I found the concept really interesting about what can be learnt solely from the obituaries of people but it instead felt very cold and distant from these people. Maybe that was the point but it made the book hard to read as I could not connect to anyone even though you're reading obituaries. The cover and concept were great but the execution didn't work for me.

I was expecting something else when I read the synopsis, something more “personal” that would make me connect with what I was reading. I understand that the structure is experimental, but it was really just obituaries, one after another after another. At first it was interesting to notice the connections between the people in the obituaries, but then it felt like too much, looking up names in the obituaries and having bits and pieces of a story that felt scattered and I couldn’t make it matter enough to me to not get bored.

This book didn’t work for me, although I recognize that the element of an AI trying to understand what grief is through the obituaries is a fascinating idea, here what I think didn’t work for me was the execution.

i only read the first 25% of this book. i could not get into the unique format and i was left scratching my head saying “huh?” multiple times.
this could have been a different experience for me if i had a paper version of the book in-hand. much easier to go back and skim vs. trying to move backward and forward on an e-reader.
maybe i’ll try again someday but this wasn’t a book i could read right now.

thank you to sourcebooks landmark for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. all opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read this ARC and leave an honest review!

Unfortunately, I only made it through about 30% of the book before I made the decision to DNF. I really wanted to enjoy this book because the premise and the writing style was so interesting and fresh - an AI mother talking about grief and loss through obituaries and letters? I loved the epistolatory style (it is so rare to find books that use this format) and I thought the concept of telling the story using only that style was very innovative. I just found that I did not really connect very well with the characters and at times, the letters and obits jumped around a lot in terms of past, present, and future, leaving me uncertain of the storyline and plot.

I would recommend to anyone looking for a fresh take on the sci-fi genre and the use of a different writing style!

I'm so bummed about this because I had such high expectations going in. Maybe that was my fault. Since reading Annie Bot by Sierra Greer, I've been searching for that same high I got reading about AI robots becoming sentient, or at least learning what human emotions actually feel like and I went into this thinking it was going to give me that 5 Star feeling.

It, unfortunately, did not.

So, to begin, Remember You Will Die is about an AI woman named Peregrine dealing with the death of her human daughter, Poppy, and the grief that comes with that - especially due to the mysterious circumstances in which her daughter died.

The way this story was told just didn't do it for me. I understand the idea behind it -- AI grief told through centuries of obituaries, however, it lacked an emotional weight to the story. If you're going to write a novel exploring human emotions as an AI, especially one as strong as grief, it would be better to start off with obituaries and then move to a more narrative storytelling, one that shines light on the divergence of stiff, machine understanding to all-consuming sentient emotion.

There were also too many character storylines that never seemed to make any emotional impact, thus derailing the true story plot line which, sorry to say, left me bored.

This wasn't a bad book by any means, though, and I'd be interested to see what Robins writes in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

To start off, I really enjoyed the concept of this book. The idea of a novel that is solely built of obituaries, with a story that feeds through them as the book progresses. There's a lot of different characters in this book that connect up through the thread of the story, an AI personality that was created out of the threads of the people in the novel. The format of this novel is really beautiful, and there's a lot to be said for the way that this has been written. I think that if this was done slightly differently, it would have been an absolutely spectacular read.

I didn't really connect with the main thread of the story in here, and thought it could have been done differently. I found myself really fascinated by the connections and threads of people in the substantive of this book, but less so the plot that came through the middle. This is a really wonderful concept - I just wish that it was done slightly differently.

3.5 stars

This was the most unique science fiction I've ever read simply for its writing style. An AI named Peregrine gave birth to a human daughter Poppy and searches through the internet to find out what happened leading to Poppy's death. It seemed interesting however, it is written through a series of news articles, letter and obituaries. It feels like I'm doing the internet digging myself and I miss a connection to Peregrine at all except through passing articles.

I did like a lot of the alternate histories as well how AI played a part in the future. It was definitely interesting. I just couldn't get into it as much as I wanted to because of how disjointed it felt with a new article every few pages. All the characters were connected in some way so reading about it does build out the world and connect things. But I felt emotionally disconnected from any sort of main character and journey.

I also thought this was satire for a while because of the amount of backhanded insults in the eulogies. I'm not sure that's how eulogies work. I don't think it's supposed to be satire. Maybe Peregrine was editing her thoughts into articles as she went through them. I am not sure.

It was a unique read that I definitely don't fully understand, but there's going to be a select group that will eat this up.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really tried to enjoy this book. The format just didnt work for me. It was definitely genre bending. I think many people will love this book, though!

This was an interesting concept but unfortunately it felt like a chore to read. I found myself referring back to other parts of the book at times because I was unclear as to what I was supposed to be getting from the book. It felt a little long, but again, very interesting concept! I am willing to get this book again in a year or so to see if it has grown on me.

Remember You Will Die is written in a way that never allowed me to get my feet under me and settle in. The use of obituaries to move the story forward and express the emotions and history of AI mother Peregrine as she works through the death of her human daughter Poppy is impressive. Although I was not able to become immersed in the story in the way that I prefer, I recognize the remarkable complexity of what the author has undertaken. While this book may not be for everyone, I have already recommended it to someone who loves both history and research.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Man the premise of this book was so cool so I give it kudos for trying something new. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work for me. It is really disjointed and doesn't come together the greatest in the end. The book, while exciting and refreshing at first, got pretty old for me and never hit the payoff. I think the concept is a neat idea though.

I liked this book, but struggled to follow it due to the disjointed nature of the plot. I also was a little confused as to what exactly I was supposed to be taking away from the story. The writing was perfectly good and I liked some of the characters whose stories the book highlighted, but at the end of the day I didn't really have much of an opinion on this one.

An innovative epistolary novel about an AI woman consoling her inhumanness and grief over the loss of her human daughter by creating her own ancestry through interrelated obituaries, reading articles and dictionary references to understand loss, and while learning about what is certain about existence.

This is not your commercial fiction, mass-market-appeal story. It's non-linear (arranged in "emotional time" as the author has put it). It covers thousands of years of obituaries and articles. It tracks people that are blood-related, that are not but knew each other in life, or where one was an idol to the other person. It lacks simplicity in conflicts and goals. It is a strange and peculiar experience to read what essentially is an AI's internet search history, especially when the present time is set in the far future and we get to see the dreadful glimpses of what humanity has supposedly achieved and is suffering through.

But it's highly creative and no less impactful. From the names (the symbolism is not lost on me), to the format, to the individual stories (my god, the many lives!), to the messages, RYWD is provocative, indeed.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with the e-ARC/DRC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was highly recommended by an author I like, and I thought the format sounding intriguing since I like epistolary novels. It is told almost entirely in obituaries. About a third of the way into the book I was confused but persevered since it was so highly recommended. I read until the end, but I am still confused. Maybe it would be better to read it with a book group so it could be discussed.

The description of the book was promising but the format was very disjointed and hard to follow. Comprised of articles and obituaries, the book does indeed follow through on the promise of the title, however, it leaves a lot to be desired. Little plot, despite having a unique voice and potential for a better narrative.

The premise of this book is SO intriguing and I began reading with such high hopes! However, I unfortunately had to stop reading after 30% because I was unable to follow the plot. I think the book would have benefitted from having some narration woven in to connect the pieces of information and stories. It felt like a ton of work to decipher what was happening, which isn't what I like to do when I'm reading for fun.

[arc review]
Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Remember You Will Die releases October 22, 2024

This is told in a string of articles and obituaries, spanning from the 1st Century CE to the early 2100’s, wherein the offspring of a fugitive AI drowns.

I struggled to identify a coherent theme. The grief of a mother through the lens of AI, which was the main selling point in the blurb, didn’t translate well in terms of character depth.

Enjoyment level was equivalent to picking up an ordinary newspaper or a dictionary focusing on etymology. In other words, I found it boring and was skimming most of it.

This book is incredibly unique. There was a part of me reading this that as I connected a dot between two obituaries, I’d feel accomplished. While it was interesting I will say there wasn’t too much of a plot. Maybe that’s the sufferings of the format or something else, but I feel like having something to connect them all for a clean ending would have been nice! Mostly because I couldn’t feel like I could connect with anyone because of this.
Overall though, very interesting read!

A format for a book that I have never read nor have ever thought about before 60 people all have one thing in common - and you will have that same thing in common to - you will die. Morbid ? Yes! True - also yes. I think this is an interesting read that would make a great college classroom discussion or even something like an ethics class. What and who did you leave behind and what is the mark that was left.

The writing of this book was very different. There wasn’t really a plot as much as a “message”. It was a bunch of obituaries of people. Throughout the book, you could see a link between people but I was waiting for the ending to come together. It doesn’t. It’s just a message of how we all die and will have obituaries to look back on.