Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

Title: Tempest

Series: Tempest #1

Author: Julie Cross

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Publication Date: 5 Jan 2012

Source: Amazon Vine

Challenge: DAB

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis from Goodreads

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveller. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

REVIEW

A fast paced, action filled debut that sweeps you along. Mix time travel, conspiracy theories, secret government departments and romance to give a total page turner.

Told in first person narrative from Jackson's perspective. A privileged yet lonely upbringing with a mostly absentee widowed father. Mystery surrounds both Jackson family history, what exactly does his father do and how did his mother die? Woven into the main plot. The male perspective provides a satisfying insight into the mind of a teenage boy. But Jackson isn't your typical teenage boy and I don't just mean that he has the ability to time-travel. His sensitive nature endeared him to me even if he didn't always know how to express it. 

The plot jumps back and for through time concentrating specifically on 2007 and 2009, the insight the 2009 Jackson brings to his life in 2007 added depth to both the emotion evoked and to the plot. The jump between time frames can initially be confusing, the use of 007 and 009 helped keep the distinction between the time periods clear it also added the underlying parallel of government conspiracies/spies to the plot.

One thing I really wasn't expecting from a book about time-travel was the depth of emotion evoked. As Jackson relives painful episodes of his past while trying to alter the future I became completely invested in his well being and the outcome of events. 

Revelations and action combined with romance and friendships provide a really fast paced plot, the characterisations and interactions throughout are ingeniously portrayed. The concepts explored within the narrative are thought provoking to say the least. Quantum physics, the theory of relativity, chaos theory, string theory along with the idea of parallel universes are all weaved together. As someone that didn't grasp physics especially well in school these theories have always fascinated me. I think these concepts appeal to a wide variety of people even if they are unaware of the fundamental laws of physics or even that they are physics based concepts. 

There are a number of twists within the plot that I can honestly say I wasn't expecting. Nothing can be what it seems, everyone has secrets but the way in which these secrets affect time is skillfully depicted within the story. Events, personalities and interactions all shape who we are, down to the smallest decision. Quite a mind blowing idea when you think about it. 

The fabulous use of music lyrics and song titles used within the narrative provided an additional bonus in my eyes.

This book provides a solid basis for the series, a cliff-hanger type ending has left me literally pining for the next book. I have to say that this is one book that you can immediately picture as a movie. Now that I would definitely like to see.