All Our Yesterdays - Hardcover

Terrill, Cristin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1423176375 ISBN 13: 9781423176374

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH, 2013

Synopsis

"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.

About this title

About the Author

Cristin Terrill has a bachelor of arts degree in drama from Vassar College and a master of arts degree in Shakespeare Studies from the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. She currently lives outside Washington, D.C.., and teaches creative writing to children and teens. You can find her at cristinterrill.com or @cristinterrill.

Reviews

Gr 7–10—Time-travel paradigms and a dual narrative combine in this fast-paced temporal tale. The two voices are that of the same character: Marina, in the present, and Em, in the future. Future Em and present Marina run parallel courses as Em tries desperately to change present circumstances enough to alter future horror. Marina's longtime crush James, a teen genius who discovers how to manipulate time travel, intends to use that discovery to save his assassinated congressman brother. Em and Finn (her future romantic interest and James's good friend) travel back to the present to change their own and the world's fate, but their multiple efforts result in imprisonment and torture by the mad scientist James becomes. Em/Marina's parallel stories converge in a violent confrontation where characters from the present meet their future selves. Time-travel tropes may not hold up under close scrutiny, but the limited number of major players and the carefully focused plot keeps the action moving. Characterization is fairly stock: James is a brilliant monster, and Finn is consistently levelheaded and appealing. The future Em is much more developed than the present Marina, which makes the inevitable loss of one and the saving of the other disconcertingly unsatisfying. The built-in tension provided by knowledge of the world that will result if they fail makes Finn and Em's efforts compelling, however, and the escalating pace and intertwined narratives keep the pages turning. The philosophical question is intriguing: What price is too high to change fate?—Janice M. Del Negro, GSLIS Dominican University, River Forest, IL

It’s an age-old philosophical exercise: If you could go back and kill someone before he or she grew up to do terrible things, would you? What if that person was someone you cared for? It’s a dilemma Em is used to. She and her companion Finn have escaped from their prison cell 14 times in order to go back in time four years to prevent their best friend James, a 17-year-old genius, from creating a time machine that leads to a world at the edge of ruin. Now they’re out of options: this time James must die. Terrill’s smart, fast-paced debut intercuts Em and Finn’s pursuit with that of, well, the four-years-younger Em and Finn it pursued—a literary situation ripe for confusion. But Terrill avoids unnecessary brain melt by keeping things remarkably clear and never at the expense of character or emotion. It is, in fact, rather heartbreaking to watch characters come to terms with their past—or worse, their future selves and the evils they have created. A savvy blend of sf, action, and even politics. Grades 8-11. --Daniel Kraus

Edition details

• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1423176375
• ISBN 13: 9781423176374
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368