ARC Review: Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

Into the Dim (Into the Dim #1)
By Janet B. Taylor
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: March 1, 2016

To Sum It Up: Grieving over the loss of her mother, Hope Walton accepts an invitation from her mother's sister, whom she's never met, to escape for a while to the Scottish Highlands. Almost at once, Hope suspects that there's more to this visit than connecting with family. Everything that Hope's mother has hidden from her all these years begins to come to light, including the fact that her mother belongs to a group of time travelers. Hope soon finds herself following in her mother's footsteps as part of a dangerous mission that is about to take her back to medieval England and the court of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Review: Into the Dim was the second of back-to-back time travel books for me, and I went into it fairly optimistic that it would make two winning reads in a row. The blurb intrigued me very, very much: time travel + Scotland + medieval England. Into the Dim is being touted as a YA Outlander, and while I'm always skeptical of such comparisons, of course the Outlander mention still caught my attention. I also love medieval history, so I was fully prepared to fall hard for this book. Sadly, things did not work out this way.

For anyone who's curious, Into the Dim bears little resemblance to Outlander aside from the time travel and part of the novel taking place in the Scottish Highlands. The time travel in Into the Dim doesn't even occur until about a third of the way into the book. It's given what I found to be a muddled explanation as well, involving ley lines, lodestones, and Tesla-built machinery. I couldn't wrap my head around how these things were connected, and after a while, I gave up trying.

It wasn't too long after beginning the novel that I started finding protagonist Hope's character problematic. She tries to be snarky, but her efforts come across as condescension. This is especially evident in a few disparaging comments she makes about other girls her age. Hope judges everyone, all while being the girl who's beautiful and extraordinary because she's completely, utterly oblivious to how beautiful and extraordinary she is. As we are frequently reminded throughout the book, Hope has a photographic memory, so again—she’s special. The novel works hard—too hard, I think—to demonstrate how indispensable her talent is in helping her escape trouble.

For someone who believes there's a solid head on her shoulders, Hope makes some rather unwise decisions. She gets a weird vibe from a guy she meets soon after arriving at her aunt's manor in Scotland but dismisses it and meets up with him again. When she and her companions (finally!) journey back to 12th century England, she makes enemies with Thomas à Becket, future Archbishop of Canterbury, within about five minutes of arriving. To make up for this, though, Eleanor of Aquitaine, on the verge of being crowned Queen of England, takes a shine to Hope because, lest we forget, Hope is a phenomenon.

Even a trip back to one of my favorite historical periods, the Middle Ages, couldn't help me rally some investment in this book. The details of the era felt minimal, sufficient to establish that the story had shifted centuries but not nearly enough to create an immersive experience. Whenever I read about the past, I want to be pulled back into that time, too, and not just be a casual, distant observer of someone else's adventures.

Overall, this was a tough book for me to get through. I really didn't care for Hope's narration, which makes heavy use of similes. None of the secondary characters particularly stand out, either. There's also a whiff of insta-love and possibly a love triangle down the road. I won't be checking in on its development, however, because I'm not continuing with this series.

All in All: I was at odds with Hope's character and narrative voice from the very beginning, which naturally is a huge obstacle to overcome when you're reading from a first person POV. Other readers might have better luck with this than I did; it definitely wasn't what I'd expected or hoped it would be.

Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Passenger (Passenger #1)
By Alexandra Bracken
Publisher: Hyperion
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Violinist Etta Spencer is on the verge of making her debut when’s she’s pulled back in time to 1776. There she finds herself on board the ship of Nicholas Carter, who’s been tasked with bringing Etta to the powerful Ironwood family. Etta is the key to the Ironwoods’ absolute control over time itself, and they’ll stop at nothing to obtain it. Until now, Etta knew nothing about the existence of time travel, but it seems that she’s been destined for this path and to try and save her future.

Review: As a huge fan of Alexandra Bracken’s The Darkest Minds series, I’d been eagerly awaiting the release of Passenger. That anticipation was not unwarranted; within the first few chapters of Passenger, I was hooked.

Passenger is really the story of two characters: Etta Spencer, a gifted violinist preparing to make her debut on a New York City stage in the present, and Nicholas Carter, captain of the captured ship Etta wakes up on after her sudden and unexpected trip back to colonial times. Nicholas’s heart belongs to the sea, and he yearns for a ship to call his own one day. First, however, he must complete his mission to deliver Etta to the Ironwoods, an extremely powerful family of time travelers that has almost obliterated other traveling families in order to obtain total dominance. The Ironwoods need a single object to fully control time itself, and Etta is their means of locating it, even though she’s entirely new to this world.

What makes Passenger so refreshing to read is Etta’s handling of her situation. She goes from modern day NYC to 18th century Revolutionary America in a heartbeat, bringing her 21st century attitude with her. She’s not afraid to use it, either. Etta speaks her mind, social expectations of the day be damned; her fire quite endears her to some of Nicholas’s crewmen. Etta’s spark perfectly complements Nicholas’s own determination, and although what starts as an impromptu partnership isn’t without its obstacles and differing agendas at times, you cannot finish this book without needing the Etta/Nicholas ship to sail off happily into the sunset.

Alexandra Bracken’s take on time travel is absolutely brilliant. It’s explained in enough detail without feeling shallow, yet it doesn’t require the assistance of someone with a PhD in astrophysics to understand. Each historical period is recreated with so much vividness that you truly feel you’re right there alongside Nicholas and Etta in colonial New York City, World War II London, and 16th century Damascus, among other places/times. My favorite scenes, though, take place in Nicholas’s own time, 1776, on board the ship carrying Etta that he helps capture at sea. There’s an awesome pirate-y atmosphere to these chapters of the novel, and if the whole book had been set on the high seas, I think I would have been just as happy.

I will say that the pacing lags in a few spots, but this didn’t turn into a big issue for me. There are plenty of thrills and narrow escapes to be found within the pages of Passenger, along with a sweeping romance that utterly convinces you that love transcends all, including time. And the ending is guaranteed to leave you demanding the sequel, Wayfarer, ASAP.

All in All: A fantastic start to a new series. The time travel is excellently done, and the two main characters will not only win you over individually but especially when they’re together. Swoon factor: very high.

Review: My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century (My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century #1)
By Rachel Harris
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: As the daughter of both a famous actress and director, Cat Crawford has grown up amidst the glamour of Hollywood. She hates the spotlight, however, which makes Cat dread her upcoming sweet sixteen bash even more. But first Cat is off for a vacation in Italy with her father and future stepmother, a trip that finds Cat traveling back in time to the Renaissance. She is now Patience D’Angeli, who is not supposed to use modern slang or technology. As Cat tries to blend in with the era, she’s also on a quest to discover why she’s been sent back to the past.

Review: I’d seen My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century quite a bit around the blogosphere, and the positive buzz landed it on my to-read list. The time travel element of the novel also intrigued me; a Renaissance Italy setting? Yes, please! Once the novelty of our protagonist, Cat, finding herself zapped back to the past to sixteenth century Florence wore off, however, I found it rather hard to stay focused on the book. Both the characters and the plot fell flat for me; I just didn’t feel the need to know what happened next.

By far my favorite aspect of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century was the attention to period detail. The time travel was an immersive experience thanks to the vivid imagery that really brought the Florence that Michelangelo knew to life. Cat happens to be an art aficionado, and she could not have asked for a more perfect era to be sent back to. Her attempts not to get caught using her iPod or modern lingo are pretty amusing at times. Everyone thinks she’s Patience D’Angeli, who has arrived in Florence from London to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. Luckily for Cat, Patience’s social gaffes, of which there are quite a few, are attributed to her unfamiliarity with Florentine culture.

What I found most difficult to get used to was Cat’s narrative voice. Her mom is a famous actress whose romantic exploits are constant tabloid fodder. Her dad is a famous director and the parent Cat is closest to, but his bubbly fiancée, Jenna, is a rather unwelcome addition to the family. While Cat tolerates her stepmother-to-be, she’s totally averse to Jenna’s plans to throw Cat a monstrous sweet sixteen party in her honor. Cat is not one for the Hollywood spotlight and doesn’t want that kind of attention. She tends to keep to herself because she never knows who’s just being nice to her because of who her parents are. All of the above are recurring thoughts of Cat’s throughout the novel, and I just didn’t think her problems were all that bad. She wasn’t a character I could relate to, and that’s what makes me hesitant to continue with this series.

The ending features a very interesting twist that does pique my curiosity about the sequel, but again, I’m not sure that’s enough of a draw for me. Curiosity might win out eventually, but for the moment I’m in no rush to sate it.

All in All: The time travel was well done, and I did enjoy watching Cat explore sixteenth century Florence. I wasn’t as enthused with her as a main character, though; her life sounded pretty privileged to me, so I couldn’t drum up a whole lot of sympathy for her.

ARC Review: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

The Here and Now
By Ann Brashares
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: April 8, 2014

To Sum It Up: Since her arrival from the future, Prenna James has been trying to hide the fact that she’s from another time. She and her fellow travelers live by a strict set of rules in order to keep their origin undetected, but Prenna finds herself questioning them more and more, something that is not tolerated by the leaders of her community. She also worries that Ethan, one of her classmates, knows that there’s something different about her. As Prenna tries to unravel the secrets she believes are being kept from the time travelers, she must also race to stop a potentially future-altering event from happening, with only a date for a clue.

Review: Have you ever read a book and afterwards thought, “What did I just read?” Well, that’s how I’m feeling about The Here and Now. Although time travel features prominently in the novel, it also covers climate change, a plague, and a murder. How do all of these things fit together? The book tries to explain just that but isn’t entirely successful at molding these disparate pieces into a cohesive plot.

Prenna, the protagonist, is part of a group of time travelers who escaped a world ravaged by a blood plague by journeying to the past. They do their best to blend in with what they call the “time natives” and follow a rigid set of rules to avoid drawing attention to the fact that they’re not from the present day. The community has a cult-like vibe to it, and questioning leadership is a big no-no. The lengths that those in charge go to in order to maintain control over the community is mind-boggling in more than one sense and involves an elaborate scheme with pills, eyeglasses, and surveillance. Again, we have a rather odd combination of items, and their relationship, as explained by the book, asked me to stretch my imagination to an extent that I couldn’t always manage.

I’m all for books that span multiple genres, but I thought this one attempted to work in too many. The future Prenna comes from sounds like something straight out of a dystopian, and I wanted that world to be more fully explained. Something else that I found lacking in the explanation department was how the travelers made the jump back in time. If the book had gone a little sci-fi there, I wouldn’t have minded. We also have a mystery to solve regarding a date that might prevent the future Prenna and the others left. Finally, the YA contemporary romance angle is represented by the mutual attraction between Prenna and Ethan, a classmate with a very keen sense of observation. There are several threads to this story, and they’re not exactly woven together seamlessly. It’s as though the book couldn’t figure out what direction it wanted to go in, and I couldn’t figure that out, either.

Prenna didn’t bowl me over as a main character. I really liked that she was through accepting whatever yarn the community leaders spun and started digging for the truth. What I didn’t like was how she’d freeze up in critical situations; when she should have been taking action, she’s kind of just go with the flow. By far my favorite character was Ethan; he’s smart, funny, and sweet and the type of character who’s easy to connect with. He brightened every scene he was in, and I’m bumping up the rating by half a star because of him. Otherwise, this was a rather disappointing read that struggled to find its footing. The ending actually made me fume for a little while and I debated knocking off half a star, but my fondness for Ethan won out.

All in All: I haven’t read many time travel novels and had been looking forward to this one. Sadly, The Here and Now fell short of my expectations; it contained some good ideas but they needed to be better integrated into a whole.