What a ride this book was. It is a very interesting look into something that now doesn't seem too farfetched after the pandemic of 2020. All of the characters in this are very well thought out and progress in new and interesting ways. I really enjoyed the villian of this book, she is just perfect, when you think she is out of moves she just keeps going. It has just enough twists and turns to keep you reading to what is a very interesting finale. The only issue I have is that I am not sure if I am reading a completed story or if there is more to come. 4 out of 5 stars. Did not disappoint.

A new global pandemic has begun. Dubbed "Crown Royal," this corona variant has a strange side effect: those who survive are changed. They are happier, more empathetic, more altruistic. Some see the risk of death as a worthwhile tradeoff for an enlightened life; others fear the lack of agency (and potential chaos) that comes with having all your negative emotions dampened. And three teenagers find themselves on the front lines of this evolving war.

Rón, the young son of one of the world's wealthiest men, finds new meaning when he discovers he's an alpha spreader: capable of "embracing" both the willing and unwilling into shared enlightenment. Mariel, a homeless girl who falls for Rón, is the yin to his yang, naturally immune but wishing for a way out. And Morgan, handed immeasurable wealth so its infected former owner couldn't give it away, searches for a cure: not out of kindness, but out of a belief that competition and dissatisfaction power our world. Regardless of who's right and who's wrong, many will die along the way—some from Crown Royale, others as collateral damage.

All Better Now comes on the heels of a massive pile of "COVID books," which ran especially rampant in the sci-fi and horror sphere. While a global pandemic will certainly spur discussion and creativity for years to come, it takes dramatically new angles and insights to keep a title from retreading old ground. All Better Now is about six of one and half a dozen of the other. Hidden in its musings on the morality inherent in the human reaction is the fascinating fictional idea of the perfect viral adaptation: desirability. The book does ask many fascinating questions: is altruism really altruism if it's not a choice? Do we have the right to force betterment on others? Do we really want to numb our darker emotions, or do we need them? While Shusterman's work is filled with excellent prose, interesting characters, and evocative questions, the story itself often feels as rudderless as Rón on his mission of enlightenment. Even clocking in at over 500 pages, it never quite has room to explore everything it's laid out for itself. As a series of philosophical questions posed, All Better Now succeeds; as a story, it flies, then fizzles.

This thought-provoking novel raises questions: Is unfiltered happiness a gift or a curse? Does erasing humanity’s darker impulses destroy its essence? And what, if anything should counterbalance this blissful contagion-depression, despair, or something even darker.
Schusterman tells a great story and his stories always seem to make you think- what if? This is going to be a great book for book clubs and discussions. I think our post COVID students and young adults will enjoy the discussions and debates that this book may evoke.

When a new pandemic begins, the world is thrown into chaos. As scientists, conspiracy theorists, and talking heads converge on what to do next, three teens they have to follow through on the decisions everyone else is just considering. Veteran author Neal Shusterman returns with an interesting premise that begins to meander in his latest book All Better Now.

All anyone can talk about these days is Crown Royale, the bizarre new virus that is charging across borders and continents with no known cause or cure. If people thought Covid-19 was bad, Crown Royale is worse. The dying is bad, yes, but some are saying surviving is worse.

Those who recover from Crown Royale become completely content. Their desires for material things and pleasures vanishes. Recoverees give away money and personal belongings and spend their days simply grateful to be alive and in the presence of others. If those others are also recoverees, all the better.

In San Francisco, Ron Escobedo is worried he’ll catch the disease because he’s high-risk. A blue-cone deficiency means he can’t see the color blue and also dramatically increases his chances of death if he contracts Crown Royale. Yet in a bizarre way, he also wonders what would happen if he got the illness.

For the longest time, Ron has suffered from depression and even attempted more than once to take his own life. His billionaire father is freaking out and trying to take care of Ron; his latest plan is making Ron manage the AirBnb they rent out for really cheap. Even though he doesn’t admit it, Ron enjoys meeting the guests.

A mother-daughter pair shows up for a one-night stay, and Ron feels drawn to the daughter. Mariel is about his age, and even her funny comments and confidence attracts Ron. He wishes, more than anything, that he could be that self-assured.

Mariel doesn’t think she’s confident at all. She’s just trying to stay one step ahead of debt collectors and the other sharks after her and her mother. For as long as she can remember, Mariel has been the one fighting to keep her head above water. Her mother is content just to ride life like a lazy river.

Then her mother contracts Crown Royale and dies in a refugee camp for recoverees, and Mariel feels lost. She was supposed to take care of her mom. Now what will she do? The answer comes in the unlikeliest of ways: Ron has contracted the virus and has come to the camp to get away from his dad.

Halfway across the world, Morgan Willmon-Wu has just arrived in England for an unheard-of internship opportunity. Driven and ambitious almost to a fault, Morgan is a certified genius and has found herself outpacing her peers. It’s become boring for her and embarrassing for them.

That’s why, when she hears about the internship with Dame Glynis Havilland, she jumps at it. Everyone knows the Havilland Consortium is on the cutting edge of almost everything. More than that, Morgan feels like she and Glynis are kindred spirits. Neither of them have a problem being ruthless if need be.

The internship completely changes Morgan’s life, starting with a nearly unlimited cash flow. Soon enough, Morgan knows what she wants to do with the money: find a way to stop Crown Royale. With the virus gone, people will start spending again and continue to keep billionaires like her afloat. As the world continues to grapple with this latest pandemic, Ron, Mariel, and Morgan will cross paths in unexpected ways and discover that the definition of contentment means something different to everyone.

Author Neal Shusterman gives readers a fully-realized story world. Early on he establishes his three protagonists with a thoughtful, careful approach. That detailed world-building, however, ultimately becomes the weight dragging the story down. Early chapters will carry readers without a problem because of the novelty of Shusterman’s invented virus. After a while, however, it feels like Ron and Mariel in particular are waiting for something to do. A road trip makes this a literal journey that only works some of the time.

Likewise, Morgan’s driving need to prove herself better than everyone else all the time may intrigue readers at the outset. Later, her selfishness seems to be her only defining characteristic. Morgan’s part of the climax feels a little melodramatic, and even with the last page readers may feel like they’ve had enough of her.

Parts of the book are highly entertaining in how they portray pandemic conditions, however, and most of Shusterman’s narrative observations are on point. Those wanting to read a pandemic story with a twist might want to check this out.

God, I love Neal Shusterman. He's such a master at creating the creepiest, otherworldly scenarios and having it set just after Covid was a bold choice. I loved the premise and the dystopia-like feel and it is certainly a timely book right now.

This was the first book I've read by Neal Shusterman, and it did not disappoint! The premise of it was really interesting and the execution was well done. I really liked the different characters, and it helped me understand the full scope of the pandemic through the different storylines. I think this would be a good book for teens and adults. Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC!

This was so different. As someone who loved Neal Shusterman's Scythe series, I had high expectations for this one and while I still liked it, I did find some pacing issues in between that could have been avoided if the book were about 50-75 pages shorter. That said, the premise itself was intriguing and it shows the cons of living in a world where people are only happy and altruistic with no sense of self preservation

Thank you so much to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for approving me for one of my most anticipated books of 2025! After reading and absolutely loving the Scythe series, I knew I needed to read Neal's newest book. A virus is spreading (which even happens after COVID, which is also mentioned in this book), and the long term effects, no one has seen before: utter contentment. People in power believe that this will be bad for business, because why would someone with utter contentment need all the biggest and best things out there? Soon, there are campaigns that try to convince people that being happy all the time is dangerous. A vaccine is being developed to rid people of their happiness and to get them back to normal because what is life without anger and jealousy? But the other half come together to spread the virus, believing this is what is going to save the world. Two teens with very different backgrounds, both who have had their lives upended by the virus end up being in the middle of this dangerous virus. Can they do what's right and reveal the truth.

I truly wanted to love this book so much, but I couldn't. The book is 528 pages long, and it easily could have been 100 pages less and the story would have had been the same. The synopsis of the book is what had me hooked. It's more than just a virus, it's choosing between what is right and wrong and what side of history you will be on. It truly makes your mind work, makes you think deeply, debating the meaning of life, and makes you wonder what side you would choose. Shusterman's writing is addicting and makes you want to continue to read the book, but as much as I loved it, I didn't at the same time. There were scenes in the book that made you think "why is this necessary?" like a scene that involves a rotating door because it just kept going on and on, and in the end, you just don't care. The pacing was all over the place. In between chapters, there were scenes with other characters not invovled in the story, and how their life was changed by the virus. I just didn't care about those people and they didn't forward the story in any way. Even though this book is YA, it shouldn't scare you off because it can be read by anyway. This book is important in today's society, and should be read by anyway interested in the story. Overall, besdies the slow parts, I really enjoyed this story and I'm excited to see where it is going to take us.

Neal Shusterman is a hot or cold author for me. Either I LOVE his book or I really don't. Unfortunately this one fell into the latter category. I liked the premise of the book, but it felt almost stagnant throughout. Ironically it felt like there wasn't a lot of emotion put behind the words. Not an awful read, just not for me.

All Better Now by Neal Shusterman is a young adult thriller that follows three teens from vastly different backgrounds as they navigate a new pandemic. Mariel is homeless and living in a car with her mother, Ron is the son of one of the world’s richest men, and Morgan is an intern tasked with helping to eliminate the virus. Yet, despite their differences, their stories converge as the world grapples with the deadly disease and its unprecedented effects.

Set in a post-COVID world, a virus named Crown Royale spreads across the globe, leaving many dead in its wake. However, those who survive emerge with new personalities and unshakable contentment. Free from stress, greed, depression, and other negative emotions, survivors revel in their newfound happiness and in caring for others — even when doing so puts them at great risk, as their empathy outweighs fear and self-preservation.

At the other end of the spectrum, people in power quickly realize eternal happiness is bad for business. Believing the world will grind to a halt without jealousy, greed, and anger driving productivity, they start spreading the message that being happy all the time is dangerous.
As opposing forces clash — one seeking to make the world a happier place by spreading the virus, the other racing to develop a vaccine — Mariel, Ron, and Morgan embark on desperate missions to save humanity.
But which side is right? And, more importantly, which will win?

My Review

This is the first book I’ve read by Neal Shusterman, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. After hearing great things about his other work, I was excited to read All Better Now.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

I love the concept of a virus triggering profound happiness, and while I enjoyed the book overall, there were points where I felt like it was never going to end. With 528 pages, it’s a hefty read. I don’t read a lot of YA, but 500+ pages seems like a lot for younger readers. It was a lot for me, and I’m a fast reader. The story feels like it should be coming to a conclusion near the halfway point, and once I finally reached the end, I was left feeling unsatisfied. It wasn’t horrible, but after trudging through over 500 pages, I expected a better payoff. Editing out about 200 pages would make for a stronger storyline with the fast-paced thriller feeling I was anticipating when I started reading.
It wasn’t all bad, though.

The concept is a thought-provoking one, and I enjoyed how Shusterman explores a deadly pandemic from opposing sides. All Better Now raises interesting questions about wealth, society, bodily autonomy, and good versus evil while driving home a message that things aren’t always what they seem. The main characters are well-developed, and I enjoyed reading about Crown Royale from their varying perspectives.
While All Better Now wasn’t as great as I’d hoped, its intriguing premise and interesting characters made it an enjoyable read overall. I think it would make a better standalone novel due to its length (500+ pages is more than enough to tell the entire story), but I’m intrigued enough that I’ll likely stick with it if it becomes a series.

If you enjoy dystopian thrillers with complex, morally grey characters, definitely check this book out! Just be prepared for some pacing issues.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

DNF at 50% and I’m devastated. 2.5 stars for the badass Dame character.

I had such high hopes for this one! I love Neal’s books, Unwind being one of my favorite books of all time. Scythe was awesome and I’m about to start reading it with my (almost) middle schooler). But unfortunately, this one didn’t hit. Partly it’s me, but partly it’s the book.

His writing is engaging, the plot (per usual) is unique and thought provoking. What would a world look like if post pandemic, the effects of the virus gave you pure happiness. Contentment and with it lack of ambition/greed/selfishness? Would it be Utopia or would the world collapse with the economy faltering to new lows? Sounds cool. Sounds fun…it isn’t.

I found the plot to be so slow, so boring, and honestly a bit triggering. I’m tired of reading about pandemics. We lived through Covid pretty recently and I know I’m not alone in saying that we just aren’t ready to read about it. Even if it’s a new invented virus cleverly named Crown Royale. Then, the characters. Ooof. They just aren’t endearing or likable or memorable, and I just do not care about any of them with the exception of the very wealthy old lady and her butler. They were pretty interesting. One of Shusterman’s greatest strengths is his main characters and how invested you become in then, and sadly it didn’t happen for me. There were too many storylines, too many people, too many viewpoints, and you don’t care for hardly any of them.

I’m so sorry I had to DNF this one, but I felt like I was just doing homework vs enjoying myself.

Thank you to the author and net galley for allowing me to read this even if it just wasn’t for me.

Neal Shusterman is always a success. This was another awesome story that causes you to truly think about what makes us happy and why emotions are so important. It’s poignant and raises amazing discussions for readers.

I am here because of Neal Shusterman's Scythe series, but unfortunately, All Better Now is just not it. I cannot believe this book was written for a YA audience. Written in a vague and disconnected third person voice with a plethora of characters and a meandering plot, this story is extremely hard to follow, much less stay in engaged with - not to mention its obscene length! If I had this much difficulty finding my way through this story as an adult, I have no idea how the intended teen readers are going to wade through this muck. The concept of this novel definitely has great potential, but this book is such a miss.

It did take me a while to fully get into this book but once in I was fully immersed.

The story mainly follows 3 teenagers during a post-apocalyptic world where a second pandemic after covid has arisen. Morgan, a girl that has inherited a fortune with the sole purpose of completing research to counteract this Crown Royale; Mariel, a girl surviving on the streets of San Francisco with her mother and the only person currently known that have a natural immunity and lastly Rón, the immunocompromised son of the third richest man in the world who has contracted and survived Crown Royale.
If survived, the side-effect of this illness is "pure contentment." The absence of strong emotions like stress and anger may seem positive at first however, as the book progress it really makes you think about what is truly better: to feel all these negative emotions or to feel nothing at all.
This book was truly thought-provoking.
Without spoiling anything, I just never knew whose side I was on. With every POV and new discovery my position kept changing. If everyone thinks they're doing the right thing then how do you decide who is wrong? Can selflessness in a way also be selfish? Even if you can only feel positive emotions can humanity truly be changed at its core and what truly is humanity "at its core." I just kept having question after question.


Overall, it was a solid read that mayybeee could have been a little shorter in the middle ( hence the 4 vs 5 start rating). BBUTTT I can't wait for the next book in the series!


Thank you NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for this honest review. :)

Neal Shusterman’s All Better Now is a thought-provoking and grimly enjoyable tale exploring a strange future. Set in a post-COVID world, a new virus called Crown Royale emerges, killing some but leaving survivors utterly happy and filled with empathy. The narrative follows three teens from diverse backgrounds—Mariel, Rón, and Morgan—whose lives become intertwined as they navigate the virus’s profound societal impacts. Shusterman’s darkly witty style delves into ethical questions, making readers ponder the true cost of perpetual happiness. A must-read for fans of dystopian fiction. 

I loved Shusterman's Scythe series and I think it caused me to go into this book with high hopes. Shusterman has interesting points throughout the book (for example, the motives of people or how being so happy has impacted choices) and it was a (mostly) enjoyable read. So why just three stars? I felt the pacing was off and the book was far too long for what it was. Good base concepts with interesting points but this should have been a shorter standalone book with a complete story line. The fact that it has no full conclusion made it a dissatisfying ending and almost ruined the book for me. I don't think I'll pick up the sequel because of the pacing issues. There were also a lot of spelling and grammar issues but this may have been from reading an advanced copy that maybe still had a few more edits ahead of it. If the concept interests you, it's worth the read, but if you just want to give Shusterman a try, I'd recommend starting somewhere else.

I wanted to like this book. It could have been smart. And deep. A second pandemic in one lifetime. But everything about it was shallow and unrealistic. For those of us who remember just a couple of years ago it should not be that hard to write realistically about a pandemic. And a pandemic that left you stress free? And the people who don’t want you to be? It could have been a statement about how little we learn with so much time to reflect. About how little we regard each other. It was so much less.

A few years after COVID, a new pandemic emerges—Crown Royale. While it shares some surface similarities with COVID, it comes with startling differences. High-risk groups include the elderly, the sick, diabetics, and, surprisingly, those who are colorblind. Even stranger, survivors undergo a personality shift, becoming entirely selfless and compelled to care for others, even at their own expense.

The story follows three main characters: Mariel, a homeless teen; Ron, the son of the world’s third-richest man; and Morgan, a nineteen-year-old intern working to eradicate Crown Royale. On paper, they’re an intriguing trio, but in execution, they didn’t quite hold my interest. There were moments of excitement, but overall, the story felt like it was building toward something that never arrived. The ending left me frustrated—not because I wanted more, but because I wanted the plot to feel like it was going somewhere. Instead, it read like the setup for a new world that never fully took shape. At its length, I expected more payoff.

I really wanted to love this book, but in the end, it just didn’t deliver.

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

I was very excited to read this because I absolutely loved Scythe…that one is one of my absolute favorites. This one was a major fail for me.

I had an issue with several things. First, the book was about 550 pages, but I think it easily could’ve been 200 pages shorter. The author kept introducing new characters randomly throughout the entire book--we only saw them once and never again. I hated that-- he used them to show what was going on in the world, but I felt like it could’ve been done differently.

Secondly, the book started interesting enough. After a while, I thought we were getting close to the ending--we were only halfway…. That is a horrible feeling. The rest was just drudgery.

Last, none of these characters were likeable or even understandable. We see one character who is actively trying to spread this virus knowing 1/25 will die---it’s just gross. I guess it’s supposed to be gross but I'm truly not sure. He wasn’t really presented like a villain--he was the protagonist. The villains were the ones trying to stop the virus--it was very weird.

I had other issues, but they are spoilery. I would totally skip this one. If you like dystopian, I would try Scythe or even Divergent instead.

Thank you, Netgalley for this copy.

2.5 rounded up

I have been a fan of Neal Shusterman since i was a teenager, so I was thrilled with getting the opportunity to read and review his newest book All Better Now prior to publication. Unfortunately, it wasn't a favorite of his.

The book is set shortly after the Covid 19 pandemic, where a new disease known as Crown Royale is becoming a new pandemic. We follow various characters, which at times made the story feel more complicated than it needed to be. Some characters I enjoyed their storylines, while others I didn't care much for. I also felt like the book took a bit too long to get to the point. The beginning caught my attention, but the middle dragged a little bit. I feel like there was some scenes that could have been edited out.

But I love the way Shusterman incorporates societal issues into a Dystopian landscape. It forces readers to really think about situations and the pros and cons of decisions. In All Better Now, Crown Royale survivors find themselves with a new positive and blissful view of life. Which sounds amazing, right? Well, not exactly. At various points in the book, recoverees seem to lack basic self preservation when someone else is in danger. So it begs the question, is happiness, empathy and the pursuit of the greater good always what we should strive for? Going into the book, I would have answered a quick yes. Now, I am not so sure.

I still think the book is worth the read, despite the less than stellar rating I gave it. The book follows an interesting concept, just be prepared for the possibility of varying pacing.