Reviews - The First State of Being

417 reviews for:

The First State of Being

Erin Entrada Kelly

4.08 AVERAGE

shakilakelley's review

5.0

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

acuzzort's review

2.75

emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I wanted to love this because it won the Newbery, but I just didn’t. Sci-fi really isn’t my bag, and I thought the sci-fi interludes (dry, acronym-laden descriptions of time travel, drama with Ridge’s family) were clunky and distracted from the story. I didn’t fall in love with MC Michael, and his anxiety overwhelmed me a bit.

nicolelovesbooks's review against another edition

4.5

A really captivating mashup of historical fiction and sci-fi. While the main character wasn’t the most likeable for me, I did feel a lot of empathy for him. I will say the ending was the best part of this book, and it took the book up a notch in my mind. Most of the 90s nods will be overlooked by kids (unless their xennial parents have taught them their ways), but they were super fun for me. As a class of ‘99-er, it made me smile that 1999 was Ridge’s favorite year in history. I’m super curious to see how this Newbery winner fares with students. I enjoyed going into this with no knowledge of the plot, and really loved the meaning behind the title which is a theme in the book.

Content Warnings

plazacheer's review

5.0

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This is my favorite book in the world

roseleaf24's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Newbery Medal 2025

This book is one where I wish I still had access to a sample size of middle grade readers. Obviously, it is adults who choose the award winners, and I'm really curious how this would fare among the readers it's aimed at. It is set in 1999, and a teenage genius from 2199 comes back to 1999 because it's , in his opinion, the best year. The first half of the book is diving into these characters and a lot of back and forth explaining the 90s and the future - though as little of that as possible, as he doesn't want to disturb the space-time continuum. I don't know that I would have made it through this portion of the book were it not an award winner. It wasn't bad, it just didn't feel that different than a lot of other books. I found some interest, as I'm just a little older than the teens in 1999, but I don't know if the current generation cares that much about the time period.

The last half of the book got much more interesting and the story got much more unique. The ending had a lot of fun connections and reveals. For me, this isn't the best children's book of the year, but I did enjoy it. The narrator is good, but maybe with the transcripts and the reports from the future, it would have been better to read it in person and glaze over the things that are detailed repeatedly for the record.