Title: All Our Yesterdays
Author: Cristin Terrill
ISBN: 9781408835197
Price: £6.99
Have
you ever considered what our world would be like with a time machine? Would we
go back in time and solve all those wars, stop all those bombs and save
millions of people? However time should not be manipulated or controlled, it is
far too powerful as Marina and Finn find out when it leads to the destruction
of their best friends James, a brilliant, once shy young boy who created a
scientific miracle and a monster. This is Cassandra. Marina and Finn, trapped
in cells and tortured for information struggle to remember the person their
best friend used to be before he too became a tool for the power-hungry villains
of the world; the machine which was supposed to be his legacy and the saviour
of the world had been transformed into a weapon, a means of control of society
through the past. The day Marina finds the note in her ell, the note from a
previous version of herself she finally understands what she must do as she
reads those terrible words “You have to kill him”. She and Finn must go back in
time and commit the unthinkable in order to prevent the terrible events which
follow on, because of James.
This
science-fiction thriller also contains themes of romance and heartbreak as
Marina must make the ultimate decision- to kill the boy she loves in order to
save the future. It’s also an interesting representation of the human mind and
how time and events can change and distort it. The power of the time machine changes
James into a monster he himself never could have imagined, but Marina herself
changes. She s no longer the insecure girl, hopelessly in love with the boy
next door, instead she is strong independent and determined to secure the
future for the younger version of herself, so that she may never experience the
horror that followed the creation of Cassandra. But her childhood love for
James still remains at the back of her mind, despite everything and she wonders
if she could ever succeed in killing him, even for Finn, who she fell in love
with after all those years in prison plotting to destroy Cassandra. Her mind
knows what must be done, but will her heart fail her?
This is
action packed, and has elements of both murder mystery and science fiction. The
element of time travel is surprisingly easy to follow, although at times the
presence of two sets of the same character, past version and future version is
a little confusing. It’s still a great book however and the first person
narrative, which switches between the young Marina and the older post-Cassandra
Marina, is very effective.
I would give this book 7/10
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