Friday 14 February 2014

Cristin Terrill : ALL OUR YESTERDAYS


ALL OUR YESTERDAYS is a thrilling debut written by Cristin Terrill. I have bought this book after seeing a postcard advertising this novel in the cinema. The concept and praise for this book caught my attention.

"Possibly the most addictive book I've read this year. "
BECCA FITZPATRICK

"Cristin Terrill's mind-bending thriller is intense, clever and achingly romantic. This is time travel as it should be - exciting and completely unpredictable. A definite must-read." 
REAL OF FICTION

"One of the best debuts I've read in a long time. All Our Yesterdays is an unputdownable riot of action, adventure, time travel and romance from start to finish, and is not to be missed. " 
DAISY CHAIN BOOKS

"It's no exaggeration to say that this is the must-read book of the year. Whether you've got to beg, borrow or steal a copy, I implore you to get your hands on it.. This book will keep you up all night reading, as well as the night after that when you'll be re-reading it all over again. " 
A DREAM OF BOOKS

This is the only time I am going to quote the concept of the story written on the back of the book as a part of my review. The reason behind is as I couldn't put into better words together to describe what this book is about.


YESTERDAY Marina was safe, privileged, wealthy. She was falling for James - the super brainy youngest son of a very powerful family. Yesterday ended badly.

TODAY Em is in a cell she may never get out of alive. There's a flicker of hope when she talks to the boy in the cell next to hers - and when she remembers who she used to be....YESTERDAY.

TOMORROW Em has a mission. She must escape and travel back in time. She must kill the boy Marina loved - to save her future.








So we have time travel, love story, triller and some dark secrets.. I think we can call it a good recipe for YA novel. What do you think? Well I let you decide for yourself once you read it.

But I will be honest with my opinion about this book. At the start, I have been struggling to get into it. It took me a while to work out who is who and what does it all mean. But once the strings started to make sense, which was about midway throughout the reading, I started to enjoy it. And I knew I am in for a thrilling ride!





Usually with time travel stories, we are trying to stop some world disaster, but this time we are trying to kill the investor of time travelling machine himself! 

All Our Yesterdays is a tale of friendship, love, power, greed, betrayal and the primal instinct of survival. This book is a thrilling and exciting journey. Every time you think you finally know what has happened in the past to cause the disruption of such an important friendship between the three main characters, there is another surprise and twist in store. 






And I felt sad. Sad ... for the main trio! JAMES / Doctor so young and brainy with the mind so dangerous... Heartbroken MARINA / EM, who suffered the worst kind of heartbreak ! And the beautiful, always kind FINN, who loved her until the end.


After I finally understood what is going on and why Em & Finn from the future are trying to kill James, this story became heart-breaking. It's heart-shattering and in the end it leaves you in tears. All the way through, you will pray that Em & Finn would find a way to end it all. You will hope, that James would act differently. That he wouldn't ever invent Cassandra - the evil time machine. The revealing ending had me in tears. The last ten chapters had my full attention... 

Not only this book holds a fascinated story, but it also raises many questions: Would such a quick gain of power change you so much? What would you do in Em's situation? What do you think would be the consequences of discovering that time travel is possible? do you think that time travel would be a positive or negative thing?


This story is very fast paced - easy to follow once you get the hang on it. It keeps you on your toes from start to finish. You will find yourself hooked and not able to put it down. Although it is sometimes very confusing, it's a thrilling story which will keep you fascinated for days and many re-reads to come. 

All Our Yesterdays is a great debut novel. Although there is a mention of a sequel in the back, I think it should be left as it is. But I guess we will have to see.. 

Well done Ms Terrill, you have brought us a very exciting story about love, friendship and time travelling ! Great job! 



Some quotes from this time-travelling adventure: 

“The truth is, the world is a fucked up place sometimes.”

“But progress is always dangerous, isn't it? Most of the time, walls don't get dismantled brick by brick. Someone has to crash through them.”

“I tell her she's beautiful and perfect and she's going to be okay. I tell her she doesn't need to change herself to fit in with shallow girls or to matter to someone. I tell her everything I wish I had ever known. I tell her I love her, and I realize as I say it that I love me, too.”

“Time travel isn’t a wonder; it’s an abomination.”



“Loving someone doesn't ever completely go away.”

“I guess you can never really know what's going on inside another person.” 

“I almost regret having to tell him this. No one should be confronted with the depths of darkness they're capable of all at once.”

“I quickly remember what Finn taught me about how to get what you want from people: pay attention to them, figure out what they want and what they're afraid of.”

“I watch James's face. His expression is an open book to me, because I took the time to learn the language many years ago.”


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