Title: Tempest (Amazon)
Series: Tempest, #1
Author: Julie Cross
Genre: Young Adult
Sensuality Rating: Mild
Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewers
Published: January 2012 by St. Martin’s Griffin
The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.
Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.
But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.
Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.
Why I Read this Book: The first thing that drew me in was the cover. Are they falling from the sky? Why are they falling from the sky? Just by looking at the cover alone, I thought it might have been a book about fallen angels. Obviously the synopsis proved otherwise but it still grabbed my interest. I haven’t read too many time travel books but I’m ready for more.
What I Liked: The author took time travel as we know it (from movies and other novels) and tweaked it to make it her own. It was pretty fascinating to read and I was on the edge of my seat to find out whether or not Jackson was going to be able to save Holly. And there’s so much more to this story than saving Holly.
Thankfully the author labeled the beginning of each chapter, so the reader knows when and where Jackson is in the timeline. It’s very easy to get confused, at least for me, when reading a book involving time travel so I appreciated this information being provided.
The ending was bittersweet. I think Jackson made the right decision - a selfless decision. It gave me chills.
What I Didn’t Like: There were times I found myself paying too much attention to the time travel rules the author made up rather than the story itself. And on top of that, there was a lot going on in this book. With the time jumping thing, the CIA thing, the EOT thing, the Courtney thing, the Emily thing – see, there was A LOT to focus on.
Also, there were a couple of things I found inappropriate. *puts on Mom hat* (1) I’m not a fan of underage drinking, especially in YA novels. It didn’t add to the story so what was the point? What was the author trying to prove? And (2) this quote:
“I couldn’t remember the last time I had been with a virgin, even just messing around. Maybe never.”
Dude, really? Really?! You’re 19 years old and you can’t remember the last time you were with a virgin, if ever? I’m sorry but this totally rubbed me the wrong way. Making your protagonist a man-whore, in a YA novel no less, isn’t a way to win me over. I read this book back in January and THIS is what I remember the most. Not a good impression for a reader to be left with.
Memorable Moment: This part was chilling to read. I *think* I have an idea of who Emily could be. Here’s a brief convo between the mysterious Emily and Jackson:
She shook her head. “I’m not going to hurt you.”“It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s whoever told you to find me.”
“No one told me.” Then she turned to me and smiled. “Actually, *you* told me.”
Overall Impression: Tempest was an interesting read though I’m not sure if I’ll carry on with the rest of the series. I guess it’ll depend on if whether or not the blurb for book 2 captures my interest.
Brianna’s Rating:
I was disappointed with the world building in Tempest. Like you say, it was just too much. The flashbacks were set in the past that is now the present, but there were a lot of flashbacks and jumping and the pacing was fast. It became convoluted and disorienting for me. :/
ReplyDeleteI have heard some mixed things about this book, but I really like that you pointed out that the author made the concept of time travel her own. That really interests me and i think it will be the reason that I decide to give this book a go. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for the great review! ;)
ReplyDeleteI won the audiobook of Tempest a few months ago and tried to listen to it in the car, but there was so much going on I had a hard time keeping it straight. I'm not normally an audiobook person, anyway, so I figured I would just read the actual book... but I'm not sure I'm going to get to it anytime soon. I didn't care for the protagonist either, but I'm sure part of that is due to the narrators whiny voice.
ReplyDeleteI disliked the same things as you; Jackson was not very sympathetic due to stuff like that. Besides his "man-whoreness", I also thought he was rather insensitive to people in general.
ReplyDelete