glimmering moments of dusk illuminate Ciro's exquisite face, I placed my mouth on his, kissing his lips passionately as the soft pink protectors of his voice opened up and returned my affection, his mouth pushing back into mine not to press it away, but to engage it further in the electricity that had yet to be invented."

"The colors shifted from the darkened greens of scarcity to the tans and golds of Florence, buildings reappearing like unknown illuminated fairies coming out to cast spells on the unassuming residents of the city with their fires and candlelight ever-expanding, growing in multitudes as we moved deeper into the measures of the hearth."

If you thought these two random samples, plucked from a single section of the novel, were beautiful and poetic, you'll love the style this book is written in. If, on the other hand, you just cringed and grimaced your way through them, you'll probably want to opt out of 300+ pages of more of the same.

None of these are problems that couldn't be fixed by a good editor, whose efforts could greatly improve the finished product.

Also, how hard can it be to choose names appropriate to the era and culture your characters inhabit?
There's the Egyptian princess, daughter of Pharaoh Ramesses II, named Rashida. Rashida may be a perfectly good name for a contemporary Egyptian woman, but given that it's an Arabic name, it has no place in 1260BC - over a millenium before the Arabic language came into existence. The author clearly did his research on Ramesses II and included the names of his chief consort and children in the book, the addition of the fictional Rashida stands out like a sore thumb.
As for the Florentine lovers, we've got Ciro, a Croatian character with an Italian first name, and Renzen, possessor of a name which appears to be made up wholesale. Was the author aiming for Renzo and took a wrong turn on the keyboard?
One might also expect the Argentinian characters to have Spanish rather than English names, but since that part is set in the future I can live with that.
Maybe I'm being too nitpicky here, but I found the name issue very jarring.

Personal verdict:
Premise yay, execution nay.

*** I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ***

[Ellie Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bender is an incredible technological discovery founded in the year 2241. This mechanism is able to scrutinize the fabric of who we are, by identifying the marker of our souls. The novel explores four different time periods; the present (2241), the 1200s in Ancient Egypt, the 1500s in Florence, Italy, and the late 1900s in Pennsylvania, United States.

I found Bender to be a beautifully constructed novel, with two undeniably pure souls at its core. Catherine and Riley have shared three past lives together, all having been doomed to tragedy. I loved the differences between each character as we glimpse the lives of their souls at previous points.
The technological advancements and creations of Author Alexander Rigby were awe-inspiring. I could imagine our top scientists coming up with such ideas in the future. All ideas seemed plausible and rooted the futuristic world to the ground.

There is something elegant about the way Rigby writes. Whether down to the sentence structure or language used, or even the combination of the two, the words flow effortlessly on the page and grip you from start to finish. There is no shortage of symbolism and profound phrases with deeper undercurrents of meaning either. Rigby shows how we can defy the expectations of others and their needs for us to conform to society's general ways of thinking and acting. Rebellion is a strong theme throughout the book, which sees us journey on an emotional roller-coaster of a ride.

I appreciated the profound sense of vulnerability between Catherine and Riley over the different lifespans. It is heartbreaking that two souls which seem perfect for each other should continue to be parted by circumstances that are outside their own level of control.

The ending had me so on edge that I could scarcely breathe. Rigby is a master at creating tension and has helped to confirm my already strong belief in the human soul being infinite. I would recommend this book to everyone and rate it a solid 5/5 stars.

[S.B. (Beauty in Ruins) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bender is a story of past lives, reincarnation, and soul mates. Alexander Rigby interweaves the stories of four different couples, stretching across past, present, and future, and taking us from Egypt, to Italy, to Pittsburgh, to Argentina.

It is hard to pick a favorite when it comes to the star-crossed couples, but the story of the Egyptian Princess and her slave was one that fascinated me. I loved the time period, I loved their romance, and I loved them as characters. The contemporary couple who meet after a car accident were cute and romantic, and the two men who dared to explore their forbidden love within the socially rigid society of ancient Florence were almost magical in their love.

It is the future story of Riley and Catherine that pulls it all together, though, with the discovery of a machine that can identify souls through time, and which leads them to explore their shared past. No matter the time, the place, the circumstances, or the gender, their love has persevered throughout the years. There are obstacles and challenges aplenty, but somehow their love finds new life with each turning of time.

Aside from the dialogue, which I felt was a little too contemporary at times, I thought Rigby did a wonderful job of capturing the characters and the different time periods. I was drawn into each, and almost sad to move on. The story that connects them all is intriguing, and the the future stakes are the highest of them all, as the shared stories build to a pulse-pounding climax.


As published on Bending the Bookshelf

[Mari LivTollefsonCarlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“One of the only assurances we have in this life is the past that is already gone” (295). Alexander Rigby begins his third novel well in the past, in ancient Egypt, on a ship carrying a princess who lays eyes on a beautiful slave she has to know, regardless of their difference in class. And with that pair, Rigby introduces a series of other affairs, all assured to fail, due to societal norms or competing mates or unstoppable missions. But, the more doomed they are, the more we’re hooked on finding out how. It’s a formula for suspense and drama across the ages. In each story, the “R characters,” Rashida, in ancient Egypt, Renzen in Renaissance Florence, Reed in Pittsburgh in the 1980s, and Riley in Argentina in 2241, narrate in the first person their attraction to “C characters,” Chathis, Ciro, Claire, and Catherine. Rigby captures the mood of each era through these characters’ jobs, dress, concerns and surroundings, as well as in their manner of speech. What binds them all is love, that feeling that is both individual and universal, timeless and constrained by time. But is love their only connection? Rigby raises the question of repeated lives…. He sets us readers outside of time looking in, watching love’s initial flowering, its climax and its downfall, along the way enjoying characters’ take on art, culture and the soul. Outside of time, reading, we are also in the now, that links past and future, that we don’t want to end. “The present we are undertaking, its existence ever so fleeting, is the only other thing we will ever truly know” (295). Brilliant conceit executed with finesse. A time-travel classic.

[Striking 13 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alexander Rigby’s Bender is a story not just of love, but of soul mates. Two souls so intertwined they have spent multiple lifetimes across the ages, always drawn together. Like so many romance novels, the lovers, although seemingly destined to be together, appear tragically doomed to fail.

There are two components that set Bender apart from just another love story. The first is that although their love is pre-determined, after each reincarnation their genders aren’t similarly rigid, instead dynamically shifting throughout the novel. This provides an additional depth to the novel, for example allowing the author to explore the relationship of two homosexual men in Florence, in a time when their passion may be punishable by death.

The second aspect is the Bender machine itself, the pivotal centrepiece for the entire story. The machine promises to reveal a person’s past life, allowing our two souls to finally understand their pasts and connection to each other. It is the Bender timeline that must bring all the stories together and deliver the all important conclusion.

All of the above, and the entire concept of the novel itself is intriguing. Even now, after reading the book I am enticed by the very premise of it. However, there are numerous flaws that not only prevented me from reaching the book’s conclusion but also meant that my reading experience was an uphill slog.

This snippet comes from the full review on Striking 13

[Alda Delicado]

Bender is a novel based on an interesting concept - the past lives of a couple. Unfortunately, the four mostly independent stories that constitute the whole book are not equally engaging.
The four stories are told in intertwined chapters, making the reader follow all the threads. The first is set in Ancient Egypt and is one of the best with great historical details despite a rather blend love story between a princess and a slave. The second is a gay love story set among Florentine artists in the 16th century, again with nice historical accuracy.
The third story is about a couple in the United States in the ’80s and it is the least interesting one. The settings are barely described and the plot is confusing and frustrating. The last one is set in the future in the 23rd century and it wraps up the other three nicely. It is again a gay love story, this time between two women scientists that explore the possibility of knowing their past lives through a device called Bender.
Overall, the story is well done and properly researched but some of the past lives are not that interesting. In addition, the ensemble could have been more smoothly set with better interconnecting stories.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

[Elpis G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Bender is 4 different stories blended into one. It features 4 different couples spread across time who have been reincarnated multiple times and falling in love each time even though it always ends in tragedy.

I found this story to not be what I expected at all. I must've missed it somewhere where it had been stated that the 4 stories were interconnected but I found it easy to figure out quickly. I found the stories to be interesting but depending on when/where it took place I found the prose to be hard to understand at times. I also found myself rushing through the story parts I found to be more boring to get to a chapter I found more interesting. Despite that and the tragic nature of this book, I enjoyed the stories and plot twists that came out of it.

Overall 4/5 stars.

[bookish bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this novel is extremely interesting and a big part of what kept me wanting to keep reading. Some descriptions or moments felt like they kind of dragged on, but it’s worth it to tough through and get to the parts that progress the story. I know each couple is the same “soul”, but it was still interesting to see how they were similar or different to themselves in other lives.

I did not really enjoy the 1980’s couple. It was hardest to sympathize with this version of them, and I think I would’ve enjoyed the novel the same amount, if not more, without that being included. I suppose it was probably included to be relatable to people around this time, or even to show a more generic version of the general story they have repeated in previous lives.

My only other want from this novel would be maybe a little more explanation behind the multiple lives experience or the science. Who gets to live another life? Why don’t they remember the previous lives? What is the point of these previous lives? Other than that, the plot and characters are plenty interesting!!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

[Amy Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title says it all ... or does it?

A great story from Rigby, as it's the first one of his that I've read, but it won't be my last. I was drawn into the premise of the story, and read it from cover to cover, because it was captivating. Reincarnation, drawing and connecting souls, it brings in four stories to mesh and connect, and then divide. The interaction between the characters, and the different stories, and are the same as well. Bender takes the reader on a new journey, through time and space, and present, past and future. Tragedy and triumph, a definite well written read.

[RjS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept but I found the switching between so many time periods/characters pulled me out of their individual stories.

I found the author’s writing style difficult as well. It seemed over-written to me; too much unnecessary detail (eg. “I waited for him to respond, as singular strands of my long dark hair shifted in the breeze.”)

Excerpt From

Bender

Alexander Rigby

This material may be protected by copyright.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Tinted Edges · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out my full review at https://tintededges.wordpress.com/201...