All Our Yesterdays | Cristin Terrill | Review

All Our Yesterdays | Cristin Terrill | Review

• Monday, 12 May 2014

YA time travel novel All Our Yesterdays kicks off with Em, trapped in a cell with a mysterious drain that is driving her crazy. In the present Em is locked up in her cell next door to Finn’s and both are tortured by ‘the doctor’. After acquiring a piece of cutlery Em manages to open the drain and finds a note written in her own handwriting which simply says ‘you have to kill him’ over and over again; Em has been here before.

In the other time line we meet teens Marina, James and Finn who are dealing with a tragedy at a crucial point in all of their lives. A tragedy that if prevented could erase the sad futures of Em and Finn. Thanks to a stranger Em and Finn manage to escape their cells, reach time travel machine Cassandra and head off on their mission to put things right.

At first I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about the book or it’s characters and initially I found the jumps between time lines a little jarring. As I read on however, I found that the POVs started to work together smoothly and it became easy to follow the story.

The writing style and action-packed plot both had a very cinematic feel and I can definitely see this story and it’s characters translating well onto the big screen. The three main characters found in All Our Yesterdays are each intriguing in their own ways as we get to know them over the course of the book. Not only are they interesting to read but they also manage to hold up this complicated story without the assistance of too many confusing secondary characters entering the picture.

When the pieces of the puzzle came together I enjoyed the conclusion however I was a little disappointed not to find a big surprising twist, although with a planned sequel for these time travellers the story isn’t over yet…