AT THE END OF YOUR TETHER

Young love across the multiverse.

In mid-1990s Texas, Ludo Carre, the son of a mechanic father and military police mother, meets Arlo Quinones at a barbecue. The chemistry is immediate, and the two young teens bond over a video game. As they get older, they begin dating until Ludo’s family is transferred to another base a few hours away. Like many relationships, theirs does not stand the challenge of distance. Years later, Ludo’s family returns to Arlo’s base, and he learns that she is missing. Desperate, he begins to search for her. Ludo learns that Arlo has become unmoored from time and can exist simultaneously within different timelines. As he struggles to understand, he discovers that maybe the only way to be with her is to let her go. With cinematically styled, full-color illustrations, this offering deftly captures the angst of adolescent love and the force and volatility of teenage emotions. While readers may easily develop a visceral connection to Arlo and Ludo, certain details are conspicuously absent, such as why Arlo can time-hop (although a possible military connection is hinted). As the narrative jumps among timelines, sometimes there are explicit cues of a temporal shift, other times not, demanding a close reading. Quibbles aside, this is a fun, fast-paced ride that should leave its audience ruminating about time, coincidence, and love. Ludo presents white; Arlo is cued as Latinx.

A thought-provoking, heart-rending science fiction/romance mashup.