All Our Yesterdays
Ratings14
Average rating3.9
Outside the secret military base where Em is imprisoned, war rages. The world has been coming apart at the seams ever since the U.S. government cracked the code of time travel and built a machine to weaponize time. The only chance Em and the body in the cell next door have to change this terrible present is to escape to the past and stop the man who created the machine.
Four years earlier, the biggest problem in Marina’s life is figuring out how to tell her shy and brilliant best friend James that she’s in love with him. That is, until he night an assassin’s bullet changes everything and sends Marina and James on a desperate hunt for answers, with a killer who seems to anticipate their every move right on their heels.
Marina will protect James at any cost. Em will sacrifice everything to rewrite her future.
Only one of them can succeed.
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Pros: compelling writing, brilliant chracterization, minor romance elements, stand-alone story
Cons: close calls start to feel contrived, ending feels abrupt
For Parents: some violence (murder, torture), no swearing, off screen sex
When Em finds the note in the drain of her prison cell, she knows she and Finn have travelled back in time 14 times, and that they've failed in their objective to save the future. There's only one course of action left to them, to kill the man who made time travel possible, their former best friend and the man Em used to love.
This book was VERY hard to put down. The characters feel real, their emotions felt true to life but without the overarching angst that sometimes makes YA hard for adults to enjoy. Marina has complex relationships with everyone in her life. She's afraid her best female friends only like her because they want to get closer to James. Her parents are having trouble in their marriage, using her as a go-between. She loves James but isn't sure he feels the same way. And she's jealous of how close Finn and James have become, and so treats Finn badly, even if he doesn't always deserve it.
It's the first YA novel I've read that captured how conflicted I felt as a teen, so I really connected with Marina's character.
Em and Finn - the future versions - are equally complicated characters, having to make a tough decision knowing the pain it will bring their younger selves.
The two guys, one girl, formula sounds familiar but Terrill does great things with it. Marina loves James and dislikes Finn. Finn likes Marina, but recognizes that she doesn't like him back, which makes him snarky and bitter towards her at times. And James... well, it's unclear what he feels. Even their older selves have a unique dynamic.
Though I felt that Em's compunctions about killing her former crush were realistic, I started to feel the scenes involving close calls with him became contrived towards the middle of the book. The last quarter of the book shook things up again, which I really liked.
There's little told about the dystopian future the teens are from or the science involved with time travel, so if that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere.
The ending felt abrupt, but on further reflection - and rereading some scenes - I realized that it fit what the author said about time travel. This is a great book to reread, as you pick up all sorts of details you miss - especially in the first few chapters - the first time through.
Finally, it's great to read a YA dystopian novel and have it stand on its own. I highly recommend this one.
I would read Cristin Terrill's grocery lists if she published them and still give them 5 stars. After reading (and loving) “Here Lies Daniel Tate,” I couldn't wait to read another Cristin Terrill book. I am pleased to say “All Our Yesterdays” was another absolutely phenomenal novel by this super underrated and incredibly talented author. However, I am NOT pleased to say that she has no more books for me to read! CRISTIN: IF YOU ARE READING THIS, PLEASE NEVER STOP WRITING!
“All Our Yes
