When Willie starts playing the game Manifest Atlas, which promises to lead the player to any intention they set, it actually leads him and his friends on an adventure involving bodies, murder, fire, floods and even the devil. This is a unique story exploring racism in small towns. Willie is an interesting and multidimensional protagonist, and the other characters are quite interesting as well, though some don't have as much depth. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I started, but it was an enjoyable and satisfying read.

Dark Parts of the Universe starts off promising but then gets a little slow. I kept losing interest in the story because I have felt like I have read this all before. I was hoping for a YA Rabbits and it’s not quite what I got. There were some great messages for the target audience about acceptance, history, racism, accountability, and many other things. Unfortunately, the language would keep me from using this with students.

This is good and I can definitely see the appeal, but it’s not something I personally enjoyed. That said, I can imagine this being quite popular with YA readers.

This is a teen/YA dark mystery thriller that has a slow start but picks up around 30%. It's when the teens act as a group and follow an app/game after making a wish to see something bloody and find a dead body. When you reach this point many more characters are interacting and the world grows making the entire town and fans of this game interact more.
The book is easy to read because it has plenty of breaks and introduces letters, texts, and extra info that add a lot more information.
When we reach about 60% the book takes a different turn, less supernatural or paranormal.
It becomes less supernatural. The evil is quite real, social, and something we still have trouble irradicating it nowadays.
I thought it was going to be more like Stranger Things vibes. What pulled me to this book was that an app was making the wishes come true and there was no way to explain it. That creepiness and paranormal turned into cruelty and racism.
Because my followers sometimes ask, this book says age 13 up but it has a lot of the use of the f* word and swearing. I would recommend it to upper YA readers. It also will please more male readers for the content and references.
I do like the author's voice and although this is my first contact with his work I am curious to see more.

The character development and depth is out of this world. Willie comes into his own throughout the book, going from grumbling about being treated like a kid to acting like the more grown teen that he wants to be seen as. As he grows, Willie comes to the often shocking realizations that we all come to at some point: Our heroes are human too. Willies older brother “Bones”, whom he had always looked up to, is revealed to have faults throughout the book as Willie realizes them. The faults are revealed to the reader alongside Willie, making the reader feel the hurt and betrayal that Willie felt. Even the side characters such as Joe go through huge developments throughout the story that are beautifully written. Not to mention the strategic use of social media posts, news articles, and interviews in the chapters to further the story. You truly feel like you are growing with the characters.

When it comes to the story itself, I can honestly say I have never been so shocked by a plot twist. The reveal of the maker of the app was so completely unexpected and after that moment I couldn’t put the book down. I devoured the rest of the book, trying to figure out what the rest of the story could possibly be. This is a book that struggles with hard truths, the struggle of growing up, and family troubles all while creating an intricate plot with thrilling twists and turns. I cannot wait for this book to be on shelves.

The character development and dialogue kept me intrigued. I really loved the concept of the book. I do think the ending could have been better. I think with a couple of adjustments, I would love to see this book made into a movie.

The Game is called Manifest Atlas, and the concept is simple: enter an intention and the Game provides a target.

Willa’s life has been defined by two powerful forces: God and the river. When Sarai enters the intention: something bloody, into the Game, Willa and her friends discover a dead body. Sarai’s stepfather’s body. The Game is suddenly personal.

As Willa tries to figure out the Game, Sarai sets out to find out what happened to her stepdad.

The premise of this book sounded very interesting, but unfortunately that did not translate to an captivating story. I was lost while reading this book, I felt that there wasn’t a lot of plot development. The pacing was also very slow, and it took a long time for the story to unfold. The main characters were rather unlikeable, and I never felt connected to them. I also felt that the side characters were one dimensional and lackluster. I did enjoy the small-town setting and felt that it was well described. The small-town setting added to the tension of the plot. I wasn’t a huge fan of how this one ended either and it just felt unrealistic.

This book is on the upper end of the YA spectrum and deals with some mature topics not to be taken on by younger readers.

This is one of those books that I just didn’t love, but I didn’t hate. I would recommend it for certain readers but not all. I think overall that I wanted more out of this book than I got and was just disappointed.

I’m not quite sure what it is about this book that I simply could not fully invest myself in. The characters and the setting and the plot all just could not hold me in it fully. I wanted to like it and be fully invested but I simply could not.

Dark Parts of The Universe is a great YA mystery, with tangible characters that help build to the climax. The story is immersive and really brings back the feeling of been a teen in a small southern town. A town that’s fighting it’s way from changing with the times. The hangout spots, the speech, and the character relationships where all incredibly well thought out. And the story line was impeccably researched. You quickly see the idealistic facade of a beautiful southern small town crack and break in the characters mind. It has a beautiful and intricate mystery with many twists and turns that kept me thinking well after putting the book down. I kind of wished the ending had more details, the plot found its end which is great. But, I would have loved the same intricacies to have been carried over to the ending to close out a few of my favorite characters. It went from climax to tie off and I’ve never been a huge fan of that, but that’s just personal preference I suppose.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise sounded interesting and the set-up was complex. However, I couldn’t latch on to any of the characters. There wasn’t enough development of the plot related to the app. Or, it just took too long for the situation to unfold. The ancillary characters seemed surface level and not very important. The novel asks some important questions about the value of friendships and family. The youth characters experience real dilemmas about staying home or going off to college. The rural small-town feel was well described and made the tension more real. But as we learned more about the murder and the role of the app, it just didn’t work.

I feel torn. I went into this YA novel expecting it to be fully sci fi, and loved its intersection with real world historical (and current) racial segregation done in the name of "preserving community." Also really enjoyed the complicated family dynamics between Willie, his brother, mom and dad.

For me, the premise and execution of the phone app game was fascinating and spooky, and what distinguishes this novel from similar fair. And while there are some final hints at something unexplainable / mystical that Willie may have tapped into, I feel mildly disappointed that the author chose to fully back away from any kind of supernatural narrative, in favor of a real (albeit semi-preposterous) explanation for what happens.

When I began this book I was quickly drawn into the family dynamics, friendships, and small town intrigue. However, as the story progressed, I felt it got convoluted. So instead of intriguing me, I just started skipping through it to get to a place where the story moved forward. I finally found it at the end and then it just seemed weirdly set up to try to make sense of everything.
Then I read the authors note and things made more sense of what the author was trying to convey. I wish the story had been more focused on sundown towns instead of the app and red herrings.
I feel like the book had more potential and that it didn't do justice to something that needs to be talked about.

I have been looking forward to this book for a long time (as in, back when the title was still Manifest Atlas), and I was so excited to be able to have the opportunity to read and review it. The anticipation was well deserved. I loved the book. The premise of an app supposedly leading you to what you request is so intriguing and the way it plays out in the book is incredible. I was constantly second guessing what was actually going on, much like the characters in the book. The twists that happen were engaging, keeping me on the edge of my seat. I think the narrator’s voice is well developed, and having the story all told in first person POV is what keeps the mystery, well, mysterious. We only know what Willie knows, and discovering the truth alongside him is great. I also love the social justice themes that were weaved in. Miller has always been apt with commentary on these sorts of topics, and it translates beautifully in literature.

I have had a hard time deciding how I felt about this book. On one hand I did really enjoy it but on the other hand it's hard to ignore the feelings I have about the ending--mostly that it's pretty unrealistic. The mystery of the story was okay, and the plotting/pacing of the narrative and the clues was good. I just found myself wanting more from the story, especially in the moments where it felt a bit repetitive and the pacing suffered a bit. I did enjoy the talk about sundown towns, though, and the history of racism in small midwestern towns. But yeah, overall not a bad story, but I do think the ending sort of took me out of the story a bit. The main premise and mystery are pretty compelling, though, so this was a pretty good sci-fi read.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC! 3.5 stars. I’ve been giving a lot of books that rating lately. This one,
Ike those others, had something interesting in the racism and the idea of the game and the family dynamics, but I felt like it fell a little short for me. The premise of the game was fascinating, but then in the end, it was not as neat as I wanted it to be. I can’t give anything away, but the game doesn’t take center stage in the end. The idea of the main character being saved by God for some higher purpose also didn’t seem to matter as much in the end. The mystery itself was ok.the murder and attempted murders were woven in pretty well, but I found the ending and how it wrapped up pretty unrealistic. Overall, I didn’t hate the book, but it’s not one I’m going to push on my stuffed and not one I really talked to them about. FYI violence, race issues, profanity

A group of friends start playing an App called “The Game”. They each ask The Game a question of what is their deepest desire and The Game guides you to the exact location where your desire can be found. One teen wishes for something bloody, but that something bloody turns out to be much more then they could ever imagine. As such, the teens decide to locate who exactly owns and designs “The Game” to a shocking discovery they never saw coming.

Don't let the fact that this is a YA book throw you off. It's an excellent, fun scifi read. I highly enjoyed this book.

The book follows Willie, a freshman in high school and Calico Springs, Missouri’s very own miracle boy, as he tries to search for his purpose using a mysterious app that seemingly leads people to their intentions. That is, until the app leads him and some friends to a dead body. Willie dedicates his summer to figuring out who made this app and, more importantly, who killed the man that they discovered in the abandoned town mill. Throughout the adventures and misadventures had while chasing the truth, Willie struggles with faith, family, friendships, and his own place in the world.

I can honestly say I have never been so shocked by a plot twist. The reveal of the maker of the app was so completely unexpected and after that moment I couldn’t put the book down. I devoured the rest of the book, trying to figure out what the rest of the story could possibly be.

This book was a mix of every genre (if that's even possible) and thrilled me to the end. I will be recommending this to everyone I know.

This was not what I expected but was a good mystery. This is a story that needs to be told for us to understand our past so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes.

Willie finds out more about his small town than he ever thought when he discovers a new app that claims to tell you your destiny just by stating you intent.

I read an advanced reader scopy of Samuel Miller's Dark Parts of the Universe, thanks to NetGalley and the Harper Collins. This ia YA title, but fairly mature, and deals with serious issues, while having a "hook" to draw the reader in - the "game" which is a phone app, which the player is asked to tell their "intention" and the app leads them to a place in the real world. It does just this -- and more importantly, it leads them to a crime scene, where there is a dead body. This leads the players, fifteen year old Willie and his brother Bones, and several friends to try to figure out what is going on. But the book is about more than the game. It raises critical questions of race,

In many ways the game is secondary to the deeper social divisions which are being uncovered, and it works quite well to bring those to the surface. I can't say I loved the book, as parts of it seemed to be a bit slow and repetitive, but the last part came together quite well. The book's focus on the history of racism in small towns in the midwest - and the role of "Sundown" towns -- brings out the author's goals, in ways which made for a good read.