Yesterday

Yesterday is a YA sci-fi novel by C. K. Kelly Martin.

In 2063, sixteen year old Freya is terrified that she has lost her brother forever. The U. N. A. (United North America) has already moved everyone off the coastlines because of climate change, there’s a constant, real threat of ecoterrorism, and the increase in a robot working class has forced a massive amount of people into unemployment and complete dependence on the government. Now, there’s a new disaster coming…

In 1985, sixteen year old Freya has just moved to Canada after losing her father in a unexpected, tragic accident. Her mother, sister, and Freya are trying to get through the sorrow and adapt to their new life.

But for Freya it’s difficult because everything seems… wrong. Especially when she looks at her life before moving - her old friends, her first boyfriend – it all feels flat. Unreal. Distant.

Perhaps it’s just the grief. But it doesn’t feel like it.

Then one day she sees a boy. A gorgeous boy. That’s not what catches her attention, though.

She recognizes him.

She can’t say how, from where, or from when but it obsesses her.

And then the dreams start. Dreams that are more real than her memories.

But pursuing this, searching for the truth… it is putting Freya in danger.

Yesterday was pretty darn cool!

Initially, I felt the tentative mystery vibe that Martin gives and liked it. I felt like there was a definite something going on – and I reveled in the creepy, ominous feel that kept me aware that something was weird here.

For a while I was a bit ambivalent about Freya. I didn’t dislike her, I sympathized with her grief, but I wanted more from her. Maybe more personality? But as the story continued, I rooted for her to find the truth – I began to care.

Yesterday is a trippy thrill ride! A science fiction novel mixed with the 80s time period, it’s a hard novel to pin down and explain. I will say, though, that I had a theory as to what was going on and I was WRONG! Yay!

Getting better and better as it goes along Yesterday becomes a suspenseful escape novel – twisting and turning and being constantly intriguing. I definitely recommend it – it grew on me pretty strongly by the end!