Book Review Wednesday: All Our Yesterdays (Cristin Terril) 5 Stars

This was quite possibly my favorite read of the year. It’s definitely up there among the top ten.

Five stars, no question. This has cool time travel with science behind it that didn’t contradict itself. We get some interesting ideas of how time travel might work, how it would relate to the theory of relativity, and a great hypothesis about time having a sentient aspect to it. Our characters are varied and deep. Their relationships to each other are interesting.

We also get to see the future and past versions of some of the characters. I can’t get over how fascinating it was to see the similarities and differences between them. They’re four years apart, but they’ve changed so much. It makes me wonder how much I’ve changed in recent years.

Anyways, before we go further, let’s look at the blurb:

What would you change?

Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.

Marina has loved her best friend, James, since they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it… at least, not as the girl she once was. Em and Marina are in a race against time that only one of them can win.

All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice.

Cool idea, check. Deep, complex, and consistent characters, check. Brilliant plot, check. Heart-wrenching everything, check.  Believable world, check. Plus there are a lot of themes running through this book about morality. Should you kill the few to save the many? What does it take for a person to be considered evil? Because that’s the thing. There are no evil characters in this book. People do things that can be considered evil, but everyone thinks they’re doing the ‘right thing.’

This is one of those brilliant books that shows very clearly that everyone is a hero. Even the villains are heroes in their own minds. It’s all left quite open as well, so we’re not told that our guy’s side is the right one. They believe it’s the right one, but I imagine if we were on the other side their conviction would be just as strong. This book left me with a lot of thoughts, and tons of feelings.

The words kept me gripped from start to finish, so go read it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

For more reviews on this book go to: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13514612-all-our-yesterdays

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Book Review Wednesday: Under the Never Sky (4 stars)

This one’s very popular right now. Over 50k ratings on goodreads with an average rating of over four stars. Plus it’s a dystopia. I dabble in other genres, but I think dystopia is my favorite. And look at the blurb:

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.

DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she’s never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim. Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He’s searching for someone too. He’s also wild – a savage – but might be her best hope at staying alive. If they can survive, they are each other’s best hope for finding answers.

My favorite thing about this book is the world the author built. You’ve got the folks in the Reverie who are scared of all things outside and nature. They plug themselves into virtual worlds and basically just play all day, flitting from whatever they want to do next. Reality seems kind of boring when you can experience anything you like without leaving your room.

Then you’ve got the outsiders, who live in tribes, hunt and kill. Plus some of them have these neat powers. Yes, a dystopian world with superpowers. Love those. So two of these people clash, and they hate each other. It’s awesome. Definitely no love at first sight here. Don’t know what you’re mileage is, but I prefer the added conflict as long as they don’t get all whiny about it. And while Aria’s character is a bit whiny at first, the conflict between them is good and realistic. It’s not just ‘I hate this guy because I’m brought up to hate him, but secretly find him attractive.’ They hate each other’s guts, and hate that they need each other even more.

So that’s the good. And it is good. Great world building, interesting characters (even the minor ones), cool conflict. Plus, did you catch the questions raised about today’s society? There are some interesting ideas raised about the world of today where everyone is plugged into technology, and the world before that (in this book portrayed to the extremes of hunter gatherer / early agriculture times). It gives some interesting ideas about how our brains might be affected (which don’t seem to be completely scientifically accurate, but are definitely interesting).

Now for the bad. The relationship between the two characters started well (as in hating each others guts), and ended well. They actually had a friendship instead of just sexual attraction like some other books. But the bit between ‘I hate you,’ and ‘I’d die for you,’ came on too fast. There was some development, but not enough in my opinion, so it felt a bit weird. Still, it was pretty awesome when they became an epic fighting team.

Character development was great. Aria’s development was great to watch as she went from scared little girl to kickass warrior. There were some moments that felt ooc near the end. A couple moments felt like the author needed them to do something, but the characters didn’t want to. I found myself raising my eyebrow at the details of what the technology had done to their brains. It felt quite forced and overly convenient. If you know anything about brain structure, there’s some suspension of belief needed, but the general idea of technology changing brains was interesting.

Overall I’d give this four stars. Very nice idea, excellent world building, many interesting characters, great character development. If you like dystopians I’d say give it a go. For more reviews on this book follow the link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11594257-under-the-never-sky

Book Review Wednesday: The Forest of Hands and Teeth (5 stars)

An awesome zombie book (and series if you go on to read the following books). I loved, loved, loved this book. I’ve read 22 books so far this year, and I think this one may be my very favorite.

Here’s the summary:

In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

As for why I liked it so much: it had a great mystery to it, complex characters and deep down was about a girl finding herself in a world of zombies. Mary’s world is very dangerous, and only gets more dangerous as the book goes on. A lot of people die in this book, including some main characters. The zombies are interesting. Mostly they’re your typical moaning dead, shuffling for a taste of human flesh, but Carrie Ryan somehow makes it feel fresh. And there are a couple differences.

More than any other zombie book I’ve read (and I’ve read quite a lot) forest of hands and teeth makes you feel how menacing the zombies are, and it doesn’t have to give them a whole load of new bells and whistles to do so. Again and again it reminds you of the volume of the dead. A person is bitten, they change, then they go on to bite another two or three people. It’s simple math. They never die, but the living do. So you end up with thousands, millions of walking dead, and the living dwindle down in numbers.

I love the world created in these books. I’d never want to live in them, but they seem so rich and interesting. Most of all there’s a constant theme in the books of surviving, of pushing on and living no matter how bad things get. Of having dreams, even in dark times.

Now for the bad. There’s a love triangle. Ick. But this does help the main character grow and learn what she wants in life. She doesn’t want to stick with what she knows, she wants to push herself and explore. Sure, she worries about who she should love, but more and more as the book goes on she looks to bigger issues like how she should live. Plus the zombies don’t let her dwell on her romantic issues too long.

Her major goal is a little strange. She wants to see the ocean. She pushes herself and the others toward this goal. At times this can seem a little stupid. At one point, she’s in a great house safe for the moment with the guy she’s been dreaming of being with forever, but she isn’t happy. She wants to see the ocean. She wants to know more about the dead. In a lot of ways this is a story about a girl’s descent into madness. Things pile up, and she cracks a bit. But she cracks in a cool way, a risk taking way, not a curl in a corner and hide way.

The characters have depth. There’s this one guy who you hate a bit at the beginning because he seems selfish, but then as you read more you see him as a guy who’s human and in love. A guy who makes mistakes. All the characters make mistakes at one point or another. No one is perfect in this book.

The main reason I love this book is harder to explain. There’s something so addictive about reading it. Usually I hop about a little between books, but reading this one I had to make a bee line from this book, to the next and the next. I vacuumed them up. It was difficult to get anything else done. I think it’s knowing they’re never safe. There’s always something else coming around the corner to shake their lives up. And yet they don’t stop living. Sometimes they consider giving up, but the main characters push on and on without stopping.

There’s a scene in the very last book that sums up the whole series. The main character is stuck in a seemingly hopeless situation but she doesn’t give up. She tries, tries, and then tries again. She just keeps moving forward, even with dead on her heels, even when all seems lost. That determination to keep going is what made me love these books so much. It gives me faith in the human race. Some might give up when things get bad. Others go along with the flow and don’t think for themselves. But a few will keep fighting no matter how bad things get. And that is a beautiful message.

Want to check out more reviews on this book? Here’s the link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3432478-the-forest-of-hands-and-teeth