The only thing I didn’t like about this book was how little we got to learn about the narrator’s love interest and his family in real life. We just learned little bits about him as one of her classmates and bigger bits as SN.
The grief, and the ability to reach across voids to grab onto others who have suffered similarly, is incredibly well done. If you’ve lost someone close to you, you’ll connect with these brilliantly heartbreaking aspects of the novel most. I’m still in the phase where I count the days, so that really struck me. I didn’t realize other people did this, too.
That being said, this is 100% YA. And it’s the most obvious plot you could imagine. You can tell almost immediately who SN is, foreshadowing is heavy handed in most instances. It does lead to some wacky “No, you’re wrong!!” moments that lead to a very rewarding reveal, so I’ll let that slide this time.