First (proper) post of 2012! And it only took me all of January.
About a week or so ago I was half-watching television and caught the ending of this particular advertisement.
It looked pretty interesting; I’m not really one for a romance novel but I can get into them if there’s something more gripping driving the plot forward. ‘Tempest’ looked like it could be the Young Adult equivalent of ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’, which I happened to enjoy. So approximately thirty seconds after I saw the advert, the book was ordered from Amazon and arrived at my door the next afternoon (thanks, Amazon Prime trial!). I never feel more like myself than when I spontaneously buy a book for no reason other than I just feel like it.
WARNING: Possible spoilers from here on. Not too many though, spoilers suck.
‘Tempest’ is the debut YA novel of author Julie Cross and the first of a promised trilogy. It revolves around the protagonist Jackson Meyer in 2009 as he stumbles through his discovery that he has the ability to propel himself through time – but at first can only achieve what is dubbed a “half-jump”, where his actions in the past have no effect whatsoever on the future. But when Jackson’s world shatters and he is left holding Holly, the love of his life (debatable, they’re only nineteen after all) lifeless in his arms, he spontaneously achieves a “full-jump” and finds himself stuck in 2007. A pretty good start to a novel… but oddly, not quite what the trailer promised.
After reading the book and re-watching the trailer (side musing: books have trailers now?) the advertising for this novel is a tad misleading. For starters, the tagline “When I entered her life, she was already dead,” isn’t true, and this is perhaps one of the things that grab you most about the ad. One thing that will put me off most about a book is a misleading blurb, as if they feel the need to lie to draw you in… if you’ve identified that this idea is more exciting, use it on the book! The trailer above is so ambiguous that it could actually be advertising a separate (although similar) novel altogether.
One area where the actual plot falls down (once you’ve shaken off the fact you’ve been a little duped by a very good trailer) is character development. There are indeed a few heart-wrenching moments throughout the novel, mostly concerning Jackson’s late twin sister Courtney and his accidental visits with her in the past, but even though I’m usually the first to start weeping over fictional characters I found myself not quite invested enough in Jackson or even Courtney to really feel it. And when it came to the eventual fate of Holly, I found myself caring a whole lot more about the dynamics of Jackson’s family, the intentions of the antagonists and the mysterious Emily than I did about Jackson and Holly’s relationship. And that was supposedly the focus of the novel.
My other (and last, I promise) gripe about ‘Tempest’ is the actual character of Holly. Whilst I understood from the premise that this would be a book with a heavy amount of romance mixed in with the drama, I feel that there is still the opportunity for her to exist as more than just ‘the girlfriend’, the stereotypical damsel-in-distress. She does an awful lot of passive screaming whenever anything actually happens in her life other than babysitting rich-kids and falling in love with Jackson (something she does twice in two different years or timelines). Jackson’s other best friend, Adam, another stereotype as the computer nerd who is primarily the brains behind anything Jackson achieves, is at least active in his participation of events. She seems to accept everything meekly, never questions and never really fights back. I feel that a stronger female character prepared to fight for Jackson as much as Jackson was prepared to fight for her would have been a lot easier to get involved with, and a lot easier for a reader to actually care about in the end.
Having said all that, I would probably still recommend this book to someone who enjoys this particular type of fiction. It’s fast paced, engaging and action-heavy throughout. The way the author throws Jackson, and therefore the reader, into different years and timelines keeps your mind working to keep up without losing you completely. Lack of character development can be said to have been sacrificed in the name of the quick-moving plot and the explanation of Cross’ unique take on time-travel. It is definitely the type of book to be enjoyed on a long flight; not too deep so that it requires much thought but still engaging enough to keep your mind busy and your imagination running. Whilst it wasn’t perfect, it was an enjoyable read and has left me Googling frantically to discover when the sequel will be out.
