This is the second book in the Severed Fates series by Jen Woodrum, so please read with caution as it will spoil When Death is Coming
We are in Portland, in the country of Cascadia, with the Halidan family. Eldest sister Naomi has taken over as the parent of her younger siblings, Aya and Ren after their scientist parents mysteriously disappeared. In Cascadia, death notices are sent out to residents two weeks before their death date which allows them to enter Vivarium to process their upcoming death with their loved ones.
I absolutely loved the concept of the first book, a future where death dates are known. In book two, people are able to live their life without having any sort of pressure hanging over them by being sorted into tiers determined by their death date and thus being treated as a different class of person based on how long they will live. But as better as this might seem, we still find out that there is corruption and manipulation happening in Portland.
Jen is such an incredible writer. The way she deals with death, grief and loss is absolutely incredible. She has such a gentle way of showing us the raw parts of her characters, yet handling their emotions with such grace that makes you feel apart of their story rather than a voyeur of their pain.
That ending … the realisation as the timelines start to make sense, I had to stand up from my chair and gasp. I LOVED this book and am so excited for the story to continue.
Thank you so much Jen for sending me an ARC of this incredible story. I am so proud of you and so glad a silly little app connected us.
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