Review: Yesterday

Info:

Title: Yesterday
Author: C. K. Kelly Martin
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 25, 2012

Blurb:

THEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas’s life. Until that world starts to crumble.

NOW: It’s 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father’s death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy?

When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can’t get him out of her head. She’s sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they’ve never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered.

Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from.

My Thoughts:

Yesterday had some good things going for it, but I just couldn't fall in love with it. My favourite part of the book was the concept. To be blunt, the future sucks. A lot. Climate change has altered the world's landscape and politic policy has alienated almost everyone except rich North Americans. Nobody actually does anything anymore, it's all just simulated reality.

But Freya doesn't remember. She just knows something doesn't feel right when she wakes up in 1985. Her sister doesn't feel like her sister, her memories don't feel real and she's inexplicably drawn to a boy she doesn't even know.

But that's where my love for this book stopped. The characters weren't bad. I didn't have a strong connection with Freya and Garren, but I didn't dislike them either. The first of my two issues with this book was the pacing. It felt slow. Sure some exciting things happened, but it dragged in between them. I feel like the book would have been a lot better if it had been 100 pages shorter. All of the same things could have happened, but it would have kept me more engaged in the story.

The second issue I had was the ending. Sure it was action-packed and exciting, but it also got very sappy. Don't get me know, I enjoy a good love story, but it felt like a very abrupt shift from an action movie to a very sappy chick flick occurred at the end. The ending also had some major deus ex machina going on. I won't say more than that to avoid spoilers, but if you read it, you'll see what I mean.

On the Cover:

I really like this cover. It's very eye-catching and cool looking, BUT the majority of this book takes place in 1985. This cover does not feel like 1985 (not that I was alive yet). Also, the face on the cover doesn't look entirely human.

Rating: 3 Hearts

Source: I received an eARC from the publisher through Netgalley

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What's Next? (1)

 

What's Next? is a fun meme created by IceyBooks where you the readers help me to choose what book to read next! So here's a few books I have coming up to read. Which do you suggest?

The Brides of Rollrock Island   On remote Rollrock Island, men go to sea to make their livings--and to catch their wives.   The witch Misskaella knows the way of drawing a girl from the heart of a seal, of luring the beauty out of the beast. And for a price a man may buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may have and hold and keep her. And he will tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she. He will be equally ensnared. And the witch will have her true payment.   Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire, despair, and transformation. With devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals characters capable of unspeakable cruelty, but also unspoken love. Yesterday THEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas's life. Until that world starts to crumble. NOW: It's 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father's death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy? When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can't get him out of her head. She's sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they've never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered. Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from. Yesterday will appeal to fans of James Dashner's The Maze Runner, Veronica Roth's Divergent, Amy Ryan's Glow, Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and Ally Condie's Matched. Katya's World The distant and unloved colony world of Russalka has no land, only the raging sea. No clear skies, only the endless storm clouds. Beneath the waves, the people live in pressurised environments and take what they need from the boundless ocean. It is a hard life, but it is theirs and they fought a war against Earth to protect it. But wars leave wounds that never quite heal, and secrets that never quite lie silent. Katya Kuriakova doesn’t care much about ancient history like that, though. She is making her first submarine voyage as crew; the first nice, simple journey of what she expects to be a nice, simple career. There is nothing nice and simple about the deep black waters of Russalka, however; soon she will encounter pirates and war criminals, see death and tragedy at first hand, and realise that her world’s future lies on the narrowest of knife edges. For in the crushing depths lies a sleeping monster, an abomination of unknown origin, and when it wakes, it will seek out and kill every single person on the planet.

Which would be your pick?