A review by badlydonebookreviews
I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

4.0

i was so excited to read this book, a YA apocalypse book with multiple POVs? count me in. Giving a brief description of each main character and my thoughts on them-
Jesse- i had mixed feelings about Jesse, it started off me wanting to know more about him with his more mysterious aura and feeling like i could relate with some of his experiences, then to feeling a sense of dread when seeing a chapter with his name coming up? through out the book he was fully in self sabotage mode and reading how he was essentially messing things up and viewing everything so negatively made me almost cringe? but this all made his character seem so realistic, having a pessimistic view point on the end of the world.
cate - i really enjoyed reading cates character, she had her vulnerable moments- specially in the beginning when you're learning about her home life and seeing how really shut in she is, from living a regular teen life to seeing her character progress into someone whos a little more out there, taking some control over her life and deciding if what shes doing is really for her
Adeem - he is another character i really liked, he sees himself as if he has no potential- despite showing that hes actually really smart and has plenty of opportunities to do something successful, he sort of holds himself back- fear of being a failure specially after his sister ran away without a word to her family. i felt Adeem maybe had the best composure throughout the book- trying to stay positive through the book and being a fairly funny character.
i almost wished that the character met sooner- with adeem and cate they met relatively early in the book , where as meeting jesse was the last chapter- apart from one scene they never interacted with one another.
(ENDING SPOILER YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)
before the ending i was going to rate it more of a 4.5- just because in some parts i felt it was a little bit too slow for my liking and i was kinda of hoping a more apocalyptic setting? but genuinely really enjoyed the book. this may be a controversial opinion but im not a huge fan of the ending, i suppose its up to the audience interpenetration what happens next because its a cliff hanger but i was hoping there was an actual ending? at the end of each chapter there is a transcript of an alien trial basically, debating whether to condemn earth to death or let them live. over the chapters theres a debate whether destroying earth is the right thing and you kinda piece together that maybe they let everyone survive- an ending im fine with really, wouldn't make the mark go up or down, but it could pull a 360 and say screw earth.
the book ends with jesse at the hospital and looking out the window to see a light... and thats it really. i kinda wish there was something more? almost anticlimactic, and thats what brings it down from a 4.5 to a 4, honestly it almost brought it down to a 3 but felt like that would be a bit harsh.
overall i really enjoyed the book - just wished things ended a bit differently
EDIT
after taking a day to think about this bok ive come to the terms i hate the ending even more, keeping it as a 4 star but realistically its a 3.5