Tempest: A Novel (The Tempest Trilogy, 1)

This new YA time travel novel has a bit of buzz (I see it on many of the book blogs I troll looking for candidates to review The Darkening Dream), but I read it -- and quickly -- because of the superficial similarities to my second novel, Untimed. Both are YA time travel, both have a mail protagonist (although he's a 19 year old in this book, and 15 in mine).But that's about where the similarity ends. Although don't get me wrong, Tempest is a great book. It's one of the best YA's I've read in the last year or so, on par with Before I Fall. The beginning is slightly awkward although the 1st person past voice is good. The author's "I'm a time traveling teen intro" felt slightly forced, but as soon as he's attacked by mysterious secret agent dudes and forced back from 2009 to 2007 (maybe 10% in) the book rocks along and I read the whole thing in a single sitting. Overall it nicely balances an interesting new scenario, likable characters, a compelling romance, a good mystery, and a touch of pathos. Good stuff.Tempest borrows lightly from the brilliant The Time Traveler's Wife too, and while it has a novel take on time travel it's really more of an action mystery, and most importantly a romance. Untimed on the other hand, which is even heavier on the action, and has a romance (less emphasized), really focuses on the history part of time travel. I visit four centuries, all heavily researched, and explore the big impact individual people can have on the broad sweep of history. Tempest sticks mostly to the personal. The things that change in this novel are all of an intimate nature, having to do with the protagonist and his family. Namely the author is a woman and its all about the relationships: Jackson and his girlfriend, his father, his best friend, and his sister. Not that this is bad, as these relationships are really well done, its just different. The time travel action is confined mostly to a couple years back and is rarely intricate, avoiding most overlap and paradox. All the material stuff occurs between 2007 and 2009 with only a few touristic visits to the decade prior. It's mostly all in New York city.This leaves a lot of time to focus on the Jackson / Holly romance. We see it in three modes: as it existed before the novel opens, as he recreates it two years earlier from scratch in alternate 2007, and as he upgrades it on his return. As I said, this is a nicely done romance and really the core of the novel. Both characters felt natural to me, their passion genuine, young, and hopeful. Two major elements interjected a top fight bittersweet note: the problematic nature of a time traveler / normal romance and Jackson's relationship with his dead twin sister (which because of time travel, lingers on, just a bit).The mystery element was also good. The book succeeds in NOT revealing exactly what is really going on with the time travelers and even which of two (or even possibly three) factions is actually in the right. This is something I also tried to do in Untimed, and works pretty well here, even if the whole "secret agent" thing and nomenclature of "Enemies of Time" is a bit cheesy. Essentially Cross pulls it off. But the villains are nowhere near as cool as my Tick-TocksAnd I totally wanted to keep reading. But because of the pacing of the traditional publishing system we have to wait a year for the sequel!Andy Gavin, author of The Darkening Dream

I had a little trouble with the time traveling in the beginning. It was hard to understand what time period he was in and when he got back to the present. I overall enjoyed the story and the concept of it.Jackson’s girlfriend, Holly has been shot. It’s 2009. Jackson can time travel and has been for a while now. He travels back to 2007 just after Holly was shot. He can’t change the past just by changing one event in time. He can talk to the people all he wants, but when he time jumps again, they will completely forget he ever existed or the conversation they had. Having trouble getting back to 2009 to save Holly, he is now stuck in 2007 and has no idea how to get back. There he finds secrets he has been trying to figure out his entire life. The fact that his dad isn’t who he has believed him to be his entire life.At times I was getting a little bored with how the story was going. It seemed that really all he did for a big portion of the book was just time travel but get nothing accomplished. It wasn’t until about 3/4th’s (or so) that the story really started to pick up.I definitely really enjoyed how he was able to time travel but not affect how the future will go. No matter what he did, the future wouldn’t change. Well at least not that I think so.I loved Jackson and Holly’s relationship. Jackson and Holly met in 2009 and started dating. While time traveling in 2007 it was funny to see their reactions to each other. Holly having no clue who Jackson is or who he will be 2 years down the road. Jackson knowing Holly but can’t do anything about it.I definitely do want to continue on with the trilogy, just probably won’t be anytime soon.

Jackson Meyer is your typical rich college kid, spending time with his girlfriend, Holly, skipping class when he can, and dealing with a difficult relationship with his workaholic father. Everything about Jackson is typical except for the fact that he's a time traveler. He can't go too far into the past or the future, and is just beginning to understand the limitations of his time traveling abilities with his best friend, Adam, the only person who knows the truth.One day armed intruders break into Holly's dorm room determined to capture Jackson; in a struggle, Holly is shot. In a panic, Jackson jumps back two years, to 2007, but then he finds he's stuck and can't get back to 2009 to save Holly. So he decides to settle in 2007, get to understand his abilities, and try to befriend Holly, in the hopes he can change history and save her. But the more time he spends trying to understand time travel, the more secrets he uncovers, along with a group of people called the "Enemies of Time," who want to enlist Jackson in their work--or they'll kill him.I really, really enjoyed this book. I raced through it--finished nearly the entire book in one day--and was immediately captivated by this story of a teenager unsure of his abilities, one whose life has been utterly turned upside down, and the girl he is determined to protect--even from himself. This book has great characters, a terrifically compelling plot, and fascinating action; in my opinion, its only flaw is the complex genesis of Jackson's abilities, the people who have been tracking him and others like him, and the so-called "Enemies of Time." I had a little trouble keeping track of certain characters' motivations and what their places were in the plot, so I found that a bit jarring from time to time. But beyond that, I thought this story of star-crossed (and time-crossed) lovers was really memorable, and I can't believe Julie Cross is going to make me wait until 2013 to find out what happens next!