All Our Yesterdays Hardcover – January 1, 2013

All Our Yesterdays by Cristen Terrill is a YA dystopian sci-fi time travel novel which tells the story of spoiled teen Marina and freedom fighters Em and Finn. The twist – Marina and Em are the same character, only four years apart in age. Em and Finn have travelled back in time to try to prevent the creation of the dystopian police state in which they are living. To do this, they must kill “the doctor” a figure with close connections to all three of them. It is the first in a two-book series although it could work as a standalone, depending on your interpretation of the ending.What I likedCharacter development. One of the great strengths of All Our Yesterdays is seeing the characters’ journey. Through time travel timey wimey we meet three characters at two separate stages of their lives, Marina/Em, Finn and James. We see how their experiences in a four-year period have changed them.Through Em we see where Marina will end up if Em and Finn are unable to complete their task. The Marina we meet at the beginning is, let’s face it, one of the most annoying, bratty teens in YA – think of an even more self involved Bella Swan – whereas Em is a YA heroine more in the Katniss or Tris Pryor mould. The reader is then intrigued to learn what turned whiny Bella into Tris in just four short years. It’s interesting to note that Em distances herself from Marina and sees her almost as a separate person whom she needs to protect. She changes her name and cuts her hair to show this distance.The older James, too, is very different from the earlier version we meet. In contrast to Marina/Em though we see more flashes and hints of the man he will become. I’m not certain how early on in the book James’ place in the police state was supposed to be apparent to the reader, but I picked up on it very quickly.Of the three, Finn is the one who has changed the least in the four years. Both younger and older versions of him are very practical, loyal and level headed. There were a few times I wondered if he wasn’t another future Finn pretending to be younger Finn, but that is neither confirmed nor denied in this book. What does change though is Marina’s/Em’s relationship with him. That is interesting to watch develop, although that was done a little too quickly perhaps for my taste.The writing style. I really enjoyed Terrill’s writing style. it is beautifully descriptive and very engaging. A perfect example of this is that at one point our characters receive a phone call telling them that another character has died. Nobody actually says the words, but from the setup and the characters’ reactions it’s perfectly clear what has happened.What I didn’t likeTime travel is tricky. In this book Terrill goes for the standard sci-fi trope of let’s kill Hitler (or at least the relevant evil mastermind) before he becomes evil in order to prevent an apocalypse. Time travel narratives can be fraught with paradoxes and guns just happening to fail at the wrong moment. I’m not 100% certain that Terrill had the whole concept perfectly under control. Some of the explanations provided for anomalies and paradoxes seemed very vague and didn’t stand up to scrutiny. It’s possible that they will be explained in far more depth in book two, so I am prepared to give her a pass on this. I did have fun with the older Em and Finn having to pose as their younger selves though!All in all, this is a great read and I loved it. Any weaknesses in the execution of the time travel concept are more than made up for by the writing and character development. I gave All Our Yesterdays four and half stars out of five.

This review has slight spoilers in it!!My actually rating for this book is 4.5 stars. I was a little worried going in since this is about time travel, and time travel books can go one of two ways. It can either be really great and interesting, or just down right confusing and terrible. Usually, there's no in between. All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill falls into the first category. Ms. Terrill took a very ambitious idea, and sculpted it into an amazing story that will stay with you long after you finish reading. There was the potential for this novel to be very confusing because it involves multiple timelines, dual POV's, and scientific concepts that are above most people's heads. However, Ms. Terrill handles everything expertly and the story is flawlessly written.The story follows Em and Marina, who you later find out are the same person, just in different timelines. I will say that I kind of figured this twist out pretty early on, but it was still interesting nonetheless. I loved reading each girl's perspective and respective story, and even though there is that twist, it always felt like you were reading two different people, who were just a bit similar. Each girl has their own identity, which is one of the greatest things about this novel. While this story is mainly driven by the plot, the characters don't just fade into the background. Every friendship, every romance, and every character plays a major role in future events, and is extremely believable and realistic. Nothing ever felt fake or just written as a matter of convenience. Now one of the reasons I had to give this novel 4.5 stars instead of 5 was because I couldn't stand Marina's character in the beginning. She was the typical cliche teenager that was also this "mother hen," and it just kept getting on my nerves. However, she grows significantly over the story, and everything serves a purpose in the end.The world of this novel is extremely well crafted, and set up beautifully. While I would have liked a bit more background information going in, everything is revealed later on in the book. Since this is a time travel book, some liberties are to be expected. As such, you do need to go into this book with an open mind. You can't read it as this stuff is based entirely on fact. But even if you did do that, most of the ideas presented are actually quite reasonable, and I could see it making sense. Ms. Terrill does a great job at explaining all of the concepts and ideas that she has incorporated into the story so that these things aren't above the readers head.However, there were 2 other things that would have prevented me from truly giving this book 5 stars. First, was that sometimes the timeline just seemed a little too unbelievable. Obviously, it's fiction and time travel, so the timeline is up to the creativity of the author, but for all of the problems to result in only 4 years, just was a bit of a stretch for me. Second, was that I still am a bit confused at the ending. I think I understand it, but I'm honestly not totally sure that what I'm thinking is correct. I saw that there is another book, so maybe it will be explained further...at least I hope.Nevertheless, this was a great novel that many people will love and enjoy. It is action-packed and full of adventures. The characters and the world are unique and well-crafted. If you like the idea of time travel, you'll love this book! I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a new take on time travel or just looking for something different. I can already tell that Ms. Terrill is an author to watch, and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next! Happy reading :)

I don't know where to start with this review. I have a problem with words when it comes to All Our Yesterdays, because it was so bloody awesome that it left me speechless. I bloody love time travel. I cannot express my love, even with swear words. There are no words.The beginning drew me in immediately because we're introduced to Em, who is stuck in a cell and has been tortured, and we're made to wonder how she got there, who the guy in the cell next door is, who the doctor is, what's so special about the bloody drain... The list goes on. It's mysterious and intriguing and totally captivating right from the get-go.The action kicks off immediately, and as a lover of all things that that one word entails - from fight scenes to shoot-outs to epic getaways - I am pleased to announce that the fast pacing and amount of action stays steady the entire way through.I also loved it when the time travel begins, and we're taken to the past. I'm not going to say much because you definitely do not want to be spoiled for this book, but it was great to be able to get two different perspectives of two girls who have had very different experiences.Throughout the book, Terrill throws in small clues that imply that Marina's world is very different to ours. If you pick up on those, then you'll know something is amiss, but you won't be able to figure out what that is. I wasn't sure what I was dealing with, to be honest!Em was my favourite out of all the characters. Marina's story was great, but Em's character is just flawless. She's such a badass, and yet she's still loving and caring and she has a soul.Finn, on the other hand, could have used a bit more development but it was understandably one sided since the story is told from just Em's and Marina's point of view. I loved Finn, though. His sarcasm was A+, and it worked really well with Em's personality. But still, when crap hit the fan, he didn't mess around.I honestly wasn't sure as to whether or not I shipped Em and Finn at first since in the beginning you're kind of just thrown in and they're already in love and have been through so much. But in a weird way you get to see build up, and also how much they adore each other. They also have a boatload of chemistry, which always helps.All Our Yesterdays also deals with the concept of soulmates. I love that kind of stuff, as long as it's not overly sappy or cheesy. When soulmates are done right, they're fabulous. I love the thought of always finding each other, no matter which life or world you're in.I also really liked the villain in this, and I think this is one of the few books that offers a unique perspective on its villain. I'm not going to say anything more than that, because I want you to be more surprised than I was. Just know that I love how Terrill dealt with the villain, and the story there was brilliant.There were also twists, which is always a good thing. I love being shocked, and while I did know some of the ~secrets~, I wasn't expecting some of the stuff that was revealed.The last fifty or so pages were too much for me. I had to keep putting the book down because it was so suspenseful. I just didn't know what was going to happen in the epic climax/showdown. And what did actually happen shocked me. I wasn't expecting it in the slightest, and when stuff started to go down I had to fight to be able to see past the tears. I'm totally not emotionally stable enough for these types of books.After the way All Our Yesterdays ended, I was rather worried it would be a standalone and I spent a good half an hour crying over that fact alone. But, all was not lost, because Cristin's blog and Debby have assured me that there's going to be a sequel. I have no idea how a sequel is going to play out, but I think Cristin will be able to pull it off marvellously.Until then, I'll have to fight off the urge to do a monthly re-read. I'll have to make it bi-monthly instead.If you're a fan of action-packed science fiction, then I would definitely recommend reading this book. I can't recommend it enough, actually, and I'm not even sure if my review did it justice at all.

Sometimes, just sometimes, a book can actually surpass all your expectations! I bought it at Amazon's suggestion and was a bit dubious - I didn't want to get into the book just to be let down. I'd read too many books that promise me dystopia and end up being simply mediocre. But WOW All Our Yesterdays blew me away!All Our Yesterdays struck me as such a cleverly crafted book. It takes place in two different time-frames: on the one hand you have Em and Finn, locked away somewhere where they are tortured by the doctor; then, a few years earlier we read the story of Marina, a popular girl completely besotted by her neighbour, the charming and super-intelligent James. Em and Finn somehow have to save the world, but in doing so they will end up crushing all Marina's dreams.There's not much more I can tell you about the plot of All Our Yesterdays because it's one of those books where the fun is in working out what's going to happen. For that reason I also advise you to be careful about how many reviews you read - people have a habit of spoiling even small details that are so much fun to work out. Admittedly some of what happens - some of the great reveals - you may guess a few chapters earlier than you should, but that doesn't detract from the brilliance of this book. It's one of those books where you know you're in good hands: it feels carefully planned out, it's beautifully written and it comes with a pull that won't let you go. I think I knew from the first five pages I wouldn't be able to put it down; there are so many mysterious elements to both time-frames and the author reveals them slowly and gradually rather than all at once.The characters in this book are brilliant and really well-developed. The story is told from the dual perspective of both Em and Marina which helps bring alive two very different and very distinctive characters. I loved Em and the boy in the next cell, Finn - you can't help but feel for them after what they've gone through, but at the same time they are so strong and resilient they become incredibly likeable. Marina, on the other hand, takes a while to warm to because while there are many aspects of her life that make you feel for her - the parents who are too wealthy and too busy to spend time with her, for instance, and the fact that she feels even her friends are only her friends because they're interested in James - but at the same time, she's one of those spoilt rich girls who generally doesn't have any idea what a hard life is like. But as the story goes on and we learn more about her, the more we see the good person she really is. Her feelings for James are also incredibly sweet, but that just makes the truth of it all even more heart-breaking. While Marina may be hard to love at the beginning, you will feel every crack in her heart by the end.I really couldn't put All Our Yesterdays down. This is definitely one I'll be re-reading. There's no obvious path for a sequel, but I'd definitely be interested to read more from this world and these characters. In fact, I'd love to read a book that takes place between the two timelines - while we're given a few episodes from that time, about how the world went from the happy place that Marina knew to the tyrannical state that Em knows several years later, a book covering that time would be a brilliant read I think!I absolutely loved this book and I only wish I could go back in time myself so I could read this book all over again for the first time!

I did enjoy this and I thought it very cleverly manipulated the timelines while still keeping everything absolutely clear. I'm afraid that being an avid translator of the laws of narrativium meant that I spotted all of the reveals a few chapters before they happened - me being tuned in rather that lack of skill on the author's part. I love that it questions good vs evil and exactly under which circumstances those definitions cease to have any meaning. This is a very accomplished and pretty gritty time travel story.However since I started reading it I''d been able to put it down for days at a time. That just doesn't happen to me - I actually made a conscious decision to sit and finish it and put time aside. I think the reason for this was that none of the characters really resonated with me. I neither liked not disliked them, they simply were and therefore it didn't matter to me if they won. I'm sure this is subjective and others will find them more relatable. They just didn't work for me.Regardless this is still a very good book and if you want a hint if dystopia mixed with a time travel race against the clock quest and a hint of romance, this is definitely for you.

I absolutely loved this book for the first 50%, then I got annoyed with it getting repetitive and them not being able to complete their mission. (Sorry, I have to be vague as I don't want to give anything away as it is still worth a read.) I'll get the worst bit out of the way with that!The characters were described brilliantly; not only were they believable, but I cared for Em and Finn and their developing relationship. I also thought that Terrill dealt with the paradoxes in time travel very well. An important issue was addressed in a way that was not confusing and made sense.The end of the story did leave me with a bit of a lump in my throat as it is beautifully written also. Highly recommended.

In my mind, there are two types of YA books: the good ones, and the ones that rely on the romance alone - often to the sacrifice of good writing, intrigue, and other plot elements. This is a love triangle cleverly told backwards, with a slow reveal of information and a hefty dose of time travel. It’s intriguing, fast paced, and the individual plights of the three main characters are set out in a way that lends sympathy to each of them rather than the clear cut ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ that you find in many YA dystopias. The depiction of an older, wiser version of one’s self trying to save a younger, more innocent version of one’s self is a wish fulfilment process that many people can identify with, and I enjoyed the execution of that idea in this book.