The Forevers Review

Note: This review is based on the book proof kindly provided by Hot Key Books and I have heard that the final copy was subjected to a lot of changes so, your copy of the book might be quite different.

"The Forevers" by Chris Whitaker is reminded me of a mix of Sadie by Courtney Summers and Things To Do Before The End of the World by Emily Barr: we have a young girl saddled with her family's poverty and the way other people choose to see her and mistreat her at the same time the world and people around her are erupting, a month before a long-feared asteroid is supposed to hit Earth.

General Impressions

This entire book is set a month before the end of the world and deals with the emotions that come with living with that dread for a decade. The author does a great job of covering the hopelessness and despair that comes with knowing that the end is near and as a young person, you were robbed of a chance to actually live, not only of having a future but a present that counts where there were consequences, rules and community. These characters grew knowing that they would never get past seventeen so not only do they know there's no point looking forward to a future, they live in a world where no one saw the point of working for something other than their immediate survival, so there is no hope of a future worth looking for.

More than an interesting take on mortality or how it feels to live knowing you will never get a chance to grow, this is a book that is interesting and poignant because it's a true product of our age of nationalism, political intolerance, and climate change. This is the second upcoming YA book I've read in a month about the lead up to the end of the world, so I think that says a lot about how young people are faring under the current circumstances, where a lot feel due to political, environmental or economical reasons, their futures were stolen.

Chris Whitaker also made a really good job out of building up this world where people without a future don't care about consequences because they have literally nothing to lose and how in those situations, it's often the worst of humanity that comes forward with no institutions or systems in place to protect anyone from abuse, crime or discrimination.

The entire book had not only plenty of disability, LGBTQ, and mental health representation but there was plenty of consideration into how all of those intersect.

Conclusions

"The Forevers" touched very difficult problems through the eyes and feelings of teenagers, good and not so good people, but all able to pull your heartstrings. This was true YA in how it argues that everyone is going through something and everyone deserves to be respected and loved but also about how the end of your teenage years feels like a very definite ending as well.

The only things that could be improved upon on this proof are chapter transitions that feel a bit rough and untethered, with some background sentences missing here and there which hurts the story flow so I'm very excited to get my hand on the final version, which I felt I could read immediately after closing this.

The ending is awesome. I want to read everything this author will ever write now.

Thanks to Hot Key Books for sending me this proof.

Rating: 4.3/5