Tempest by Julie CrossMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I won this ARC on Goodreads.
The Cover and Stuff:
I liked the cover. I know some people have compared it to Hush Hush (I think it was Hush Hush), but it stood out to me. I like the dark clouds and I like the font. I don't know that it necessarily says "time travel," but I don't care. I still like it.
And now for the other stuff. Tempest (the ARC, at least) has stuff on it's covers like "The first book in an epic trilogy" and "A major success already in the making" and how Summit Entertainment (the people that made Twilight) are already going to be doing a movie with it. So first, it feels kind of weird since the book isn't even out yet. And second, it sets the bar really high. But I know none of that is under the author's control, so on with the review.
Tempest gets off to a fast start. The voice hooked me on the first page, and it was fun being inside the head of a teenage boy (even if his thoughts were occasionally girly for a boy). I love books and movies about time travel, so I was excited to see where this was going. And I did end up liking Tempest, but not OMG-fan-girl loving it.
Here's what I liked:
- Any time Jackson thinks semi-mean thoughts. Boys are funny.
- Adam. He is a nerd, and I do love the nerds.
- Every scene with Jackson's little sister. These were incredibly moving. I think I cried over that letter he wrote her.
- The plotting. It's amazing. This will be a great movie.
- The ending was very fast paced and exciting and leaves you wanting more.
- Also the scene with the smoothie, I really loved.
Here's what I didn't:
- Holly. (More on this later)
- Some of the time travel stuff confused me. And just so you know, I am getting a PhD in Neuroscience right now, so it's not like I suck at science. I think part of it was that sometimes Jackson's information about time travel would change, and I had never seen time travel done this way, and it made it that much harder to keep up with what was currently true.
- The middle kinda dragged.
And now to talk about the Holly stuff, because I have a lot to say about her. I didn't love her. I didn't hate her or anything, but I just couldn't see what was so special about her. And since everything driving the plot of Tempest hinges on the reader loving Holly, this was an issue. There is so much drama surrounding her, and Jackson makes so many decisions based on their love, I kept thinking, 'Man, if I liked Holly, I would be freaking out right now.' She needed to feel like the epic love of his life. But to me she just felt like a perfectly acceptable girl to be dating while waiting for "the One."
I've been trying to figure out why it is I didn't like her more. I think part of it is that Jackson wouldn't confide in her, so it made me not take their relationship seriously. He confides in Adam, his friend, but not Holly. And it was supposed to "protect her," but I felt like there was this boy's club that she couldn't be a part of. The whole trend in YA of protecting females by withholding information or making decisions for them without their input really bothers me. But I'll hop off my soapbox and get back to my review.
Ultimately, I did like this book and I'll probably go see the movie.
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Great review!! You have me curious now how they did the time travel stuff. And yes, I don't understand how they can start on a movie when the book isn't even out, but I suppose it's been done before, a couple of titles come to mind.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Angie! Also, there are a couple reviews I saw on Goodreads that explain the time travel issues I was having in more detail than I did.
ReplyDeleteDoh - read a few. Please tell me she doesn't try to use genetics as a reason for why this guy can time-travel. That's what the author The Time Traveler's Wife did and I almost had a hernia. Most of the reviews though seem to be picking up on the fact that what happens in the future isn't affected by how he changed the past? Is that what you were talking about? I'm morbidly curious. :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, I won't tell you ;) j/k, yeah, she's using genetics. It didn't really bother me that much in The TTW. But the past events don't affect the future, which is weird. But he still has knowledge of stuff in the past that he goes back and learns. Which is a very different way to do things.
ReplyDeleteBut then just as I was starting to get used to time travel working that way, it's all, wait but with a full jump maybe you can change things, but almost no one can do a full jump. And you can't jump outside the timeline of your life. Oh, wait, maybe you can. The rules kept changing and it was so confusing. It's fine to do time travel differently, but there should have been a concrete set of rules that applied throughout the story.
haha, sounds like she couldn't make up her mind. Or she had too many holes in the story and had to plug them up somehow. Anywho, I doubt that I'll bother to read it.
ReplyDelete