Book Review and Giveaway- Tempest
Tempestby Julie Cross
Hardcover, 334 pages
Published: January 17th 2012
by St. Martin’s Griffin
ISBN 0312568894
Book Source: Publisher
3 Stars
Book Summary From Goodreads: 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.
Review by ephrielle: The cover picture doesn’t make any sense until the very end. It is also a bit misleading. I got the impression the book would be related to weather, or more specifically, the power to control it. This thought was aided by the title. The blurb does dispel any such notion and once the book is read the cover and title fit.
Jackson finds that he can ghost travel through time. By ghost travel, I mean that his travels don’t have the ability to change the future. It seems to be a funny pointless trick until one day everything he knows is upset. Turns out his ability is at the center of a serious and long standing war. Lies will be uncovered and secrets revealed. He is left to pick sides and deal with the consequences. There is more to time travel than entertainment.
As a character, Jackson is pegged as that rich spoiled kid. He uses his time travel as a minor entertainment. His life is full of avoiding hard work and even harder choices. Even his relationships are lacking commitment. The book follows his metamorphosis from shallow playboy to mature and responsible, if somewhat misguided hero.
There were three things I rather disliked about this book. The first is the vast amount of swearing. Second, I wasn’t that interested in their very healthy sex life. Luckily, there wasn’t gads of details. Third, I wasn’t very impressed with the title for the bad guys. Enemies of Time, EOTs, just felt a bit silly for how crazy dangerous they are. They really deserve something with a bit more umph, perhaps those dudes who must not be named. Or not, but definitely something more sinister.
A few things made this book unique for the young adult genre. The biggest was the age of Jackson; he is nineteen and a college student. Another unique aspect is the choice of topic. Julie Cross has taken time travel and changed the playing field. This isn’t your average time travel book. Throw out your preconceived notions and get ready for a small mix up. She uses time travel to hint at and sometimes unveil secrets. The direction of the book is more backwards than forwards. By that, I mean we don’t ever reach the date the book begins at. Time travel takes us back and dumps us places for a short time. Where others time travel books have failed to keep my interest and make a thrilling read this one has succeeded. That doesn’t mean I agree with Jackson and how the book ends, I heartily disagree. A phrase that comes to mind is “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” You will have to read the book to find out what I mean. Ever wished you had a photographic memory? Well, how about a photographic memory hopped up on Red Bull and other stimulants? It would drastically ease the work load to learn new knowledge. Remember that kid who was sleeping through classes and still getting an A? He just might have been a time-traveler.
Overall, a fascinating read and worth the time I spent. It might have been a bit better for me minus a few distracting elements. The future of this world looks like there is still a lot of interesting things to come. What mysteries and developments will be unveiled next?
Content: heavy swearing and sex
About the author:
Julie lives in central Illinois with her husband and three children. She never considered writing professionally until May of 2009. Since then, she hasn’t gone a day without writing.
Fire and Ice is giving away one ARC of Tempest to our readers. To enter use the rafflecopter form below. You choose your own entries. Good luck!
