I was so intrigued by the premise of this book – a literary speculative fiction exploring a world where a drug called Yareta has made it possible not to age normally and to live several lifetimes. Our main characters are a couple who ultimately go in different directions - Yuki, chooses a natural life, and Sam who opts into eternity. Throughout the story, Yuki and Sam keep being drawn back to each other despite their diverging beliefs and lifestyles and you can’t help but root for them to find their way back to each other.
I found a lot of parallels to our current situation with drugs like Ozempic which offer an opportunity for improved health and appearance – at a price. Whilst perhaps not a completely interchangeable situation (not everyone will benefit from Ozempic but anyone can extend their life in the book) comparing Yareta and Ozempic made the storyline feel less fantastical and really made me consider the fairness of access to medication and the ethics of drug companies making millions our of human frailty or vanity.
I was amused by different subplots – for example that the inventor (or owner of the drug company?) preferred to date women his own (actual) age which was considered transgressive enough to be kept secret from the press.
Overall I found this a thought provoking read, with characters and a plot that did feel real despite the speculative setting. I flew through it and found the writing nicely paced through different perspectives and times. I was surprised by how moved I was by the end of the book showing how much I got wrapped up in the story.

A speculative book, where people decide if they want to take an injection every day that will make them live forever. With all those repercussions, it makes for a fascinating read.

Finally finished digesting my thoughts about this one - it's complicated!

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Octopus Audio for the chance to listen and review before publication; but it's now out and you can see for yourselves whether you agree with me...

Who Wants to Live Forever is an intriguing novel with a narrative woven with themes of mortality, soul mates, and has elements of dystopian and speculative fiction, as well as a lot of philosophising. It's a surprisingly heavy read.

Yuki and Sam are soulmates; they're destined to be together forever. Aren't they? Their relationship isn't perfect but things are going okay, until a new drug (Yareta) becomes available on the market, which extends human life span. Indefinitely. This is a game changer. Yuki feels viscerally that this is wrong, with the potential to deepen equalities, stagnating the world in its current version of social order - namely, that white men are the ones who hold the power. And Sam? Well, with Yuki so voraciously against Yareta, he doesn't feel able to voice his opinions. But... what would it mean for him? Currently in a semi-successful band, given all the time in the world, couldn't he give himself the chance he deserves to become a truly great musician? And what is so wrong with giving yourself the best chance possible in life?

The premise of this was fantastic, and truly intriguing; it seems like something that could almost be true in the next 100 years or so... However, for me, the storytelling let it down. That may partly have been to do with the format; although I enjoyed Lydia Wilson's narration, it was confusing jumping from different times, and this would have been easier to keep track of in a physical book. (Perhaps a full-cast version would work? I know it's a big ask for a debut novelist to get funding for an audiobook like that, but it might have helped!). So, I was fairly confused for a lot of the time. (Other reviewers haven't mentioned this, so it really could be just me!).

Further than that, the only characters I felt connected to were Yuki and Sam, and there were a lot of side characters to keep track of, who also had their own PoV sections. I didn't feel emotionally invested in them, so it felt a little tedious to get through their sections before returning to the main characters.

It's such a good premise, so maybe my rating is low because of high expectations - I've been thinking about this for over a month now! Ultimately, it wasn't a good read for me, but I would like to pick up a physical copy and give it a try. Don't let me put you off - there are plenty of positive reviews out there, and I seem to be an outlier.

All the same, a promising debut, and read very well, given the limitations I've talked about. Do give it a try and let me know what you think!

Very Black Mirror vibes. Creepy and genuinely quite haunting. Definitely worth a read but expect it to repeat on you a little

Who Wants to Live Forever, the debut novel by Hanna Thomas Uose, is a great, timely piece of speculative fiction - a dystopian story perfect for fans of John Marrs and Black Mirror, which takes society's obsession with youth and beauty and poses the question, what would you do if you could extend your life indefinitely?

The story centres around a couple, Sam and Yuki, and it follows them back and forth through time from their first meeting in their twenties and through the ensuing decades. When we meet them, staunchly principled Yuki is working for her local MP and campaigning against the legalisation of the life-prolonging drug Yareta, while artist/musician Sam spends most of his time brooding over the fact that the world has yet to recognise him for the genius he is. The typical man who never let go of his boyhood dream of being a rock star, Sam has idly wondered what he could achieve if he only had more time. When Yareta suddenly becomes a viable option, he knows that Yuki's inevitable horror and dismay will not be enough to dissuade him.

What follows is a fascinating look at what the world could look like if this kind of drug really did become available, as the reader sees how life pans out for Sam, who chose to take Yareta, and Yuki, who chose not to, as well as picking up several other characters whose lives are affected by it one way or another along the way. Uose makes a strong case for why Yareta could be so popular (particularly among millennials who came of age in the hustle culture era), explores the often bizarre side effects of taking it, and does not shy away from the reasons why Yuki and her fellow activists are so opposed to it. I enjoyed the way the narrative switches between different POVs, a mixture of people who take Yareta and don't, allowing the reader an insight into their choices (if they had the choice) and how their lives were changed by the drug - for better or worse.

Eternal youth is a concept which has intrigued society for hundreds of years; it is the basis for all the vampire stories that have captured our imaginations for generations and is arguably the driving force behind billion dollar cosmetics, wellness and beauty industries. Uose cleverly blends these preoccupations with the fears that haunt many of us as we move through adulthood, seemingly at an ever more frenetic pace: what do I need to achieve in my life in order for it to have meaning? And when do I need to have achieved it by?

The blurb bills Who Wants to Live Forever as a romance, and certainly it is framed around Yuki and Sam's relationship, but it is a far more ambitious, thoughtful book than this label suggests. I was riveted by the myriad directions in which Uose took the story - all the 'what ifs' that are at once wild and utterly plausible - and especially by the potential implications for a society fractured into haves and have nots in perhaps a more tangible way than ever before. It has always been true that age comes for us all, no matter how wealthy, beautiful or powerful, so to imagine a world in which this was no longer true is frankly terrifying. Some of the likely outcomes of this are explicitly pointed out, but the text contains many more dark hints for the reader to grimly ponder as we watch billionaire tech bros grab more and more global power.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated capably by Lydia Wilson, and I did find it tricky to keep track of the frequent leaps in time and space; it was relatively easy to miss the line which indicated when, where and from whose perspective a chapter was taking place.

Thank you to NetGalley, Octopus Audio and Brazen for the opportunity to listen to an ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Octopus Audio and NetGalley for the complimentary copy of Who Wants to Live Forever by Hanna Thomas Uose.

Who wants to live forever? Yareta promises an extended life for whoever is willing to pay.

Yuki and Sam are meant to be together forever. Except Sam's version of forever is taking Yareta and this means it is without Yuki.
Although they go seperate ways, they do meet years later and both Sam and Yuki have moved on and are in relationships with other people. A few nights spent together results in the one thing that they desperately wanted when they were together. Yuki chooses not to tell Sam about the pregnancy and chooses to stay with her partner and continue to build a life with him and the child.

The promise of an extended life with good health is really enticing, but at what cost?

I liked the premise of this book and I did finish it. However, I found it went on a bit too long and I couldn't wait for it to end. The ending left me underwhelmed as well. It felt that I listened to a lot, for not very much of an outcome in relation to the main character and her ex husband.

I really wanted to love this book, the concept was so interesting for me, but unfortunately it fell very flat and boring

Bit of a different type of book for me, but the concept hooked me in. A drug (Yareta) that stops the aging process, live to 200yrs+ potentially.

This book is based around the two main characters, Sam and Yuki. Sam is a graphic designer and aspiring musician, who feels a little lost in life and Yuki is a Comms officer for a MP, but who is also a stauntly against Yareta.

Sam decides Yareta is what he needs, the cost is two fold, a lot of money and his relationship with Yuki, who moves back to Japan.

I found the time lines of this book horrendeous and impossible to keep track of which year you were in so it made you lose where you were in the lives of Sam and Yuki. This really could have been done so much better.

The story itself was decent, but slow, too slow for me.

I found myself thinking is this a love story or is it just a bunch of relationships of convenience?

I've given this 3.5/5 - but rounded down to 3 due to the timeline issues as this ruined it for me.

In Who Wants to Live Forever Hanna Thomas Uose creates a world where a life extending drug exists that stops people ageing for maybe a couple of hundred years. Its existence serves to prompt some very human questions such as “What could I achieve if I just had more time? “What if I or my loved ones don’t have to get ill?” It is, of course, prohibitively expensive for the majority of people and many people, including Yuki one of the main protagonists, are opposed to it on ethical grounds. At the beginning of the novel, Yuki is campaigning against it prior to a BREXIT style referendum over whether it should be available in the United Kingdom. (It is already available in the USA). With a similar close result, the miracle drug becomes available and Sam, Yuki’s husband, decides to remortgage their house and take it.
Hanna Thomas Uose manages to explore so many of the potential advantages and drawbacks of the drug, both for individuals and for society, without ever losing sight of her characters loves and lives. They are at the centre of this poignant and thought provoking novel.
The audiobook is beautifully read by Lydia Wilson

Who Wants to Live Forever is beautifully written and the narrator was extremely good. Moral and ethical dilemmas abound within this touching love story. May seem to be aligning it with Tomorrow, Tomorrow Tomorrow but I think this work is so much better. I was disappointed with the ending but the rest is just wonderful.

*Who Wants to Live Forever* by Hanna Thomas Uose is an upcoming novel set to release on March 27, 2025. This time-bending story explores themes of immortality, love, and the human condition. It follows Yuki and Sam, soulmates destined to spend their lives together, until a miracle drug offering eternal life disrupts their plans. Sam chooses immortality, leaving Yuki to grapple with the consequences of his decision.

The novel is described as a bold, inventive narrative that spans decades and continents, blending romance, philosophy, and speculative fiction. It raises profound questions about life, death, and the meaning of love in a world where forever is for sale. A must-read for fans of thought-provoking and emotionally resonant

A thought-provoking exploration of mortality and the societal disparities in a world where aging can be halted. The narrative propels the reader into a richly imagined future, examining the ethical and emotional ramifications of (almost) eternal life, particularly highlighting how the affluent might exploit such advancements to further entrench their wealth and power.

I listened to this in audiobook, which really enhanced my experience thanks to the brilliant acting from Lydia Wilson, who was able to add further depth to the characters and their complex dilemmas. Overall, Who Wants to Live Forever offers a captivating and immersive journey into a future that feels both distant and eerily plausible.

In a Nutshell: A literary speculative-fiction novel coming from multiple characters and timelines. Innovative concept, thought-provoking exploration, excellent character-driven writing, slow pace. Can’t believe this is a debut! Much recommended but not to all. Don’t read the GR blurb.

Plot Preview:
2025, London. Yuki and Sam, both in their mid-to-late thirties, are just another ordinary married couple. Happy with each other, slightly bored with their routines, desperate to have kids but not successful yet. Yuki is an enthusiastic member of the local MP’s team and is passionate about causes. Sam is a slightly frustrated work-from-home graphic designer with ambitions of becoming a musician.
An American pharma company plans to introduce Yareta in the UK market. Yareta is a drug that can extend human life by at least 200 years and already successful in the USA. Yuki immediately joins the protest team. Sam thinks otherwise and considers taking the drug. Over this, their paths diverge.
The story comes to us from multiple decades – past, present, and near future going up to 2039 – and third-person perspectives from several diverse characters.

PSA: The GR blurb calls this a romance. It is not! A love story, yes, to some extent; a romance, definitely no. Also, the blurb contains a major spoiler about the ending.
The primary tag on Goodreads is Science Fiction, but this is more literary fiction with a dash of speculative.



Bookish Yays:
💊 The concept: believable and unbelievable at once. I still can't believe how realistic it all sounded even when the premise was so farfetched. Loved it!
💊 So thought-provoking in its exploration of the moral, ethical, political, corporate, societal, racial, and financial aspects of such an event! And all this without being melodramatic or hyperbolic. Wow!
💊 I love books that make me wonder what I would have done in that character’s place. And this book made me ask this question from many points of view.
💊 The plot doesn’t take an outright side on the debate, offering both sides of the picture convincingly. We hear from characters who've taken the drug and those who haven't. How their lives changed or didn't change, improved, worsened, or stayed the same. All character actions and reactions feel convincing, though we may not support all of them.
💊 The characters are diverse in various ways: racial background, sexual orientation, wealth, age. All of them act their age – a huge bonus. One character is of Indian origin, and I love how the story incorporated her ethnic background without making it the be-all-and-end-all of her personality.
💊 The story comes from three locations: London, Tokyo, and California. The varying thought process and attitude of the citizens reflects the places.
💊 A debut novel that doesn’t succumb to commercial constraints and handles plot, prose, and philosophy with equal prowess deserves acclaim.

Bookish Mixed Bags:
🧬 The complicated back-and-forth in the timeline. It is extremely well-written, with neat markers for all timeline changes. But keeping track is a bit tricky, especially as I had only the audio version.
🧬 While a slower pacing is anyway to be expected in a literary fiction work, a part of the final quarter seems a bit too dragged.

Bookish Nays:
💉 The ending. Can’t go into spoilers so all I’ll say is, 😥😣😒😤😳🤔😑😯🤯.


🎧 The Audiobook Experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 9 hrs 33 minutes, is narrated by Lydia Wilson. Technically, I found no flaws in Wilson’s narration or accents, but her voice took some time to grow on me as it was a bit too soft and subtle to keep me hooked. As it is, the plot has minimal dramatics, so an understated narrative voice made it sound even blander. Thankfully, the plotline was compelling enough for me to stick with the book.
That said, this was one complex book to follow on audio! Coming in third-person POVs from various characters, places and timelines (and the timelines being not just in years but with specific dates, and also shifting at regular intervals with phrases such as “Seven days later” or “Earlier that evening.”) This is definitely not a viable option for audio newbies. I’d recommend the audio only to the most experienced of listeners. While I am quite attuned to audiobooks by now, I feel that I might have appreciated this story even better if I had actually read it.

All in all, despite my dissatisfaction with the ending (not with “what happened” but with “how it was written”), I am quite impressed with this debut novel. Even with a speculative concept, the narrative stays firmly rooted in reality, never making us feel like this would never happen in the near future. (A scary thought, come to think about it!)

Much recommended to literary fiction readers who also enjoy speculative fiction. Not for readers who don’t like character-driven storylines or jumpy timelines or #&*$%#* endings.

What would you do if a life-extending drug is available to you? Think about your answer before you pick up this work.

4.25 stars.

My thanks to Octopus Audio and Brazen Books for providing the ALC of “Who Wants to Live Forever” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

If you could take medication to stop you aging and keep you at the age you are now, would you?
This is the central premise of this book. It is the story of Yuki and Sam, they are happily married and wildly in love, they have had trouble conceiving but they have each other. When a miracle drug becomes available to stop the aging process, Yuki campaigns against the legislation to allow it to become available in the UK, the vote passes and the drug, while wildly expensive , becomes available. People now have the option to live indefinitely. While Yuki is vehemently against it, Sam is swayed and ultimately begins the treatment. Now he can live forever but without Yuki,
The book traces these two characters lives , the lives they were going to spend together. The book touches off several other issues that are raised by the possibility of such drug and there is a cast of quite beguiling secondary characters, all of which help make this book quite an engaging read. At its heart though this is a love story, a love story that doesn't go the way they thought it would.
I really enjoyed this, although it was maybe a smidgen too long, the conclusion was worth it though.
A great choice for book clubs and I have no doubt this book will be widely read.

4 stars.

Wholly recommend this on audio, great narration.

Who Wants to Live Forever by Hanna Thomas Uose and narrated by Lydia Wilson is the BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick
and I can see why! This audiobook was a very powerful and compelling debut novel.

"Yuki and Sam are soulmates. and they are destined to spend the rest of their lives together.
They are supposed to love one another, forever and live a perfect life as one!

But when a miracle drug is created which can extend a human's life, indefinitely, Sam decides to live forever, rather than love Yuki forever."

WoW!

The narrator Lydia Wilson was excellent, she bought this audiobook alive.

I ended up thinking about what I had listened to over the last few days.

"Would I like to live forever? Maybe, but only with someone I love!"

Just excellent! from start to finish!

Big thank you to NetGalley and Octopus Publishing for letting me read an ARC of this audiobook! 🎧 📖

3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Octopus Audio & Brazen for providing me an advance audiobook copy.

I really enjoy books about "life-changing inventions and their consequences on society" not quite sci-fi, not quite dystopia, but somewhere in between. Think of books like The One by John Marrs or Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Now, we can add Who Wants to Live Forever to that list.

Unfortunately, the audiobook format didn’t work for me. Lydia Wilson’s narration felt too demure, almost lacking confidence, which made the listening experience somewhat unpleasant. I think reading a physical or digital copy instead would have helped significantly. But since the book isn’t out yet, I couldn’t make that comparison.

What really drew me into books by Marrs and Shusterman was how clearly they explored the societal consequences of their central concepts. They present distinct POVs and a well-thought-out world. I didn’t quite get that same level of depth with Uose’s book. While there are multiple POVs, they don’t piece together the larger picture as effectively. Maybe this book expects the reader to do their own homework, filling in the gaps with their own interpretations rather than having the answers laid out.

And that’s where I think the genre distinction happens. Who Wants to Live Forever is primarily a contemporary novel, focusing more on the personal lives of the characters than on the broader societal impact of its premise. In contrast, Marrs and Shusterman lean more toward sci-fi, emphasizing world-building and the ripple effects of their stories' core ideas.
I read a lot of contemporary fiction, so in theory, this book shouldn’t have felt so distant to me, but my expectations were different based on the synopsis, and I couldn't switch my mindset halfway, interpreting it as the contemporary it is.

I would still recommend this book. The concept is intriguing, and it offers plenty to think about. It’s best suited for readers who enjoy character-driven narratives and don’t mind unresolved endings or open questions.

Fascinating and superbly well written. As soon as I read the blurb, I knew I would love this book. It sounds so exciting to have the opportunity to take a drug that will enable you to live forever, the same age as you are right now. And right now, I'm 50 years old and loving life, so to continue like this definitely appeals.

Or does it?

Sam and Yuki are soulmates, happily looking forward to growing old together. When Sam decides to take Yareta, the drug that will preserve him at his current age forever and the drug that Yuki is actively campaigning against, their happy ever after is torn apart. In fact, the whole world is divided and we are introduced to many diverse characters, all around the world, who have very different opinions, including the inventor of Yareta.

In our current world, Big Pharma = Big Business and this brilliant book takes this to the next level. It's something that really made me think. Would you want to live forever?

I listened to the audiobook which was narrated very well by Lydia Wilson

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Hanna Thomas Uose and Octopus for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is such an addictive and thought provoking debut that I think so many of you will love!

Kind of like a bittersweet love story, this novel looks at what happens when one of you wants to live forever whilst the other is totally against it morally. Whilst I found it much easier to understand Yuki’s thoughts and feelings, and at the beginning had no love for Sam at all, as the story progressed I started to become way more invested in their complicated relationship. But it was really the exploration around the morality of drugs which can help people live “forever” (200-300 years) and the fact that wealth and privilege are such factors in anyone’s ability to do so which intrigued me - after all, in this day and age who can afford to live forever other than the super rich?!

Great characters, lots of interesting discussion and an original and quirky premise - what’s not to love?

Concept that I can't stop thinking about.

4.5 stars

This is going to cause a lot of debates. It did between me and my bloke. Yuki and Sam are a couple, who have a house together and lifelong plans. They may not have managed to make a baby but things are good. But Yuki is horrified, as someone working to protest and counter a new life-lengthening drug (Yareta) to discover her partner is starting it himself.

The story is based around this pair but not limited to their story. The founder of Yareta, others related to it and other characters affected by it all give voice to different opinoins and different life journeys based around the idea of living longer at a certain age and not getting old, deteriorating or dying.

It's a hard idea to accept as possible in many ways but such a great thought experiment. Like Sam muses - what could you do with all that extra time? What could you achieve without the pressures of imminent ageing?

Lots of questions you might come up with are answered or discussed as part of this, with consequences a big part of the story.

I enjoyed the audiobook though did forget who was who and which story I was listening to a few times. I did like that we had multiple viewpoints though.

Very deep, I cried at the end as well. And will continue to think about this for some time to come. As I continue to age.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample audio copy.