Here it is... the review you've allll been waiting for! Not really, but this is my review of Bookstagram's hot book of the moment, The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. I think I'm in the minority on this once because I didn't love love it. I liked it. But it definitely had some weaknesses to me, which are what I will focus on because basically all the other reviews I've read of it have been ultra positive.

The Immortalists is about four siblings: Simon, Klara, Daniel (almost wrote Benjamin for some reason here... I'll get to that later) and Varya. As children, the siblings visit a fortune teller who predicts the date each of them will die. This book follows the siblings through their lives as they grapple with the consequences of "knowing" the date of their death. This book asks how knowing when you would die would shape your choices and how you lived.

The book is divided into sections for each character from youngest to oldest. However, because the book is still chronological, you skip over large parts of character development for the older characters. By the time you get to Daniel and Varya, you've missed half their lives. I wanted to see more of them. I feel like you miss all of their formative moments.

I thought Klara's section was the strongest. She was the most developed, and I feel like you got the biggest glimpse into her mind and thought process. Daniel's was forgettable for me - I almost forgot his name when I first started writing this review! Simon's part felt rushed and I thought it had so much potential to go deeper. I wouldn't have minded if this was a longer book if it meant getting to know the characters more. Simon's part also had some semi-graphic sexual details that felt out of place for the book (there were no other details like that for the other characters), and it made it seem like those details were there for the shock factor or the "look how open minded this book is" factor of gay sex. It didn't bother me, that's not what I'm saying - it just felt out of place considering there were no other sexual encounters described in detail. Also I don't think my saying Simon is gay in this review is a spoiler - you learn that very early on in the book.

Because you only see parts of each character's life, it felt like the book jumped around a lot. However, I think this could totally work - I just wanted to go deeper into each moment. Even fewer moments would have worked for me if they were more insightful. It kind of felt like, look at what happened to this character, instead of look at this character's thought process and view of the world. I don't know - this could have been better for me.

Overall, I did like this book - there were big ideas, and some parts did make me a bit emotional. I also liked the "will they all die on their predicted days" mystery, which had me wanting to keep reading to find out. I think I will read whatever Chloe Benjamin writes next, because this book had moments of insight and feeling that I really connected with, and I'm hoping that she can write more and more moments like that in her future books. This book was a solid 3.5 stars for me. I think it is worth checking out for yourself!