Wow! Where do I even begin? This second book once again gives us the amazing gift of being able to watch in on the lives of Aristotle and Dante as they navigate a new relationship and a world that seems to be very much against the people they are growing up to be.

Let's get this out of the way -- I adored and loved this book. With so many expectations to live up to with the first, I say it succeeded. It didn't even feel like a second book. It felt like a genuine and natural progression of what you would expect if you had merged both books into one. The vibe you may have got from the first book is still here in the second.

I kept thinking to myself that much of the story and themes felt nostalgic, which is strange since nostalgia usually involves incidents or things that occur on a personal level. I guess it says that I was able to relate wholeheartedly to the characters in this book, including the setting and experiences they go through (coming out, struggling to understand your sexuality, friendships, first relationships, maturing, etc.). It's all written in such a beautiful, calming and peaceful way and gave me the most warm and fuzzy vibes throughout.

Watching Aristotle learn and grow is fulfilling, endearing and heartwarming. There are a few points where you just want to shake him and tell him that he's a good person (fairly much what actually happens in the story itself). I think the only very minor flaw that I noticed is that at times, this nature of Ari did feel overly repetitive. It may be intentional to really emphasize this facet of the character, but I think it could have eased off just a bit, so it could provide balance to other aspects of the story.

A minor spoiler (skip this paragraph if you don't want any at all!) but it was really good to see that the AIDS pandemic played a part in this story. It wasn't just a background piece mentioned a few times and I think it was handled really well by the author.

I cried a lot near the end. I obviously won't say why, but I was a wreck and a constant flowing river! My heart just didn't know what to do! This crying though, says a lot about my connection with this book ( haha ).

Honestly, there are just so many beautiful quotes and life lessons in this book. Can I rate it a 10/5? I would if I could.

I want to thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for approving my request to read this digital ARC!

PS: Please read Trigger warning for this! Part of me doesn't know when to mention it since some are key points in the plot, but if you're quite sensitive to some matters, I would check them out before reading.

Once I saw this book on NetGalley I wanted to read it so bad, I was drawn in by the cover and the synopsis and I love a great romance. I feel like my review on top of all of the other reviews is kind of null, just read it you need to experience the awesomeness of this book. Just do it. IT'S MAGICAL.

I was beyond thrilled when NetGalley and Simon & Schuster approved my request to read and review the sequel to Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe.

The first Ari & Dante book is one of my all time favourites, and the sequel does not disappoint. It was wonderful to spend more time with Ari and Dante as we pick up right where they left off. Set at the end of the ‘80s, it’s eye opening to witness what life was like for 2SLGBTQ+ people at the height of the AIDS crisis. This obviously impacts Ari and Dante as they explore their new relationship and carefully decide who to tell.

As with all of Saenz’s books, the best thing about Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World is the writing. It’s so poetic and beautiful and we can appreciate it just for its stunning use of words. This book is infinitely quotable, especially in Saenz’s extended metaphor of cartography. We’ll have to wait until its official release before I can share them (eARCs can still change before publication), but suffice it to say that you’ll be swooning over the deep and meaningful ideas that Saenz gives us through his narrator Aristotle.

This is a gorgeous book about love, loss, grief, and society. If you loved Aristotle and Dante before, you will cherish the opportunity to spend a bit more time with them.

I didn't think I could possibly fall in love with this story and these characters any more... until I read this book. It's a perfectly crafted sequel that puts you right back into the heart of Aristotle and Dante's worlds. Everything about the book is gorgeous. There are so many quotes you'll have to read over and over again just because of how beautiful they are. Seeing Ari and Dante change and grow alongside their friends and family just warmed my heart completely. The character development is phenomenally done.

You'll feel like you've been on a whole emotional journey by the end of the book. I cried multiple times from joy, love, and sadness. The empathy these books create for the characters and what they go through is so well done. I had to put down the book a couple times just to digest what had happened and get over my own heartbreak about it.

Something I love about this sequel is that we get to see more of Aristotle's coming of age storyline as he works through his thoughts about his family and friends, as well as Dante. Seeing him slowly let people in filled my heart with love.

That being said, there are so many heartbreaking moments. If you're anything like me and get way too attached to characters, this will also tear your heart into tiny pieces.

Another element I feel is very important to mention is the world experiences shown throughout the novel. Aristotle gets more involved in thinking about the AIDS pandemic, homophobia, racism, and so many of the other things going on in the world in this time period. However, what I adored was that the lessons learned are things so applicable in modern times. Every reader will take something important out of the story.

Overall, this is an outstanding sequel to a duology that I cannot recommend enough. This is a book you can reread and take something new out of each time. 5/5 stars!
Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for giving me the privilege of reading an e-ARC!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for sending me an ARC

The highly awaited sequel to Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was no let down. This book follows Ari and Dante’s final year of high school through the aids epidemic examining who they are and coming into their own. The ups and downs of Ari’s life were so intimately relatable. I couldn’t put down this book once I started and definitely did not want to.

Sáenz’ story telling has only improved since the first, and you can tell he spent a lot of time working on the sequel.

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World does an amazing job at giving a glimpse inside the head of a struggling queer teenager. Ari’s journey and thoughts were at times frustrating but very true to his character.

This duology will always hold a special place in my heart and I thank the author for putting into words what I have always struggled to communicate

Wow i genuinely have no words. I first read ari and dante when i was 15 and lonely and angry, just like ari. I am now 20 and it feels like ive reverted right back to that age. It’s so strange! I feel in love with both of them all over again. I think this sequel is even better then the original

I have such an immense love for the first book that it pains me to rate this anything but a 5.
I’m giving it 3 stars because Benjamin writes his characters with so much compassion and respect that you can’t help but fall in love with them. There’s new characters to love, old characters to re-discover and they have such rich backgrounds and depth but the book feels bloated at times. Which is where the book’s biggest fault lies - it wants to tell too many stories and it explore too many topics.

The book really shines when Ari and Dante are together. Unfortunately, Dante gets sidelined by a number of characters this time around and we don’t get as much Ari & Dante time as I would’ve hoped for. In one of my favorite scenes, Ari and Dante go on a trip that is tender and poetic in typical Benjamin Alire Sáenz fashion. It’s joyful but also pulls at your heart strings in the way Benjamin does so well. While this style of writing was one of the highlights for me in the first book, here it feels almost grating after 500 pages. Regardless, the sequel is as quotable as the first.

The last few chapters are rushed and too much happens too quickly. The character’s make some questionable choices but the ending Benjamin gives us is so stunning that it’s almost forgivable. I just wish we would have had more time to live in those final characters. With all that said, I love these characters and I love this author and I would happily read another entry in the Aristotle and Dante universe.

Much to my chagrin, I didn't fall in love with the first book the same way other people have (I still adored it though). However, this was a solid follow up to the first book. I like how we got to explore more of the family members relationships with Ari. And the writing style was very consistent to the first book, so I have no doubt that fans of Aristotle and Dante will fall in love with this universe all over again. The running thread of AIDS throughout the book was important. It gave more cultural and historical context that I think the first book lacked a bit.

I don’t know what to say about this book… it was good, but there was something missing. Maybe because it takes place over a longer time than Secrets of the Universe, I don’t know, it just wasn’t quite as good as the first book. It didn’t leave me with the same feeling. There was also one bit that I really didn’t like involving a homophobic neighbour who Ari’s mom just forgives and Ari seems fine with that. I don’t know why that needed to be in there, it didn’t add anything to the story, it just felt weird. I also didn’t like the ending. It could have been so good, and it was close, but not quite.
Maybe that’s what I have to say about the entire book, it was close, but not quite…

After reading Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe, I didn’t think I would ever find another book that would make me feel the same I felt while reading this one.

Well, the sequel sure did.

You can tell a lot of time and care has been put into this book. You can tell the author really loves these characters, and cares deeply for them the same way us readers do.

Going into this book, I didn’t know what to expect, but it surely wasn’t this. I really did not think I would love it as much as the first one, but I do, if not more. This book is so beautiful, and it touches on subject I never realized I needed to hear about. This book was everything I had wanted in a sequel and more, and I’m very, very happy. I don’t want to say too much, so as not to spoil anything, but it was truly incredible.

This is the kind of book I know I’m still going to be thinking about in ten, twenty years.

I was very excited to read this book because I enjoyed the first one, but I think that this fell flat for me. I didn't hate it or anything, and I did enjoy reading it, but there are a few glaring issues that make it difficult for me to feel good about giving this any more than three stars.

I loved seeing Aristotle and Dante back together again. It was nice to see them older and watch them grow into young adults instead of the fifteen-year-olds they first were at the beginning of the first book. But then Dante sort of fizzled out mid-way through the book. I liked watching Ari make friends and grow, but I wish they could've grown together. I felt like Dante was reduced to a very minor character, and much of the conflict with him felt forced because of it. It was weird to watch the book go from Aristotle and Dante to Aristotle.....and Dante. There was so much space between them that I started to miss Dante halfway through the book.

I also have a few issues with the way social issues are brought up in this book. There is an incident where Ari misgenders a transgender woman (the woman who was killed by his brother) by using the wrong pronouns, and while he corrects himself he does the same thing again later without an immediate correction when visiting her grave. He does, however, stand up for her. There was also a time where Aristotle and his friends converse about catcalling, where the girls say it doesn't bother them & he says he can't objectify them because he is gay.

Overall, the book was written in the same style as the first one. A lot is said in few words, and everything is broken down into digestible tidbits of information so it is not so complicated and easy to understand.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for providing me with an excerpt in exchange for an honest review.

Boy, where do I even start with this?

When I first read the first novel in the series; Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, specifically March 2016, I fell in love. Since then, the book has become a comfort read and according to Goodreads, I have read said book 6 times which is the most I’ve read a book aside from a childhood book of mine. There is and was something about Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s writing that captivated me so much that made me begin a journey to search and read his other novels (which I would 100% recommend just, by the way). When this was announced, I was excited but nervous to see what would happen. When I got the notification I got approved for an arc, I began reading it roughly 3-4 hours afterwards—to say I was excited about this arc is an understatement.

The book is about Aristotle and Dante living their last year at high school, while being closeted, while also still trying to know who they are and love themselves and while hearing about the AIDS pandemic and living through it. There is one thing that Benjamin Alire Sáenz knows how to write in a way that is heartbreaking and it’s when the book mentions AIDS. It never beats around the bullet, both characters mention the pandemic multiple times and their feelings. They feel scared and afraid. I know Benjamin Alire Sáenz rewrote this book when COVID-19 hit and, once you read this book, you get why and boy does it hit you like a brick.

The book’s topics deals with the AIDS pandemic but also deals with internalized homophobia. In actuality, I would say this is one of the two biggest topics in the book itself. In the first book, you see a glimpse of Dante’s internalized homophobia, wishing his future sibling was a boy so he could be straight unlike him. Here, you see both Dante and Aristotle dealing with this, it's an incredibly personal experience with both seeing the characters like this and to the audience. (If the audience has had internalized homophobia that is) I saw someone on Goodreads comment about how this book is heartbreaking but so full of love. They’re right but most of the heartbreaking moments come from the scenes and thoughts mentioning said internalized homophobia.

And yes, this book is so full of love. Benjamin Alire Sáenz succeeds so well in making you love all the characters in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and succeeds just as well in Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World. You will love Ari and Dante even more so, you will love their parents so much more, will love Ari’s friends even more so. (spoiler tag) There is even a scene where Aristotle meets his brother and in the end, he finds himself loving himself more so. (spoiler tag) I told a friend of mine I got approved for an arc and she said to tell me how I thought of the book. I said in non-spoilers but the way this books hugs you, smothers you, comforts you in love, there is no better way to say it than this quote from myself:

“(...) that’s the more heartbreaking part but god it's so so so full of love and love and love and love. and love”

I think when it comes to Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s books, I can have 1000 words to say and be able to say another 1000. He truly makes me and I’m sure many other readers feel the same; feel emotions for a book/for books I never have felt for a book before. If you loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, please do not feel nervous or anxious or afraid to pick up this book. I encourage you to pick this up in the bookstore because you will fall in love with it like how you fell in love with the first book. I encourage you to read this book, think about this past year, think about our history, think about the 90’s, the 80’s. I encourage you to read this book and hope you find yourself smothered with the love that Benjamin Alire Sáenz has written into this book because you simply will not regret a single moment of it.

I was so excited to continue Aristotle and Dante's journey with them in this highly anticipated sequel. The characters are just as lovable as they were before and you just feel every single emotion you are meant to feel. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking and everything in between. Anyone who loved the first book will be jumping at the opportunity to read this one.