Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

August 29, 2013 Book Review, YA, Young Adult 27 ★★★★★

I received this book for free from From Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

All Our YesterdaysAll Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
Published by Disney Hyperion on September 3rd 2013
Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: From Publisher
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"You have to kill him." Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.

Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was.

All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice.

I’ve said it so many times and I’ll continue to say it, time travel makes for some of my favorite reads! All Our Yesterdays now adds to a growing list of my favorites. I love these type of books so much for their action, suspense and often heartbreak, and this one is no different, yet had enough uniqueness to stand apart from others of its kind.

The story starts off as we meet Em trapped in a jail cell, her ally Finn in the cell next door. We jump right into the action as they escape the evil clutches of ‘the doctor’ and ‘the director’, who were the ones holding them captive, to then travel back in time where they are attempting to save the world from the destruction it has seen since the time travel machine, Cassandra, was built years before. They’ve attempted this same thing over and over but they are sure they know how to stop it from happening for good this time.

We also meet James and Marina in the past that Em and Finn have traveled to. James has had something horrible happen to his family and Marina is in love with her best friend, trying to be there for him. Their paths are destined to cross.

The way the plot and characters weaved into each other was brilliant. Like truly amazing. It’s hard to get more into it than that without giving details away, but there were some moments where my jaw dropped and then a twist would happen and we’d see how things were affected from a change in events. And it was never confusing. Never. Which is huge with this sort of novel. It wasn’t overly science based, which my simple mind appreciated. Just enough was given to explain things so I understood what was happening without losing my interest or it going over my head. The characters were well done and fleshed out with so many layers. It’s always a good testament to an author’s writing when they can write these multi-dimensional characters that are so flawed yet you can’t help to even sympathize with the villain and I did that very much here.

I must say, I completely read this novel as a standalone. I had no idea it would be a series and it has a great solid ending. BUT I’m so excited to see what other pieces of the past and future may be twisted around with these characters in future books! Fabulous debut!

5_stars

 

About Cristin Terrill

Cristin Terrill has a bachelor of the arts degree from Vassar College and a master of the arts degree in Shakespeare Studies from the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. She currently lives outside Washington, D.C., where she teaches creative writing workshop for kids and teens. ALL OUR YESTERDAYS is her first novel.

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Sara @ Forever 17 Books

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27 Responses to “Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill”

  1. Aman

    I didn’t know it was a series either. I loved the ending, but YAY for more! All Our Yesterdays is my favorite time travel book, I loved the constant action and mystery. There were so many shocking twists that I didn’t see coming and that’s what i loved the most about this book. Great review, Sara.
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  3. Samantha Stewart

    Yay! I really loved this too! I loved that all the time travel stuff wasn’t too complicated or too science-y to understand. It made it so much easier to grasp the storyline. I totally agree with you about sympathizing with the villain, you just couldn’t help it after everything that you’d found out throughout the book.
    I’m really excited for the next book now! I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.
    Great review! 😀
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  7. Ashley @ Book Labyrinth

    So glad you enjoyed it!! I totally adored this one as well. Like you, I had no idea it was going to be a series. If the author can tie in future books and make them work as well as this one did, I can bet that this series will be incredibly popular. I love series books where you can imagine more happening, but they still tie up main plot lines within each book.
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  9. Tiffany Drew

    I haven’t read a lot of time travel books, sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around the science of it all. But now that I know it isn’t heavy on the science side I will definitely be giving it a go.

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  15. Rachel

    I plan on reading this sometime soon, and I’m more excited after reading your review, Sara! Sometimes it’s hard to wrap my head around time travel stories but it doesn’t sound like the case here. I’m glad we’re left with a solid ending and not a cliffhanger. Wonderful review! 🙂
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  16. Lily

    I’m so glad you liked this one Sara. I love time travel books but at the same time i’m so picky about them because they have to be done just ‘right’ haha. Anyways great review i like the synopsis of this book and even though i hadn’t heard of it before (i must be more aware of time travel books) It sounds like my type of read.
    Lily @ Lilysbookblog
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  18. starryeyedjen

    I love time travel books, too, Sara! And this may just be my new favorite. It was so well done and the time travel aspect was explained in a way that didn’t make my brain want to go all explodey. 🙂 Great review! I read it when it was still slated to be a stand-alone, and although I loved that ending and thought it was perfect, I still wouldn’t mind reading more of this world or the characters.
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  20. Pam@YAEscapefromReality

    I agree with you, I absolutely love time travel books and this one was so well done. I became so emotionally invested in Em and Finn, and the ending, when we find out about Em and Finn’s conversation…awww! And I’ve become so sick of series with cliffhanger endings, it was nice to have a book that had a solid ending even though there’s a sequel in the works. Great review!
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  21. Vivien

    I’m so glad you really enjoyed it. All the reviews that I’ve read have been just praising this book. It sounds absolutely fantastic!!

    Reply

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