The premise was promising but it didn't land for me. Grappling with grief in the world of AI is a tough take on modernity and mortality.

This was a weird book and wasn't what I was expecting but it was interesting. If I had known what it really was, I probably wouldn't have picked it up and it wasn't my cup of tea but still, I get what they were going for and it will have its audience,

3 stars

Partial review for 'Remember You Will Die', by Eden Robins

DNF at 50%

Summary: a story about what it means to be alive, across time, told through obituaries. The theme is also explored through an artificial intelligence (AI) character by the name of Peregrine, who has to deal with the death of her daughter.

Look, this book is hard to explain. It's very... experimental, which honestly I'm fine with. I like the concept of a story told through obituaries of people who are related in some ways. I also like how different people have different viewpoints and approaches to life, and it can be pretty entertaining to read about them with the knowledge that the characters have since passed.

On the other hand, we also have an attempt to tell the story of Peregrine, and get into the whole 'what makes a human, human' debate. Peregrine started off as an AI programme, and is eventually given a body through bioengineering. I personally find this idea to be pretty cool.

Here's the problem: this book tries to go for too much, in my opinion. Separately the two ideas - one of death and mortality, one of AI versus humanity - would have sufficed, in my opinion. When the author tries to gel them together, it gets really messy. It didn't help that we get a tonne of obituaries, where after a while they just blend into one another and I can't remember who's who. Did I mention that we don't get the obituaries in chronological order, i.e. sometimes we're talking about someone in the future and then we examine the life of someone in the past?

Oh, there was also something about what happens if Anne Frank didn't die? Yeahhhhh... sometimes less is more, really.

I really appreciate the premise and what Eden Robins was trying to do, but unfortunately this wasn't working for me. Once I put it down it was hard for me to pick it up again because I was mostly lost (hence, the DNF).

Thank you @netgalley for this ARC!

This was such an interesting book with a truly creative plotline! Told in a series of obituaries, we're meant to discover connections and uncover the themes of what it means to be human in a world increasingly populated with AI. It also asks us whether AI can feel, how AI can learn, and what death might mean to a non-living being.

This book was not for me at all. It hurts me to say this, the synopsis was better than the book. I truly wanted to like it.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a captivating read that held my attention from start to finish. The story was well-paced, and the characters felt real and engaging. I’m grateful to the publisher for providing an early copy—it was a pleasure to read!

Wonderfully weird is my final call on this one. I admit though, I was far from convinced that I wouldn’t DNF even close to halfway through. There are too many characters to follow for my liking and at times I felt I wasn’t smart enough to continue. But I am so happy that I pulled through because once it all came together together, I was blown away. It certainly isn’t going to be every readers cuppa tea but those who like their sci-fi very odd and offbeat will definitely appreciate it.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for my copy of REMEMBER YOU WILL DIE.

I couldn't get into this one. The writing style and the fact everything is in newspaper articles was strange formatting to read on my kindle. I might have liked it in it's physical version.

I could not finish this book. I ended up not liking the format of only written in obituaries and newspaper articles. It was confusing for me and didn’t flow well for me.

An extraordinary achievement. The lack of narrative structure makes it hard to read, but not in an offputting way: in a way that compels you to focus. The work you have to do to pull the story threads together makes uncovering the pattern in the disjointed vignettes all the more rewarding. I can't say I became emotionally invested in the characters--the characters are too hard to find--but I did find a deep connection to the themes, which means a connection to the changing face of humanity itself.

Remember You Will Die by Eden Robins is a must-read for anyone seeking a mix of humor and introspection. Robins skillfully weaves together a narrative that explores the complexities of life, love, and mortality with wit and warmth. Readers will find themselves drawn to relatable characters who confront their fears and desires, making for an engaging and thought-provoking experience. The book invites us to reflect on what truly matters, encouraging a deeper appreciation for life’s fleeting moments. If you’re looking for a story that balances levity with profound insights, this book is a perfect choice.

This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Told through obituaries, it feels like a cosmic puzzle, weaving together sixty dead characters whose stories collide across centuries, planets, and genres. At the heart of it all is Peregrine, an AI mother processing the loss of her human daughter, Poppy—a relationship that will tug at your soul. Robins masterfully blends themes of history, art, betrayal, and redemption in a way that feels both intimate and vast. Each obituary holds a piece of the larger picture, revealing unexpected connections that make you reflect on the messy beauty of life—and the impact we leave behind when we’re gone.

Very interesting story.How all these characters were connected in this book. Went back-and-forth in time Connect it to. O BIT u.A.R.Y. Everybody had a story to tell it didn't matter if it was in the past or the future. The author was a remarkable writer because she used definitions.To explain things in the chapter you're gonna reading. There was a mother name called p. ERE GI. N. E! And you find out her daughter who's named poppy who died. These two characters are the main source of the story and you'll find out how they changed in time. It was an interesting book.Because people in the past had a great history and in the future they had a great history too. It's all connected as you read the story. You will find out who and why the Are connected.

I was worried when I picked this lovely book up, because the reviews have not been kind to it. But wow, I feel like I have read a whole different book because I was positively mesmerized by this one! Now, full disclosure: I was a weirdo child who read the obituaries every morning as I ate my bagel. This is what I did, for as long as I can remember. Heck, I remember frequently reading obits for folks born in the 1800s, so clearly I was young when I started this. Anyway, I still read them on my lunch break because honestly, I like reading people's stories. It makes me sad to think that no one will. I digress, but it felt like I needed to explain this, since this is, quite literally, a book of obituaries.

But it isn't just obituaries thrown into a book and slapped together! No, they connect to each other, and to a broader narrative that spans centuries! How fun! How clever! I seriously do not get what people do not like about this, but I guess that's why there's chocolate and vanilla, eh? But wait, there's more! We have alt-history, quirky characters out the wazoo, and a lot of moments that made me smile, surprisingly enough. And yeah, obviously there are deeper, harder, even unfathomably sadder moments. Because it's obituaries. But it doesn't have an overall depressing tone- it has a... well, a realistic tone, that shows that life is full of the good and the bad. And you know, remember you will die.

Bottom Line: This surpassed all my expectations and left me feeling very... human.

Eden Robins' Remember You Will Die weaves together obituaries, dictionary entries, found letters, and journal entries into an epistolary novel spanning centuries. At its core lies Peregrine, a fugitive advanced AI grappling with the apparent suicide of her daughter, creating a deeply human narrative.

The novel examines the societal fear of "the other," touching on themes of queerness, Jewishness, disability, and looks to the future of artificial intelligence. These threads of lives lived on the fringes explore the consequences of societal rejection and the necessity of remaining hidden to avoid destruction. Destruction, creation, art, climate change, and the uncertain future of AI are all explored, adding layers of thought-provoking depth to the story.

Remember You Will Die is compelling and intellectually stimulating, holding a mirror up to our world and challenging our perceptions of identity and belonging, in the past, present and future. It made me think about life, death, and everything in between. This probably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea – it’s told in a non-linear fashion and jumps around time and space with many characters and without a central conflict - but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

2.75* This is a heavily meta book full of short obituaries to explore the humanity amongst us all. I loved some of the storylines and others I was bored. I think this has a lot of potential but felt a little scattered to me. I think the format and concept are super interesting and I did appreciate being able to read something like this. However, some of the storylines fell flat and were not hitting with me.

If this format sounds interesting to you I would still recommend though because there are SO MANY layers to this book and I think everyone who reads it will get something different out of it. I also think this would be a fantastic re-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a copy of this book. It is out today!

Unique and original. Even when a reviewer couldn't see the story threads, they called it unique and original. REMEMBER YOU WILL DIE is completely told through the death notices of numerous persons connected to the "human" referred to in the book synopsis. Even with an AI mother/caregiver, this human was destined to die, something her mother tried to forget but had to face in the end. This is not a book to read in small bites. It requires some undivided attention to see the connections come through the "noise" generated by information generated over many eras. While it is difficult to rate a work so different from the present best seller list, Eden Robins deserves credit for pushing a picture of a future not visible from here.

I was not able to read/review the book. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into the style of the writing and didn’t finish! Just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it’s not a phenomenal book to others! ♥️

I think that the concept of this book is absolutely delightful! I do also think it's a concept that was extremely difficult to execute well. Unfortunately, if not executed well the whole thing can fall flat. I think non-linear and non-traditional formatting is difficult, especially when you add in the fact that this spans such an expansive timeline. The difficulty is the speed with which we flow through characters, the tangeniality at some points, as well as the fact that these are meant to be obituaries and news articles, but they don't always read like that. While necessary for the plot and story telling, it makes it difficult to feel immersed since that is what the whole of the book is made of. I wished I enjoyed this more because it was truly such a delightful concept. Perhaps, I'll pick up a physical copy and see how that changes my perception of the formatting concerns.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmarks and NetGalley for the eARC of Remember You Will Die. All opinions in this review are my own.

I thought this was an interesting concept but it was hard to keep the plot line when reading. I think this book would have been better read as a physical copy because of some of the formatting. I appreciate that the author took this risk but it didn't work out for me.