Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Book Review: Yesterday, by C.K. Kelly Martin

Yesterday  has a premise that sucked me in immediately, but the way the story was told left me wishing for more.

The story begins with Freya's brother being quarantined and taken away because he has some deadly disease, then Freya and her parents are taken somewhere supposedly safe. It is obvious we are in the future.

Then, we jump back to 1985, and Freya is still there, but she's a different Freya. Different family, different school, different place -- and different memories. She doesn't remember anything about her brother or the life she was living in the future.

Freya sees someone that she recognizes. She's sure she knows him -- Garren -- but from where? She has no memory of him.When she confronts Garren, he doesn't know Freya, and thinks she is losing it.

Why does Freya feel so uncomfortable in her life? She feels like she isn't where she's supposed to be. She dreams (or remembers?) things about a different existence -- one with Garren -- and she doesn't understand. When she finally convinces Garren there's something wrong with their lives, they end up on the run from the authorities and trying to figure out why.

The romance that eventually develops is expected and OK. Nothing exceptional, but at least there's no "triangle!"

Yesterday is a book that requires to you read the synopsis before you begin, otherwise I think you'll be confused. Usually I like to jump into a book cold, but in this case, kind of knowing a bit about the premise will help. I was thinking Yesterday was going to be a Matrix kind of book where Freya and Garren aren't really living this life, they are just comatose somewhere with these memories being pumped into them.

That's not what Yesterday is, but it's still kind of like that. I was really excited to see how Freya ends up figuring out what's going on. And that is were I was extremely disappointed. The way that Freya discovers her "future" is a cop out. I won't give away the details, but it's a situation where she suddenly remembers, and tells the reader everything in a huge information dump. It would have been so much better if somehow all that information could have been slowly revealed in an interesting and exciting way. I mean, that's what I was waiting for. The clever and creative way she was able to figure it out. But, no.

There's more story after the reveal. The part where they are running from the authorities, now knowing what has happened. It is exciting and dangerous, and the ending was great. I loved the twist, but I was disappointed in the way we were brought there.

I still think Yesterday will have appeal to teens. It's a survival story -- the kids against the authorities -- and there are lots of fans of that type of book. It just could have been better.

Published by Random House, September 25, 2012
eBook obtained from NetGalley
368 pages

Rating: 2.5/5




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3 comments:

  1. The premise is what drew me to this book too and I've liked Martin's past book. I'm a bit disappointed with the "reveal" though, but I'm still curious to see what it exactly entails. I already have a copy from NG so I think I'll give it a try.

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  2. I was really excited about this book. I will still give it a go, but without purchasing it. I like survival books if they are done right. It sounds really different than what is out there and yay no love triangle! thats promising. thanks for the great review!

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  3. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a bit tired of all these teen survival type books. It's kinda like the vampire theme. It's sooo overdone, it's become cliche.

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