Tag: YA science fiction

BONUS REVIEW: Time Travel for Love and Profit by Sarah Lariviere

BONUS REVIEW: Time Travel for Love and Profit by Sarah Lariviere

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Once, during their freshman year of high school, Nephele’s best friend, Vera, said, “I’ll be right back,” and walked away. But she didn’t come back. She left Nephele, choosing a new best friend. Nephele was devastated. But finding Time Travel for Love and Profit in her parents’ used book store was the solution she needed to address her friendship woes.

Nephele is brilliant enough to configure the math and work out the code for her time travel app. She calls it Dirk Angus after the hero in a romance novel. And Dirk works! Mostly. Nephele was supposed to go back in time and repeat her freshman year and keep Vera as her best friend.

And she does repeat her freshman year. But everyone else has moved on in time. Nephele’s former peers are all sophomores. And none of them know or remember her. Her teachers don’t remember her either. And her parents seem to have holes in their memories for anything that doesn’t line up with Nephele being a freshman again – like her birth date or her birth certificate.

After a lonely second run through freshman year, Nephele is ready to tweak Dirk Angus and get it right this time. But it happens again. And again. And again. Nephele is about to start her 10th freshman year. But this time, something is different.

Review

I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved the twist on all of the traditional time travel/Groundhog Day/time loop stories. It’s a brilliant shift from the expected. It’s also terribly sad when you stop and think about how lonely Nephele must have felt time after time. Any time she invested in a relationship outside her family was lost when she started a new freshman year. And the situation with her parents was devastating.

I was deeply invested in seeing Nephele figure out how to break her loop. I wanted her to have everything she deserved – friends who get her, a mentor who encourages her thinking and her gifts, parents with full memories of their life together. While Nephele was sometimes hard to like, I was still rooting for her from start to finish.

In the end, Nephele didn’t get everything I hoped for her. While I don’t begrudge the author the right to finish her story in whatever way she chose, I was disappointed. Maybe it’s a function of my age, which is significantly older than the target audience. But the ending impacted my enjoyment of the book.

I would happily – and without reservation – hand this to teen and young adult readers. I’d love to hear their take on the ending. Science fiction fans, fans of stories centering women in STEM, time travel fans, and those intrigued by this clever premise should pick this one up and give it a try.

Rating: ♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥ = Good/solid/fine

REVIEW: Star Wars The High Republic Sampler

REVIEW: Star Wars The High Republic Sampler

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this sampler from Netgalley and Disney Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Star Wars The High Republic: A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland – Summary and Impressions

The sampler included 3 chapters from this middle grade novel starring new Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh. Vernestra is on her first mission for the Jedi Council. It’s glorified babysitting – protecting a senator’s daughter – but she’s determined to do a good job. But Avon Starros is full of mischief and trouble, especially when it comes to her inventions.

The first three chapters in this sample introduce Vernestra, Avon, her protocol droid J-6, and Honesty, the son of a Dalnan ambassador. I thought the characters were interesting. Avon was probably my favorite of these few. She’s spunky, bright, and bored – a combination perfect for an adventure. When the action of the story kicks off, she will be a character to watch. While the sampler didn’t get into any of that action, I was intrigued enough by the introduction that I would read the whole book to see what happens and how these new characters interact and develop through the story.

 

Star Wars The High Republic: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray – Summary and Impressions

The sampler included 3 chapters from this YA novel starring Jedi Padawan Reath Silas. Reath’s master has taken a new assignment in the middle of nowhere. Reath is not a fan. He’s always fallen on the more sedate side of the Jedi Temple. He’d rather do hours of research in the Archives than get into a light saber battle. He’d rather not be leaving the Temple at all. Master Jora will be in charge of the Starlight Beacon. Reath is traveling to the Beacon with an eclectic group of Jedi, each dealing with personal questions and dilemmas.

Sadly, this had a dry beginning that didn’t really grab my attention. If I had the full book, I would have pushed farther to see if things started clicking when the action amped up. I was also startled toward the end of the first chapter, after Reath had been the POV character for several pages, to have the POV suddenly shift to each of the other characters he is traveling with. That changing POV will be important to understanding the secrets each is keeping, but in the reading it felt abrupt and disorienting. Usually books will insert some sort of page break or change chapters when changing POV characters, but that was not the case in my electronic sampler. This may be clearer in the full, published version of the novel.

I’m not sure that I would go out of my way to read the full novel. The teaser just didn’t grab my attention.  I am intrigued by the connections between Reath and the main Jedi character in the middle grade novel, Vernestra, though. They are contemporaries at least, which is interesting. If I enjoy Vernestra’s story enough, that could draw me into reading this one.