Thank you for the ARC. One of my coworkers told me that this gets very political and uncomfortable to read. Maybe that was the intent of the author. I will be unable to provide a review at this time.

All Better Now by Neal Shusterman is a compelling read that dives deep into complex emotional terrain. The characters are wonderfully developed, each struggling with their own dilemmas in a way that keeps you questioning your sympathies. It’s not easy to pick a side, as Shusterman masterfully portrays both perspectives with empathy and depth. The story is thought-provoking and keeps you engaged until the very end, offering a nuanced exploration of family, guilt, and personal growth. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys character-driven narratives with moral ambiguity. Great ending!

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in exchange for my honest review

It’s another viral pandemic, but this one brings a happy benevolence to all who survive the initial infection. This was a fun read that had me questioning the nature of what a virus is capable of. You know when the title, the cover and the blurb all conspire to make you pick up a book that you know nothing about, then begin reading almost immediately? All Better Now was this book for me. I love it when that happens, and it's even better when the book is actually good.

Shusterman, an award-winning YA author, has penned a fun read for youth and adults, and raised a couple of intriguing ideas about how a virus might spread. It’s a now-familiar pandemic story, but this novel virus has an unexpected effect: It makes everyone who survives peaceful and benevolent.

The blissed out recoverees eschew commercialism and anything harmful, from single-use plastics to violence. The uninfected either want to get the virus too, or are protecting themselves vigorously against what they see as a body-snatching type scenario. Uninfected economic and world leaders see the threat to capitalism: Recoverees no longer care about wealth, so the entire economic system will collapse.

The fake news and dastardly plots to find a vaccine (or worse) for the virus are the core of the story, but the recoverees don’t take this sitting down. Spreading the virus becomes a mission, as does preventing vaccine completion.

The natural antagonists in the novel are the folks trying to stop the viral spread and thwart the recoverees, which is strangely opposite the norm. But most interestingly, you start to see how a virus might optimize to spread. If it feels good, and does good for humanity, perhaps this virus should change us. Perhaps this is evolution in the right direction. Maybe? But one’s agency is hijacked, and there are unanticipated consequences of this new, contented state.

Apparently this may be the first book in a series, but this one could stand alone if you’re okay with a few loose ends. However, I’d pick up the second one for sure!

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for a gifted copy for review.

All Better Now drops us in the middle of a pandemic (not again!). Satirically named after another alcoholic beverage, Crown Royale is a Corona/COVID-like virus that’s a bit weird. Sure, it has a 20% mortality rate, but recoverees become uncharacteristically altruistic and kind. Billionaires donate their fortunes. People give away their houses to the poor.

Neal Shusterman (author of Scythe, which I love) does what he does best: thought-provoking dilemmas, a morally complex world, and characters who embody all sides. Some want to contain the virus, some want to eradicate it, and some think it’s the solution to all. There are some really cool ethical questions. Is being a good person more important than the choice to be good or bad? Does having “better” people automatically equal a better world?

Having said that, this book is 500+ pages and I really felt it at times. Some middle parts felt slow because there wasn’t really any urgency. With 3 main POVs, momentum already gets interrupted, but then you throw in a bunch of side characters that get their moment in the spotlight as well.
And for the characters, I thought the early chapters had incredible character depth, but as the plot progressed, they felt more and more one-dimensional. They started to embody the ideology that the book needed them to represent (i.e. radicalized goodness, selfish villain, etc.) The romantic aspect was also very sudden and I wasn’t invested in it at all.

I thought this was a unique take on a dystopian virus story and it left me with some fun moral questions to ponder. Shusterman’s writing has always been engaging and humorous, though if I must make the comparison, the pacing was a bit off compared to the Scythe series.

I was really looking forward to this book, I feel like Shusterman has such great ideas for his books. And while I feel like the book started out well the social agenda ended up just being too much for me.

A GREAT follow up for fans of the Scythe series. Shusterman delivers another dystopian, speculative teen fiction about a world plagued by a "happiness virus." This is quite a large book but I read it so quickly, there's something so dire and fun about All Better Now that makes you keep flipping pages.

A fantastic take on pandemic fiction, (we all are still a little messed up from it and it's kind of a touchy subject) but I think the politics, scheming, and action in this book really encapsulate a world at its breaking point. At some points you might think "ok this is getting a little ridiculous" except we just went through some of the exact same rhetoric! Loved this book!

I think Neal Schusterman is an accomplished writer, but this is just not for me. I found the number of narrating characters overwhelming, which distanced me from the story. The pacing was slow and the book was overly long, which also didn't help. I couldn't root for either side of the conflict, as everyone was in it for selfish reasons. The pandemic narrative—anti-maskers, the spread of misinformation, people purposefully spreading a disease with a 1 in 25 mortality rate, etc.—also hits too close to home.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I am so glad I received an eARC of this book. It is amazing and I can’t wait to share it with YA students!

A new pandemic is changing the world. This one, called Crown Royale (I laugh at this name as I’m from the province where Crown Royal whiskey is distilled) causes people, if they survive, to experience nothing but joy and love. Sounds awesome, right? Well, not to everyone. And there’s a faction at work to stop it from taking over the world. Is it an evil faction? You be the judge.

So much to unpack in this stunning sci-fi novel. It would make an excellent book club choice.

Thanks to the author, Simon and Schuster Publishing and NetGalley for the copy.

All Better Now
All Better Now by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, it's a book JUST FOR ME. :)

Strangely, I expected a YA novel with a novel premise, but it really truly didn't feel YA at all. It just felt like great SF, a-la what would happen if a pandemic that makes people AT PEACE, devoid of HATE, became an actual PROBLEM for the rest of humanity.

As I was reading it, I was thrilled with the idea of a humanity becoming EMPATHETIC and CONSIDERATE, and there was NOTHING anyone could do about it.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*happy dance*

It's like all my worries, concerns, absolute terror about the world around me just washed away.

Except, of course, novels don't work that way. There's conflict. And Shusterman is great about avoiding irony or humor when a truly sobering look at the world could be had. And it is had.

Great novel.

A synesthesia review probably should have come with a slightly sterile smell, or the scent of a mask, since it IS, quite, a very pandemic-feel novel, but to me, I just smelled flowers. I smelled the scent of hope. Let's change human nature.