2020: I went into this book almost zero prior knowledge as to what it was about and no preconceived notions, and I came out of it completely pleased with this fun, quirky novel that read like a YA book, even though the main characters are 23 year olds and have meetings with the president. (Sad news, Green wrote this book when there was still a chance we might be living in a world with a female president.)

I was pleasantly surprised by Green's ability to distinguish himself from his brother's style of writing enough that I never had any "wait, am I reading a John Green novel?" moments (which has happened to me in other books). I applaud his bold (BOLD) choice of swapping narrators at the final chapters of the book (and the reason why).

I respect Green's choice to acknowledge that his is a different age, gender, and sexual orientation from his main character. However, inclusivity for the sake of inclusivity is pointless and performative at best. Green sidesteps when it comes to the lesbian relationships in the book: first, by jumping the storyline in right pre-breakup between April & Maya, and second, by pretending that Miranda is too private to have any details about her hooking up with April. HELLO, the whole (nearly!) book is from April's perspective, she literally lives her life livestreamed on the internet! It was totally a misstep (IMHO) for a 23 year old in her position in a freaking first person narrative to shy away from sharing that. Instead, why not celebrate what makes your character different, and the whole reason you included diverse characters in the first place?!

Last note: the sci-fi elements were present, but underdeveloped, which will make this book have a much broader appeal, and piss off the majority of sci-fi nerds. Maybe there's that much more room for explanation in the sequel? Also, I'm low key obsessed with the idea of a shared Dream that is contagious, how cool and creepy!