Yesterday
by C.K. Kelly Martin
Expected publication: September 25th 2012 by Random House, Inc
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.
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian
Publication Date: September 25th 2012
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My Review
It's the year of 1985 and Freya Kallas has returned to Canada after her diplomat father died in an accident. Freya has been having very strange headaches all day and even stranger dreams at night. Her dreams feel more real to her than her real life does. Almost everything she experiences feel like it's happening for the first time, and that her other memories are quite... not memorable. It's almost as if they are fake memories. Her sister doesn't feel like her sister. She can see and feel things before they happen. Her life doesn't feel like her own. But how? Why?
When she sees a very familiar guy walking on the street she decides to follow him and try to discover why she feels so deeply like she knows him. Garren Lowe doesn't recognize her and thinks she's completely insane, but when they start to find many strange things in common between them, they agree that something must up. Something very big.
And when they start asking too many questions, the men in black with weapons come for them. Suddenly Freya and Garren are on the run, and they can't trust anyone but themselves. A visit to a hypnotist uncovers much more than they could ever have imagined. They came from the future. A future where technology controls everything and everyone and ecoterrorism is a great threat to citizens. But why were they sent to the past? And why are people trying so hard to erase that knowledge form their minds?
Weeeell....That has got to be one of the most boring books I have ever read. I was bored out of my mind. It was a struggle not to just put it down. The heroine is absolutely soulless and uninteresting. Things go veeeeery slow, nothing is ever said or explained about the situation, and not much happens at all until the very middle of the book. >.> Everything is do dull. I was expecting a nice, crazy future in a dystopian society, but we see nothing of it until we're over halfway through the book. And even then, we don't see this world. We're just told about them.
Gah, it really pisses me off when authors do that. I can't even begin to express how much. DON'T TELL, SHOW! This book could have been so much better. Better planned and executed. But the way it is now... it's just a waste of pages. Really, I couldn't bring myself to care about Freya at all. Not even for one moment. I wanted to know what happened, why things changed so much after that very strange prologue and confusing first chapters... but you have to survive over 200 pages until things start to get even remotely interesting. It's exasperating.
I have to say, that dark, creepy cover and intense blurb really fooled me. I felt like I found the wrong book inside of that cool cover.
If you like slow books that build-up, not very active characters and don't mind being told about what happens instead of seeing it, then you should give Yesterday a chance. The futuristic dystopian world was quite interesting.
* I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
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