I found the pacing slow, but it eventually picks up and becomes very intriguing. We are treated to an intimate look into the relationship between Sophie and Ben while also questioning the torment of remaining young while those around you age and die. Evergreens also calls into the question of the morality of a life extending treatment that is available only to the rich and powerful, exacerbating the real life capitalist mindset that poor people are an expendable commodity. I found this to be a very thought provoking story that I will be thinking about for a long time.

Loves me a bit of speculative fiction. Evergreens by Liam Brown is out in June and worth a read: an unconventional love story between a couple; one of whom is aging at a normal rate, one of whom is part of an experimental anti-aging trial and is suffering some pretty serious consequences. Thanks, @netgalley and @legendpress.rs for letting me follow Ben and Sophie’s story before its release.

When Ben and Sophie met, it seemed like they'd live long lives together, grow old together and die peacefully surrounded by their family.

But when the Evergreens project launches, their future isn't so certain anymore. It offers the chance to be young endlessly, to live ten or more lifetimes, to control life and death. Ben immediately signs up to the experimental trial, ready to escape his mortality but Sophie isn't so sure. It seems too good to be true, too far.

And now decades later as Ben lies unresponsive in a hospital bed she knows she was right. In front of her eyes, the youthful boy he'd been for so long starts to wither and fade away, the years taking their toll. And as officials start lurking around, it's clear something darker was happening at the Evergreens project, and she needs to find out what. But the timer has started for Ben again, so she needs to do it before it's too late.

"And how lucky she is to love and be loved."

In this modern, polished world where holograms work as nurses, beds make themselves and armies are run by algorithms; it feels like a utopia but even from the first few lines you just know something is wrong. The world felt so familiar but so strange - the alienating feeling setting a spectacular and immersive scene.

Sophie is beautiful, magnetic; she's clearly troubled and lost but loves deeply. Her feelings for Ben shine through as she tells us the stories of their youth, with a playful nostalgic air that was so warm. Together we explore the highs and lows of two lives together and apart - the fractures that can form when a relationship becomes imbalanced. They were able to navigate the divides of class and wealth between them, but is mortality and youth just too much to handle?

This story balances a love story with an intriguing mystery in a futuristic world that quietly unravels in front of our eyes, drawing some terrifying parallels to a world we already know where the rich and powerful get richer and more powerful because they're making the rules.

It moves slowly, building up the story of Sophie and Ben, explaining how they came to be and all the little moments that led them here, before quickly shifting to the dangers of the present day to solve a horrific puzzle. We get to know them intimately - watching them as they find, lose and find themselves all over again - although there was a little too much time spent on teen angst and petty fighting before the story kept moving for me and it left me waiting for something else to happen. And while I absolutely loved the ideas, this exploration into how these kinds of advancement would affect not just the world but our connections with others, our main characters spend 90% of this book hating each other, not talking or point scoring and it made it very difficult to find a connection with them specifically and I wasn't able to find any real closure in their tale. Although there were absolutely beautiful moments that showed the difficulty and the joy of relationships in their different forms.

A sweeping tale about what it is to be human; heartbreaking and affirming.

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

The story unfolded slowly at the beginning, but once the pace picked up, it was a very engaging and intriguing exploration of the possibilities for living a long, healthy life. By long, the author means living decades or even centuries in one’s prime.

After a rigorous assessment of their physical, mental and emotional suitability, 12 young people are enrolled in the Evergreens Program, an experimental treatment to arrest the aging process. Dr. V. Andersson, the head of the project, has a vision to free humanity from the inevitable decline associated with aging, namely the prevention of the chronic diseases leading to death. While his intent is noble, it raises many issues – ethical, moral, social, and ecological to name a few.

Against this backdrop is the on again-off again romance between Ben and Sophie who meet in their early 20s. Ben elects to enroll in the Program following the untimely death of a family member, the collapse of his academic studies, and the breakup of his romantic relationship. What follows is his story over the next 65 years, moving back and forth between the present and the year 2070.

The question arises, “What would you do knowing that you had decades to live in good health?” While it sounds appealing, the reality includes watching friends and family age naturally and die. How does one cope with these ongoing losses? How does it affect one’s quality of relationships and life in general? All of this plays out as Ben remains eternally youthful while Sophie shows her chronological age.
\
An interesting twist gets introduced when the original Dr. Andersson’s grandson seizes the opportunity to turn the original humanitarian intent of the Evergreen Program into a grand scheme to keep the wealthy elite alive…for a very hefty price. The ending is very satisfying. Overall, I found this book thought provoking and well worth the investment of my time.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

It took me a little while to get into this story. Once I did I was hooked and found it to be fast paced. The dual timeline is done well. The ending was satisfying.