New York : Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Griffin, 2012, c2011.
339 p. ; 22 cm.
When I heard that there was a new, future blockbuster (time will tell) YA book out there - and that the author was a local author, I knew I had to order it for our library and read it.
Tempest, as other reviewers have pointed out, is a potent read (sci-fi, thriller, romantic drama, and part fantasy) revolving around a 19-year old young man who only lately realizes he can time travel short distances and soon discovers that his Dad may not be his Dad and his time traveling is of great (and dangerous) interest to his Dad, the CIA, and a shadowy group called the Enemies of Time. As he tries to escape harm and figure out who is friend and foe - he discovers that he can travel further back in time than he thought - and becomes stuck (for quite a while) two years in his past.
This book should appeal to a wide range of readers, male and female - given it's dramatic action combined with its elements of science fiction and romance. I found it readable and enjoyable, but it didn't grab me with the power that I thought it would. Perhaps, like some of the negative reviewers on Goodreads, I found the plot to be a bit overstretched at times (several times I had to thumb back to the beginning of chapters to find out what year it was supposed to be). Like other negative critics I didn't find the main character Jackson, a somewhat egotistical user, to be all that likable. A few other things bugged me: the apparent inherent "goodness" of the CIA (that is sci-fi fantasy, indeed!) and the sudden transformation of Jackson into an almost superhuman action hero near the end of the book. I also couldn't help but feeling that the jarring introduction of the little girl who takes Jackson on a rather confusing trip to a grim, distant future - and the clumsy way the "bad guy" gets away at the end - were dictated by the publisher's marketing desire to have the novel develop into a very lucrative trilogy - alas...
Problems aside, I think that Tempest will be a popular book and it does require levels of reader engagement that are positive. I will certainly be recommending it and will be curious to see what students think of it.
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