Berls
Written on Jul 30, 2014
Actual rating is 3.5 stars.
I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
My Initial Reaction...
Ever finish a book and really really wish you loved it, but know that you only liked it? That's me for Take Me Tomorrow. I was really torn between 3.5 & 4 stars because there were some elements that didn't work for me - like the romance & the amount that teens are doing - but I did really like the world and where this could go as a series.
The Characters...
I've previously read two books by Shannon - Minutes Before Sunset and Seconds Before Sunrise - and with both books I was blown away by her ability to develop these incredibly complex characters. Which is why I was - a bit unfairly maybe - disappointed by the character development in Take Me Tomorrow.
Don't get me wrong - these characters were fine, they just weren't complete. Take for example Broden, Miles, and Lily. These three were like the faithful sidekicks that each had a couple of things they had to do, had a couple of traits that distinguished them and that was it. I really wish they had been combined into one really complete best friend character, maybe two.
The main character, Sophia Gray, didn't suffer from this same lack of complexity. Take Me Tomorrow is told from Sophia's point of view and, for the most part, I enjoyed being inside her head. She's tough and not afraid to fight. She's also stubborn, sometimes to her own detriment, which makes her a girl after my own heart. I'm not too sure she's all that bright - it seems like a lot has been going under her nose and all of a sudden she's figuring it out. It's not that she's dumb - but maybe extremely sheltered and naive.
The romance interest, to me, could have been cut from Take Me Tomorrow entirely and it would have been much better. Not the character - Noah Temery is extremely important to the plot - but the romance between him and Sophia was very off for me. I knew it was coming because - well I guess because I read a lot of books and I just can see the clues - but there was no chemistry there for me. The character himself, is EXTREMELY interesting. I want to know a lot more about him, but I feel like I know exactly the right amount about Noah for this point in the series, though. Just enough that I HAVE to keep reading.
The Story...
I was drawn to this book most by the concept (besides the fact that I knew I adored Shannon's other books) - it's a dystopian world where an illegal drug has surfaced that allows users to see the future. It's a real game changer and a problem, which the characters in Take Me Tomorrow get caught up in.
In some ways the world really worked for me. I had no trouble believing that our world could look like this. Completely new government in control and up to no good. This drug has completely destroyed order in all but the capital - Topeka - where the main character lives.
I would have liked more specifics though - like when exactly are we? This is clearly a future North America since there are references to current US Cities that are no more, but I don't know how we got here exactly. There was an uprising and riots, but again, that all seems to be after the existing government was setup and I don't quite understand what that government is.
The main thing for me, though, was that I didn't understand why all the adults were letting all these kids run around making all the game changing moves. Dystopian young adult works so well for me most the time because we're in an alternate world where teens do adult things - are expected to do adult things. But for the most part, this world didn't look so different from ours in terms of adult - teen relations. And yet, it seems that some major figures and authority figures expected this handful of teens to take care of the dirty work. It's mentioned that because minors can't get into as much trouble they are used for these kinds of tasks, but the very notion of minors suggests that they aren't treated as adults.
All that being said - they mystery of what's going on and the action - particularly towards the end - was fantastic and really pulled me along. I still have some big questions that I hope to have answered in future books.
Concluding Sentiments...
Although I didn't love Take Me Tomorrow as much as other books by Shannon, I won't hesitate to pick up the next book in the series. I enjoyed it and look forward to seeing where things are headed.