Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill


Pub. Date: September 3rd, 2013
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Hardcover
368 pages


This review has taken me a very long time to write. First, because I loved this novel so much that I couldn't properly express my love without just being gushy, and second because I’ve tried to remain as spoiler free as possible. Here goes.

If you could go back and change one moment, what would it be? Would you stop the car accident that killed your parents; would you make your best friend go to the doctor when they first started complaining that they weren’t feeling well; would you kiss the person you always wanted to kiss, no matter the consequences? When the ability to travel through time is discovered, the reasoning was full of good intentions – prevent wars, save lives, do good. But four years later, ego and avarice have taken over. What if you were to discover the one moment you needed to change was the moment someone makes one of the greatest scientific discoveries? And what if the only way to stop the discovery, is to kill the discoverer?

Em is locked away in a military prison, driven to survive the torture inflicted on her day after day by the voice of the boy in the next cell, and an irrational belief that the key to her survival is hidden in a drain in the floor. Marina, living four years previous to Em, is in love with her best friend James. Their world is shaken when James’ Congressman brother is shot in the middle of a speech. The two girls lives are very different, but both are forced to discover how far loyalty goes, and what they are willing to sacrifice to protect the people they love.

All Our Yesterdays is one of the most heartbreaking, intriguing and addictive novels that I have read in a long time. It combines the epic quality and mass appeal of The Hunger Games and Divergent, with the romance and timelessness of The Time Travelers Wife, while being entirely unique. I was so taken and drawn into the story and the characters within the first few chapters, that I ultimately had to finish the novel in one sitting – I could not put it down. Em and Marina’s juxtaposing worlds are very effectively portrayed, and the way that their worlds ultimately collide is very much worth the journey getting there. This novel made me think, and it made me question, while I constantly tried to solve the puzzles. I was completely captivated by the original storytelling, full characters, complex detailing and the stark world that Terrill has created.

All Our Yesterdays is a fast-paced, intricately plotted story of two girls who learn it is better to stand for something, than to fall for anything. Readers won’t be able to get enough.

Rating 10/10

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher to read and honestly review. I was in no way compensated.

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