This Will Be Your Final Notice

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

New York, NY : Harper Teen, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

373 p. ; 22 cm.

Adam Silvera has a brilliant set up for his novel. The time is the near future, but in his future, people receive a cell phone notice shortly after midnight on the day they are going to die.  The notifications are handled by a company, Death Cast, and "Deckers" - recipients of the call - are given no details about how, or how many hours they have left, but only that they will die on that day (and there is no recourse or escaping one's fate).  In this world - set in New York City - Deckers can use an app called Last Friend so they don't have to spend their last day alive alone or utterly lonely.  

So what happens if the Deckers are young, say seventeen or eighteen years old? That's what this novel is all about.  Two young men - one orphaned and troubled, and one with only one parent who is very ill and in a coma - connect on the Last Friend app and push each other to live their last day to the fullest and to really embrace the person they are.  They develop a deep attachment in the short time they have and compliment each other well.  It's a well developed novel and holds up well.

Often I'll find a novel that has a great premise (like this one does) but the author just can sustain it throughout or doesn't finish it in a way that is satisfying.  Silvera delivers on both these counts, and manages to deliver a really poignant and thought-provoking read in the process.  I really appreciated it. 

For me the weakest part of the novel was the opening act of physical violence committed by one of the main characters.  I think it was meant to convey his troubled and angry recent life, but it was jarring for me and left me alienated from the main character.  There are continuing issues that come up with him and his victim that also detracted from the overall read (for me).  In spite of this (and some readers may actually like this aspect of the book) I found the book a solid read. It has great pacing, character development and emotional power.  I would definitely recommend it to a young adult reader.  

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia 

New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of Harpercollins Publishers, [2019]

363 p. ; 22 cm.      

To say that Mejia's debut YA novel has gotten good reviews would be an understatement. Booklist gave it a starred review, it snagged an excellent write up on NPR, and other less notable reviews also highly recommended it. 

I think the praise is well deserved for the premise and set-up of the book; the patriarchal world it creates has it's own origin religion story which underlies it's elite family set-up where husbands have two wives: a Primera who is hard-core business, brains, and no-nonsense, and a Segunda who must be gorgeous, entertaining, and ready to bear children.  The elite - a minority in this fictional world - rely on the exploitation of everyone else, an exploitation enforced by police, violence and legal privilege.  Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Which is exactly what makes it a powerful novel.  I also liked the main characters and the first part of the book's world building.  

My only issues with the book are with the plotting of the resistance and with the rushed descriptions of the rebellion.  I just never believed the main character's acts of joining the rebellion. And the major conflicts of violence seemed a bit rushed and confused to me.  

That being said, it's still an enjoyable read and one that should appeal to a lot of different readers.  It's also got an unexpected lesbian romance simmering away at the center which - though rushed to me - is sweet and unexpected.  

Finally the book is written by a Latinx woman and is touches on issues of xenophobia, border violence, resistance, dangers of patriarchy and economic exploitation - so it is very relevant to the times we are experiencing now in the US. Would I recommend it. You bet.