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A review by stuckinafictionaluniverse
We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
5.0
We remember the past, live in the present, and write the future.
The last time I read a book with this tone was Please ignore Vera Dietz, and in a world of young adult contemporaries with fluffy romance where that one special person changes the depressed MC's outlook on life, it was so nice to return with this.
I saw the word aliens in the synopsis and rolled my eyes, but this is more magical realism than sci-fi, which I adore. The short chapters describing how the world could end complement the present, and all the science stuff didn't completely go over my head.
A cynical yet nuanced story like We are the ants doesn't come often. Many of the characters are morally grey, or even more leaning to the 'bad' side.
Thanks to the well-executed and realistic situations, you can understand why Henry is sick of it all and thinks there's nothing good in the world. You are completely invested in his troubled life, and even if you have never thought about this deep subject before, We are the ants will make you question things. The world will end some day anyway, what does it matter if it's tomorrow or not?
Henry Denton's life sucks. His ex-boyfriend killed himself last year without explanation, his grandmother has Alzheimer's and he's severely bullied at school. The aliens couldn't have picked a worse person to decide the future of the world. But they did, and now Henry has to decide in 144 days whether he will press the button that saves the world or not, because in his opinion there is nothing to save.
In the middle of all this, he meets Diego Vega, a boy who is missing the word past in his vocabulary. I love how Diego doesn't magically change Henry, instead Henry's character development is fuelled by the different characters all whogive their input on the question: If the world was ending and you had a chance to stop it, would you?
Hutchinson somehow balances this heavy backstory with humor and brutal honesty. My favorite characters besides Henry must be the rich popular boy Marcus, who only wants Henry for sex and humiliates him in public. But like everyone else, he too has a story and his reasons.
I really appreciate the portrayal of especially 2 of the stigmatized topics here: mental illness and homosexuality. It doesn't look down on therapy and getting help, but almost normalizes it.
Also the book doesn't end in a predictable way
Henry is gay, but it's not the main point of his character. He doesn't play into any stereotypes and I'm glad to see more books with LGBTQ+ characters whose sexuality isn't constantly at the forefront. I like this normalizing of queer characters. We are humans just like everyone else (although maybe a little more glittery)
Suicide and death are also big themes in the book, and handled with great sensitivity in my opinion (cough cough unlike what I've heard of that show and the shitty book). Henry's quest to find out why his boyfriend killed himself is an internal struggle that too many can relate to.
Loved it, loved it. Can't wait to see what this author next puts out. I'll even be okay with something even 'weirder' than aliens as long as the characters are this amazing and fleshed out. Maybe dragons next?
The last time I read a book with this tone was Please ignore Vera Dietz, and in a world of young adult contemporaries with fluffy romance where that one special person changes the depressed MC's outlook on life, it was so nice to return with this.
I saw the word aliens in the synopsis and rolled my eyes, but this is more magical realism than sci-fi, which I adore. The short chapters describing how the world could end complement the present, and all the science stuff didn't completely go over my head.
A cynical yet nuanced story like We are the ants doesn't come often. Many of the characters are morally grey, or even more leaning to the 'bad' side.
Thanks to the well-executed and realistic situations, you can understand why Henry is sick of it all and thinks there's nothing good in the world. You are completely invested in his troubled life, and even if you have never thought about this deep subject before, We are the ants will make you question things. The world will end some day anyway, what does it matter if it's tomorrow or not?
Henry Denton's life sucks. His ex-boyfriend killed himself last year without explanation, his grandmother has Alzheimer's and he's severely bullied at school. The aliens couldn't have picked a worse person to decide the future of the world. But they did, and now Henry has to decide in 144 days whether he will press the button that saves the world or not, because in his opinion there is nothing to save.
In the middle of all this, he meets Diego Vega, a boy who is missing the word past in his vocabulary. I love how Diego doesn't magically change Henry, instead Henry's character development is fuelled by the different characters all whogive their input on the question: If the world was ending and you had a chance to stop it, would you?
Hutchinson somehow balances this heavy backstory with humor and brutal honesty. My favorite characters besides Henry must be the rich popular boy Marcus, who only wants Henry for sex and humiliates him in public. But like everyone else, he too has a story and his reasons.
I really appreciate the portrayal of especially 2 of the stigmatized topics here: mental illness and homosexuality. It doesn't look down on therapy and getting help, but almost normalizes it.
Also the book doesn't end in a predictable way
Spoiler
with Henry getting help and leaving us wondering. How often do you see that?Henry is gay, but it's not the main point of his character. He doesn't play into any stereotypes and I'm glad to see more books with LGBTQ+ characters whose sexuality isn't constantly at the forefront. I like this normalizing of queer characters. We are humans just like everyone else (although maybe a little more glittery)
Suicide and death are also big themes in the book, and handled with great sensitivity in my opinion (cough cough unlike what I've heard of that show and the shitty book). Henry's quest to find out why his boyfriend killed himself is an internal struggle that too many can relate to.
Loved it, loved it. Can't wait to see what this author next puts out. I'll even be okay with something even 'weirder' than aliens as long as the characters are this amazing and fleshed out. Maybe dragons next?