Unfortunately I wasn't able to get into this one and did not finish reading it. Thank you for the opportunity to review it.

Its all there in this title! Great story, characters fleshed out and come alive right off the page. The writing and editing, WELL DONE.
I just read 2 of the titles and I want more of this world and the characters, right now.
this one is a must buy!!

Honestly had no idea what to expect and still have no idea how I feel about this. It’s a very interesting, beautiful, and different way of imagining what happens after death. I love the way religion, spirituality, and science was handled.

Diversity Rating: +5
Race/Ethnicity: +2
Gender: +3 (Meg, Dr. Sarah Chase, Dr. Claire Barth, Deena Morgan)
Neurodiversity: +/-1 (Arden)



What I liked:
-I loved the intersection of religion and science. Figuring out what happens to the brain and the spirit after death is one of the biggest questions ever. I loved how different religious beliefs and institutions were clearly defined. Religious institutions have been a part of many questionable decisions in order to further their power. It’s not a criticism of religion, but of the men (and women) who use religion for their own agenda. I really loved that it discussed the religious aspects and the scientific possibilities. I don’t have any degrees in physics or neuroscience, but the scientific explanations felt sound, not overdramatic or ridiculous like some of other science fiction does.
-I really liked that the two main teams were led by successful and powerful women. I also liked that one was unapologetically unlikeable and yet, her value was not determined on how likable she was. I love reading about women being in charge, especially when they are fully-formed characters as Dr. Chase and Dr. Barth are. (I also enjoyed how they weren’t wrapped up in romantic subplots.)
-The way the actual answer was handled and how the book ended.

[SPOILER BETWEEN THE BRACKETS:
I absolutely loved how death and the other side was handled. It’s very reassuring and sounded like a good version of heaven without calling it heaven. It just existed. I am super excited to read the next book to re-enter this world. As the first book in the series, I’m glad that it did talk about death and brought in characters to personalize the experience.
END SPOILER]



What I didn’t like:
-Arden’s character. I understand that he is supposed to be different from the rest of the characters, but he is also infantilized, patronized, and simultaneously idolized. He reads as someone on the autism spectrum and one of the plot points is a psychologist fighting to get him tested. He has no ego and cannot lie. Everyone who meets him, sees that there’s something different about him, which makes him good and pure. I wish there had been a bit more clarification about him from the human perspective. Or that there had been more of a fight towards his independence and autonomy.
-The ending felt really anticlimactic. I wasn’t expecting it to end how it did and while I liked it, there felt like something was missing. Even so, it was a great ending.

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"The time for a question is when you think of it. There are receptors in the brain that are only active when you think of the question. If you don't ask it, you lose the opportunity to change your brain, literally."
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"The tears were doing their work, attempting to wash the greatest lie carried from the matterlands, the lie that had brought more pain and destruction to matterlanders than any other, the lie of death."
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This was an extraordinary book - and I'm delighted that it's the first of (at least) two... It starts as a book about brain science as much as about death, but rather quickly morphs into so much more. I really enjoy learning other people's thoughts on what comes next/life after death. I was a philosophy major; dialectics and big life questions have always fascinated me. Add in my lapsed-Catholic upbringing, which lapsed largely because of my propensity to ask too many questions that standard dogma either doesn't like or doesn't have answers for, and you have the makings of an obsession with the quest for answers... So, from the get-go, I was pretty hooked on the idea of this one simply because the concept of an afterlife spins me into paroxysms of delight. And when it's a gloriously imagined, beautifully conceived, and well-crafted concept that happens to track with my own ideas (or at least my own wishes and hopes), you have a pretty solid recipe for success.

But this book is so much more than even that.

It's also a well-thought out presentation of traditional dichotomies (light/dark, faith/reason, hope/despair, greed/generosity, science/religion), an artfully crafted cautionary tale about the dangers of technology and knowledge at all costs, and a fascinating study of human nature. And all of these are wrapped up in a character-driven two-track narrative populated by a set of personalities that offer something for everyone.

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"It sounded like she was about to cry. He knew what crying did. The water in tears helped people. It washed lies out of thoughts."
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From dark nights of the soul to smile inducing glimpses into the beauty of the soul, the story takes the reader on an incredible journey into both the minds and hearts of its characters. Montgomery's writing style is engaging and delicate, resonating with spot-on tones throughout. He has an unbelievable range - he manages to perfectly capture teenage girls, old men of privilege, pure-hearted souls, renegade scientists, and greedy bureaucrats, rendering each with just enough detail to make them utterly believable and so real they practically leap off the page. This book was a delight to read and I cannot wait to delve into the second installment!