I loved it. 5 stars honestly. It kept me on my toes the entire time. Qnd for this book I couldn't even look up to see whether or not Sam lives. I think their character is really good and I love how I got to learn new things about them around every corner. For example at the beginning I thought Sam qas born male, turns out they were born female. I love that because jt wasn't revealed and talked about immediately. And what Lee ans the Barry boys did, I like how you didn't just reveal it. You leaked small bits until it started to fit together and then eventually found out. And oh my gods the plot twist. I had an entire page dedicated to the characters and who it could be. I even thought Sam's dad could be it at some point bc he is the best person ever and there was just no way he was that good. But he was. I guessed EVERYBODY except the person who actually did it

Let me say the characters in this book were awesome. I really enjoyed meeting Sam and all their friends. I really enjoy books that tackle aspects of life I'm not familiar with. It's a great opportunity for me to learn about things I'm not exposed to. But the mystery aspect wasn't that interesting for me. And I felt at times the story was dragging somewhat. It didn't captivate me like I hoped it would.

I loved this book.

The autism representation wasn’t harmful in any way, it even made me very happy to see it, the representation of a non binary main character also almost put me in tears.

The main story line kept me intrigued until the very last page (I mean, murder mystery? Come on). I will recommend this to Al my friends and my tiktok platform. SUCH a good, wholesome read.

I loved the representation in this. I really liked that the it had difficult topics and also good writing. It had plenty of tension and was super engaging. Sam was written really well and i loved them. I don’t think i have any criticisms :)

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 (4.5/5)
This book was so good I don't even know where to start!!
The characters are everything and they are so diverse!! I loved Sam so much and they are a great main character. I also love how I could see a little of the world through their eyes and understand more the way autistic people feel and think.
And also the side characters are amazing! Sam's relationships with their friends and their Dad were so wholesome. They completely stole my heart!
The plot is really good. Even though the book starts very introductory, it doesn't feel slow. I actually liked seeing Sam adapting into their new school.
But the real thing here is the murder mystery. The author really had me making theories on who the murderer was and my mind was so full of questions all the time. This book has a lot of minor plotwists (and a couple big ones), and they kept me reading without being able to stop!
I really recommend this book!! It's very well paced, and the chapters aren't long! The characters are very loveable and it has a lot of LGBTQIA+ representation, which I loved!!!

I just want to start off by saying that I do not think this will be for everyone and honestly it isn’t meant for everyone. As someone who has autism spectrum disorder as well I felt so incredibly seen by this novel and I didn’t feel like I should be ashamed of my “quirks”. The way that the book spoke to us was in a way that felt reassuring and also gave all the information we could possibly need to fully understand the story and what the main character has been through.

I personally don’t have a great relationship with my parents due to my diagnosis, they were never able to accept or understand it so this book made me cry and heal by showing how wonderful a parent sams dad was. The fact that he adopted Sam and was in their corner from day one and always looking out for them whether it be their gender expression or their needs to exist in the most comfortable way just made me so unbelievably happy to see.

I thought sams intetest in cases of those who died before becoming an adult was a really interesting thing to research and I really loved how the case that stood out the most to them ended up being in their new home!

When I said I don’t think it will be for everyone is this book over explains everything so you truly understand what it’s like for Sam which I loved but I don’t think people who unwilling to see what it’s like for Neurodivergent people.

Overall this author has become a favorite of mine and I can’t wait to read everything else they come out with!

This book did not disappoint! I love some good mysteries that need to be solved. Halfway through the book, I was not sure whether I wanted to rate it 3 or 4 stars. I decided to rate it four stars because of the ending. I’ll explain everything in this review.

First, the characters. Wow, they are well written. Sam is awesome. I think they could make a lot of people feel represented. Their backstory is impressive and well thought through. It is tied to the story, and I’m so happy that at the beginning of the book you are informed about their past, but you are told what is necessary to know at that moment. You get bits and pieces throughout the story, and eventually, everything makes sense. It all unfolds when the time comes for details to become important. The relationship between Sam and their dad is so lovely. Their dad is the sweetest, and I think I can say that everyone wants a dad like him! So supportive!

Shep and Sky are Sam's friends, but I do not love both of them. Shep was amazing, such a great character with her own problems, but also so accepting and supportive. I really liked her, she might even have been my favorite character. Sky, not so much, I often forgot he was part of the story, and this made me feel like he was not that important to the story. I feel like we get to know Shep way better than we get to know Sky. I would have liked for him to get more time in the story. More about him.

The reason I rated it four stars instead of three? The ending. I did not expect that and It really baffled me. Looking back, there were definitely some clues that could have pointed you to how it was ending, but I did not figure that out.

I have no idea where to start with my love for this book. There were so many elements to this story that I loved and appreciated, and I almost never wanted it to end, no matter how anxious it was making me. I loved everything about it. I felt seen in a lot of ways with this story, mostly in the way that I could relate to Sam so well. But also. just feeling that seen made me relate to them in a whole new way, as if I really were in the book.

The amount of rep in this book was amazing. We got an autistic, non-binary, ace spectrum main character with an amazing dad, who is black and aroace. There were also other queer and poc side characters, And I love so many of the side characters. I also appreciate the amount of life we get to see, if that makes sense. We get to see a few moments where the characters can kind of just be and exist and interact with each other, and I love getting moments like that in stories. The mystery aspect of it was also handled so well. I was so anxious and eager to get to the bottom of it, I stayed up all night to finish.

I loved this book to bits, and I hate how much I am struggling to convey how much and why. There are so many thoughts and feelings I have about this book.

Non spoiler review:


Thank you netgalley for giving me the chance to read this book
' The many half lived lives of Sam Sylvester ' is a queer YA thriller/Mystery which definitely had me on the edge of my seat .
The main character Sam moves into a new town after facing a lot of problems in their old school because of their identity . These issues faced at the old school has left Sam in a very vulnerable place in the beginning of the book but as they find new people and forms new friendships , things start to get a bit easier .
Sam has a guilty pleasure of finding out about the deaths of teens who died too young , and this hobby is what led him to realize that a boy named Billy died in his own bedroom in his new house !! and this leads to the mystery element of the book where Sam tries to prove that Billy was actually in fact murdered instead of his death being an accident.
once we start to get deeper into the mystery . This book is not for the faint of heart as it has a few mature themes related to violence / threats/ trauma etc .
My favorite part about this book is Sam's relationship with their adoptive father , it is very heartwarming and sometimes I just feel like giving them a big hug . The little bit of romance in the book is also very sweet but I would not call it as a main focus in the book . I would have also liked to know more about Sam's other friends from the club , feels like they were a little bit ignored once the book got going .
But all in all , it was a nice read , definitely did not see the ending coming and if you choose to read it I assure you it would be an enjoyable one. , I also really loved how the reference to the title was mentioned in the book , its very clever .

Sam Sylvester is a 18-year-old non binary teen with autism and a very dark past. They just moved with their father to a new town, Astoria, and thus to a new high school, where being the new kid is not the easiest (but not the worst either).
In their free time, as a coping mechanism, Sam loves to research and investigate the lives of young people who died before their 19th birthday. They call it "half-lived lives" and record everything in a single book : Sam's Book of half-lived lives.
When Sam arrives in Astoria, they become aware of a tragic death that happened years before and Sam realises that they had made research about this case. With their new friends (and new crush) Sam is gonna look into this death more to get to the bottom of it.

I really wanted to love this book, as it was on my list of anticipated books of 2022 but it feel a bit flat for me. The plot is the strong point of this book, as it mixes personal investigation and supernatural elements but that was it for me. the only thing that génuinely interested me was the tragic death of Billy Clement. Even though the rest of the story - Sam, their dad and their relationship, their new friend and new crush - is very cute and heartwarming, it somehow didn't hold my interest.

I still even haven't finished the book, that's how much I can't seen to get into it. I will finish it soon but only because I want to know what happened to Billy Clement.

To NetGalley : another reason why I couldn't really get into the book was the terrible format of the e-arc. It got sent to my Kindle but the format was terrible : no separation between chapters, no line nor page breaks. It's awful to read and that's also why it takes so much time for me to read it.

god I really wanted to love this book, it sounded amazing, had all the aspects I needed but.. the writing just didn’t completely click with me? I don’t know, I loved so many aspects of this book that it will still be a 3.75, rated up to a 4 star, but for some reason the writing just wasn’t for me :(

I really enjoyed this queer mystery novel. This novel is full of awesome representation. Sam is non-binary, on the ace spectrum and autistic. They've been adopted by a Black asexual and aromantic man.

I loved the comfortable relationship between the both of them. I wish that the kind of support that is shown by their father, would be given to any child out there.

Sam finds new friends at the LGBT alliance club at their new school. That's where we meet a couple more queer side characters. Sam forms some wonderful friendships which were a joy to read about. Unfortunately, Sam still gets misgendered at school by other people.

I was also intrigued by Sam's Latina love interest, but I feel like they moved a tad too quickly. In contrast to their fast paced relationship, the mystery needed more action. A bit of flat writing and not a lot of development in the beginning made the story drag for a while.

I'd still recommend this novel, it's definitely worth a read - especially if you like Freddie Mercury references!


content warnings: attempted murder, misgendering, death threats, gun violence

Please read it! The queer found family (and adoptive family) brought me so much joy, and all the characters were unique and had their own “lives”, even in supporting roles. BE CAREFUL OF TWs THOUGH! This could potentially be triggering in multiple instances! (homophobia, transphobia & misgendering, biphobic remarks, violence, stalking, ext.)

After a horrid assault in Montana, Sam and their father move to a small town in Oregon, hoping for a do-over. The transition goes smoothly until Sam finds out a young boy once died in their room, and they’re pretty sure it was murder. Diving head first into this murder investigation, Sam is met with threatening notes and potential stalkers as they also tries to come to terms with secrets from their past being revealed.

To be honest, I found this book difficult to read at times and had to put it down for periods of time because of how well Sam’s depression and trauma were put into words - it was so well narrated and I could really see myself in them. Sam’s father is such a bright spot in this book, and probably one of my favorite parts of it. He is so extremely supportive and respectful all the time, everyone deserves someone like him.

At times the story felt kind of forced, and some of the dialogue felt off. A personal ick I have when it comes to books is too many pop culture references, and this book had a lot. E.g. “It’s gonna spread like a GIF of Misha Collins kissing Jensen Ackles on Tumblr”.
Another thing that took me completely out of the story was every time the characters verbally expressed their feelings by naming an emoji, like: “you two are-” “fire emoji” and “There’s a message from Shep that just says You look hot. “Blush emoji,” I say out loud. Though this might just be a North American thing I’m not familiar nor used to.

Lastly, there's this part towards the end of the book about wanting to live, to truly live and to not go beyond basic survival. That part had me in tears, it’s truly one of my favorite paragraphs of 2021.

This story is a mystery through and through. The theme of presences and ghosts and psychic feelings kind of add to this mysterious and mystical feel that's present throughout. I think this book is a bit of a lesson on how slow pacing can be effective. It moves pretty slowly for most of the story, but the mystery and the unease grows throughout. We're constantly having questions answered while new ones spring up. For me, the mystery was so interesting and I was desperately trying to figure out who the culprit of it all was. I will say that I wasn't entirely surprised who the culprit ended up being! I actually thought the side aspects to the case were more surprising, but I didn't mind that!

Nearly every character in this is amazing. Sam, Junius, Shep, Sky, Aiden, Margie, and even clueless Dylan are such strong characters. Even those who are minor and don't serve much to the plot are nice side characters. I also think that Junius Sylvester deserves the distinction of best parent in YA ever. He was an AMAZING father and such a stunning character. The bond between him and Sam was so clear from page one and it truly felt like he would do anything to make sure his child was safe. Onto Sam: when I think about my favorite book characters, I think Sam Sylvester will always have a spot on that list. They were a character that made me so indescribably happy. I wanted to fight for them and I wanted them to be joyful experience everything they deserved. They were so carefully developed and I just love Sam so much and the romance they ended up having in this story was sweet. And I always love good ace rep and this was GOOD ace rep!

My minor complaint was that sometimes I got a bit confused with the details of the case. Sometimes we were given facts all at once so it was a lot to keep up with at one time. I also wish we could've had a bit more regarding the threatening notes and who was responsible for them. We got a sentence at the end for who did it, but I wish we could've gotten a more developed why. And I also wish we could've gotten maybe just one more scene with Sam, Shep, Sky, and Aiden all together because I love their friendship so much. Overall, this book is wonderful and so necessary. I adore it and it has a special place in my heart.

Queer Scooby Doo Meets My Favorite Murder in this gripping, poignant, and touching read!
I adore Sam Sylvester as a character and felt very seen as a nonbinary person who’s been through similar struggles that Sam faces throughout the story. The loving relationship between Sam and their father was also refreshing to see since I’ve come across so many YA or Middle-Grade stories where the parents are either dead or are horrible at parenting. I also didn’t realize how much I love a good prom scene until reading this!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me ARC of this book. This book follows the story of Non binary teenager Sam Sylvester and their journey in the New town.

I was really excited to read this book since I got to know about it. First of all let me say this The characters in the book was amazing . Represention in the book was the stand out point for me. We met so many characters who identify as different spectrum of LGBTQ+ community. I fell in love with every character. I don't think I have felt a deep connection to fictional characters in such long time. My favorite was Sam's dad, He is such a great person . He loves and cares Sam so much and so understanding. Sky was another favourite of mine because I could easily see myself in him. Rest of the cast was great too. Everyone has their own story to tell.

Plot was very interesting at first but in the middle I kind of felt it was dragging a little bit. Story was well written. I love the pop culture reference to it . As big Freedie Mercury fan I was really happy when his story was discussed in this.

So overall plot was okayish for me but the well written characters made up for it.

This is a mystery, yes, with an autistic non-binary person called Sam. When the story opens, we only know that they are obsessed with teens who never got to live because they were murdered or died before their 19th birthday. We do know that they had something that nearly killed them, but we don't know the details until later.

Sam's father has moved them to Oregon to get away from whatever it was that happened in Montana, and Sam is hoping to start afresh.

Throughout the book, told in the first person, we get insights into what Sam is feeling, once they realizes that they are living in the house of one of the teens they have researched, that of Billy, who died 30 years before this story took place.

Although all the adults keep repeating that it was a tragic accident, Sam does not believe that. And they keep looking further and further into it. There are a lot of red herrings through in our way, as we look into what happened, and in between all this, Sam gets to meet some wonderful other Queer people, as well as good and bad allies.

Loved this story. Both the voice, and the mystery, and all the experiences in between. Since the author is also a non-binary autistic person, this might even be considered an #ownvoices novel as well.

Recommended.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Slyvester is a story I think many young people will be able to relate to. It has a heartwarming and relatable main character and I am very excited to recommend this one to my students.

I’m used to being the only queer in the room"

Okay so the premise of this book is great. Non binary teen, queer representation, autistic rep, a healthy family unit that supports that LGBTQ Autistic teen. A mysterious death that the band of teenagers try and solve?
Like yes. Awesome. Exactly what my teenage self needed.

Sam Sylvester and their dad, Junius, have recently moved into their new home, in a new town, and Sam is looking forward to the chance to restart their life, along with the hopeful prospects of making new LGBT friends at school. But when they realise that their new bedroom has a dark history, it will take more than just their book of "half lived lives" (a file of people who historically died before the age of 19) - it will also take friendship.

Okay so I actually liked this book. There isn't a lot of non binary rep in literature in general so I think it's really awesome that this book does have that.

BUT! as much as I wanted to love it, and as much as I did love some parts, the plot felt forced at some times, and the ending was anticlimactic. I thought that characters were great - but we didn't get enough of them, while we got a lot of vague references to the paranormal and repetition over previous events.

That said, it's a good read, and one with a lot of really great representation.