Future Shock is a time-travelling book that will keep you on your toes. Its quick pace and clear narration makes it easy and fun to read. As the narrator, Elena feels authentic and although she may have had a rough upbringing, her struggles with life and finding a job are very realistic. The prejudice and the hopelessness felt at the beginning of the story feels very honest. You can’t help but want to know more about this seemingly unbreakable character.
When it comes to time-travelling books, so many things can go wrong, but in Future Shock, the author kept things uncomplicated. She didn’t go into too much detail about how the time-travelling actually works which in all honesty, isn’t a bad thing. One thing I thought was very original is the repercussion time-travelling has on the mind. For adults, travelling in time is dangerous, because they return with memory loss, paranoia and confusion. The scientists coined the condition future shock. From some of the initial voyages, the scientists noticed that the younger travellers seemed to have less symptoms which led them to recruit young adults for their next experiment.
Elena, with her eidetic memory, is one of the five recruited by the company Aether for the voyage, and she accepts mainly for monetary reasons. As a 17 year-old living in foster care, she can’t refuse the generous offer. The payout would help her considerably after leaving foster care. It would help her pay for college and live comfortably, something she thought would be impossible for a young mexican girl living on her own in L.A. Three other teens seem to be in similar positions, all three coming from foster care. Adam is the only odd one out but to Elena, he seems as desperate as the rest of them.
Right from the start, things go terribly wrong. They were only supposed to go ten years forward but instead they ended up going 30 years into the future. They were warned not to look into their future selves but as curious young adults, the situation leads them to investigate. Early into their 24 hour trip they realize that among them, only Adam still lives after 30 years, the four others apparently dead shortly after their return to the present. Elena suspects she might be the reason for their deaths. She always knew she had a violent streak but she never thought she would capable of murder. As time unfolds in the future, their investigation into their own murders lead them on a wild chase through futuristic L.A.
Full of corporate intrigue, romance, suspense, murder and futuristic technology, I couldn’t put it down. However, the end left me wanting. It ended so suddenly that I’m sure there’s more to Elena and Adam’s story.
this book sounds so interesting. I've read the author's rock-star romance series and really enjoyed it and was excited when this came out. I just haven't had a chance to read it. I may just wait until the next book comes out. ;) That way I don't have to wait too long to see what happens next.
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