by Neal Shusterman

YA Science Fiction, 2025 by Simon and Schuster, 528 Pages 

What I Didn’t Like:

• There are references to COVID, which may bother some readers. This takes place in a post COVID world and since they’re dealing with another pandemic, it comes up.
• The book ends and leaves the reader with a lot of questions and very little resolution. 
• The book feels a little long. Partially this is because there’s some repetition and characters who have similar experiences. 

What I Did Like:

• The characters are so different from each other that it’s easy to tell whose storyline you’ve dropped into each time. There’s no trouble keeping them all straight.
• The concept here is fantastic. You find yourself questioning whether you’d be willing to catch the disease when you see the outcomes. It’s incredibly well written. 
• There are a lot of layers to this story. A variety of different characters all come together to tackle one major issue in two different ways and the reader isn’t even fully sure what side they’d land on. Where this book shines is in the inner confusion of the reader who sees the value in both sides’ arguments. 

Who Should Read This One:

• Fans of books that make you think. This one is multi-layered and best enjoyed if you engross yourself in the pandemic. 

My Rating: 4 Stars

• Too many times in books like this there’s an obvious RIGHT way and an obvious WRONG way to handle things. This book doesn’t have that, which is sort of the brilliance.