A review by thebookfellow
Welcome to Forever by Nathan Tavares

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 

What makes you, you? Is it the body that you walk around in or is it the memories that you hold and the experiences that you’ve had? 

Welcome to Forever takes place in a futuristic world in which memory editing has become the norm. Death is essentially a thing of the past, as your memory stream can just be uploaded into a new, healthy body. But when the protagonist, Fox, wakes up in a rehabilitation centre for those with damaged memories, he doesn’t remember how he got there. He is informed by the staff that he was caught up in a terrorist attack and that his husband, Gabe, didn’t survive the attack and his memory stream was lost. 

The novel explores Fox’s journey trying to piece together his fragmented memory, and grieving for the husband he thinks is lost forever. As time goes on, he starts to remember things that he wishes would stay forgotten. 

Personally, I really enjoyed the beginning of the novel, learning about this interesting new world in which humans could never really die. I found Fox to be a likeable narrator, and I enjoyed the cast of characters that Tavares brought together. I especially liked Kadhija, the pioneer/ CEO of the memory editing business with her sparkly god-complex. I also loved seeing such a huge amount of LGBT+ rep in the novel, something that I think is still lacking in Sci-Fi, so kudos to the author for trying to queer up the genre! 

Where this book fell down for me was the constant shifting between POVs and also the lack of impact some chapters had on the whole story. Early on in the book, the narrative shifts from first person to third person and I was so disorientated I had to put the book down for a few days before coming back to it. 

By the end of the novel, I was feeling a bit deflated. The different layers of memory streams, the different characters who were actually the same character, and the contradicting motives all culminated in me feeling like I was just not smart enough to understand the book. This was compounded by an ending which fell really flat for me. I won’t add spoilers here, but I will warn you that if you’re looking for an emotional payoff at the end of a book, this isn’t the title for you. 

Overall, I liked the concept of the novel and I thought it was well-written and woven together but ultimately it was just too confusing for me. I’m grateful to NetGalley and Titan Books for allowing me to access an ARC copy.