Yesterday by C.K. Kelly Martin Series: Yesterday #1
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers on September 25th 2012
Pages: 368
Goodreads
THEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas's life. Until that world starts to crumble.
NOW: It's 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father's death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy?
When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can't get him out of her head. She's sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they've never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered.
Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from.
Yesterday by C. K. Kelly Martin was a slightly disappointing read for me. I have heard really good things about this author but I was not overly wowed by this book, though the writing was good and I would still consider checking out her other works. I really liked the idea behind this story but the execution of it fell little flat for me and I found the story to be confusing, at least initially.
Yesterday is told from the perspective of Freya Kallas, a sixteen year old girl who is thrown into a new life and finds herself starting over at a new school in Canada. The year is 1985 and Freya has moved with her mother and sister from Auckland, New Zealand, after her father is killed in a freak gas explosion. Freya feels oddly disconnected to her life and it is not just her grief that is making her feel that way. She has blanks in her memories and some of the things that have happened to her feel as though they had happened to someone else.
Freya has difficulty connecting with people at her new school but one day, on a class trip to the museum, she sees a boy and feels somehow like she knows him, even though her memories are telling her otherwise. Freya follows the boy (who we later find out is called Garren Lowe) home and although she does not talk to him, she cannot shake off the feeling of deja-vu that she feels. Freya decides to confront Garren but he has no recollection of her. It is not until they realise that their backgrounds have a few too many similarities that Garren comes round to the idea that Freya may be right about them having a history. They decide to uncover the truth but their investigation has unforeseen consequences and the two teens find themselves on the run, fighting for their lives.
I feel that there was a very good idea within this story, and it definitely kept me reading as I wanted to find out what was going on, but i never felt really connected to the characters and I didn’t feel invested in their struggles or the overall story. The writing itself was really good though (despite one chapter where Freya gets her memories back and proceeds to give a detailed but clinical version of their history.
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