Sunday, February 28, 2016

Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs


Synopsis via ElizabethBriggs.net:

Elena Martinez has hidden her eidetic memory all her life--or so she thinks. When powerful tech giant Aether Corporation selects her for a top-secret project, she can't say no. All she has to do is participate in a trip to the future to bring back data, and she'll be set for life.

Elena joins a team of four other teens with special skills, including Adam, a science prodigy with his own reason for being there. But when the time travelers arrive in the future, something goes wrong and they break the only rule they were given: do not look into their own fates. 

Now they have twenty-four hours to get back to the present and find a way to stop a seemingly inevitable future from unfolding. With time running out and deadly secrets uncovered, Elena must use her eidetic memory, street smarts, and a growing trust in Adam to save her new friends and herself.

I have found myself another must read author! Miss Briggs is a talented and captivating writer.
Future Shock has a little bit of everything; suspense, drama, intrigue, and teen romance. I was hooked from the very first page.

I really liked how she wove the characters' past into the storyline instead of devoting chapters just to explain each character. The story flowed effortlessly. As I read, I just wanted to keep going. I wanted to know what happened next. I don't want to say it is a quick read, but it would be easy to complete the story in one sitting because of the easy flow of the storyline.The story never feels forced or tedious.

The drama, intrigue, and suspense naturally blended throughout the story. The idea of time travel is one that is debated everywhere. Could you exist in the same timeline as your future self without causing a paradox? Will changing the past create an alternate timeline? These are all questions that are debated every day, everywhere. This is what Miss Briggs has tackled.
Elena and the other four characters each brought their own emotions and baggage to the story. The interplay between the characters added depth to the story line. Elena is a character that you not only feel empathy for but admire for her strength and perseverance. Each character is like Elena, they bring out different emotions as the story progresses. These are not cookie cutter characters!

The only thing about the story that was somewhat baffling was the romantic side of the story. During most of the story line, the characters are what you would expect from teenagers that have been victims of the foster care system. Yet when the story turns to  romance, the ages of the characters come into question. The romantic exchange made me think that Miss Briggs was writing about middle school characters as opposed to high school students on the brink of adulthood. No, I wasn't expecting sex scenes from Pretty Little Liars or The Originals, but there was so much hesitancy between the characters that the romance felt immature and lacking.

But, overall, this is a must read story for sci-fi fantasy and YA readers.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.





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