All This & More was one of my most-anticipated novels of 2024 and I have never been more sad to be let down by a book. I loved Choose Your Own Adventures books as a kid, I am absolutely fascinated by physics, and I love Peng Shepherd's writing. I should never think, “How could things go wrong?”

Where did it go wrong? It’s not the plot. That’s actually pretty solid. It’s not the storytelling device, either (though I will tell you that reading this on a Kindle Paperwhite wasn’t very fun in it’s eARC format, so this might be one of those books where a physical copy might be the preferable format). No, the issue with this book was the protagonist, how poorly-written she was (in my opinion), and how I couldn’t connect with her at all. 

I understand speculative fiction. I understand the premise of this book necessitates a plot-forward approach. But some readers need to connect with the protagonist in a story in order to stick with it. I’m one of those people. On the surface, you’d think I would connect with Marsh: I’m in my 40s, I’m a mom, I’m divorced, I have a lot of things I wished I’d done better or different with my life. But it stops at the surface, because I didn’t connect with her at all beyond those superficial traits. As the pages went on I just found myself more and more annoyed with both her and Talia, the main supporting character in this book. 

I wish I could tell you I liked this book more, but I didn’t. You can have the best plot and the best idea for a story, but if the characters aren’t the least bit appealing then some readers just can’t vibe with it. 

I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Owing to the fact this review is rated three stars or under it will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.

File Under: Speculative Fiction