Rating: ★★★★☆
Genres: Drama, Magic Realism
I have received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I picked up The Immortalists thinking it would be a magical realism story which focused on the magical side, especially since it’s classified as fantasy on Goodreads. But really, it’s focused a lot more on the realism side, with small hints of magic here and there, and a gorgeous family epic at its core.
The Immortalists is the story of the Gold family through five decades, starting at 1969, when the four Gold children visit a woman who claims to be a psychic who can tell when a person will die. Each of the four children is more affected by the knowledge of their own dates of death differently, and throw themselves at a chance to live life in their own way before the fateful day arrives.
This story is a lovely, intricate, raw tale of Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya, telling a bit of their stories as they deal with their doubts whether their date of death is true or just charlatanism. It touches on faith, fate, belief vs. non-belief and the power of thoughts. I found each of the stories very enthralling and I was immediately immersed in them, except for Daniel’s. I also wish Klara’s part had been longer (it was the most magical and she had such an interesting personality), but apart from that, I don’t have much to complain about this novel – it was beautiful, raw and felt so real. It was truly something to see the characters grow as the years pass, and some memories staying frozen or seen through a different character’s point of view.
I hope there had been more magic in it, but that was my own fault for not reading the blurb a lot before picking this up. If you love family epics, you’ll love this story for sure.
I had a different viewpoint on this one (which is always fun.) I liked the premise of the book but gave up on it after a few chapters. Maybe, I would have finished but I had so many more ARC’s to read that I was looking forward to.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s not worth sticking to a book you don’t like… and I totally DNF mercilessly any ARCs I don’t like hahahaha so totally understandable. But it’s always interesting to see how different tastes can be!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is the second review I see about this book and the cover is just so beautiful! I like your review and it seems to be a really good book! Thank you fro sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! It’s a pretty good book, and it just came out, so I suppose there will be a lot of reviews 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are indeed!! haha
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just adde it to the to-read list ❤ Looks amazing and I'm really curious about it. It's been a long time since I read an adult novel, since I was kinda deluded by the ones I red in the past. But I'm pretty sure that I will give this one a chance
LikeLiked by 1 person
Woo-hoo! I hope you enjoy it! 😀 And yes, it can be a little daunting to go into adult novels, a lot of them are about bills and divorces and it can be so bleak… it’s all about finding the right ones to start with 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m super excited to read this one, it sounds so interesting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is!! I hope you like it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s really good to know about the magical element cos I’d have hoped for more too. And it’s good that it was so beautiful. Great review!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! Are you going to read it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome! Honestly, I was going to… but I read another review yesterday with quotes from the book and am completely put off by the writing style, so no. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a pity! But yes, it’s not a book for everyone…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, true.
LikeLike
I cannot wait to read this book! Great review!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I hope you like it too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was looking over “That Inevitable Victorian Thing”‘s premise and was thinking about getting into magical realism, and this book seems to be something I’d try and get into to break out of my usual contemporary YA groove. I read Bone Gap in 2017 and thought it was written beautifully, and I hope this is the same!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is Bone Gap by the same author? I don’t know this book, so I can’t tell how similar or not they are…
LikeLike
I’m looking forward to this one! I’m glad to have read your review — I’d been assuming that there were a lot of magical elements, but maybe I should readjust expectations!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you like it! Once you don’t expect so much magic, it’s a great book!
LikeLike
Wonderful review! I can’t wait to read this!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I hope you like it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great review! I think I’ll really like this one, I just need to get to it soon 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Woo hoo! I hope you like it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great review! I don’t believe I have read anything that falls under magical realism yet. I may have to look this one up.
LikeLike
Pingback: ARC Review: The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin | Naty’s Bookshelf – Smeddum's Hotpotch