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memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
i really enjoyed this story. it was an interesting concept and i enjoyed the journey. i loved the two main characters it was so interesting experiencing nev and airin falling in love in reverse from each other. i loved that the ending wasn’t the typical ‘we figured out a way to be together and live happily ever after’ but still left me feeling like there was closure on a lot of things, and what we were told was going to happen through nev, did happen in the end, she accomplished what she needed to and got to make amends for some of her past mistakes. i loved following nev in her journey of self-improvement, appreciating what she had more and more. . it took me a little while to get used to the writing style, talking about tech-heavy stuff and time issues but i mostly got my head around it and it did add more depth to the concept.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, Deadnaming, Cursing, Grief, Sexism, and Sexual content
sapphicneverafter's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
3.5
stephnm26's review
3.0
Great set up for the rest of the series.. but that CLIFFHANGER? Rude! Time travel is such a great read and I like how each chapter has the date/time. I just kept thinking.. how/when will Nev break this cycle??
I received this ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily, all thoughts/opinions above are my own.
I received this ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily, all thoughts/opinions above are my own.
tachyondecay's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Time travel stories can come in so many forms! It has been a while since I’ve read a Benjamin Button–style story. A Second Chance for Yesterday has its protagonist, Nev, hurtling backwards in time. The title is everything: sibling authors writing under the name R.A. Sinn ask us if a person can reform simply by having the chance to do things over, albeit in reverse. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Solaris for the eARC.
Nev Bourne is the lead programmer on a technology that lets people rewind time a few seconds. An accident at work causes her to relive, successively, each previous day of her life. Nev is going backwards in time, yet no one else is aware of this. It’s only through an unlikely team-up with a former college associate that Nev manages to wrest some semblance of control from this chaos and work to fix the glitch—before it can happen to the millions of people who will soon use this tech.
This novel works best when you don’t try to peek underneath the hood and question the mechanics behind the time travel. Sinn posits that Nev’s employer has a “quantum mainframe” that can somehow reset the universe a few seconds into the past whenever someone triggers an ocular implant. OK, sure. If you can handwave past that, the story itself is quite enjoyable. They take some time developing the mystery behind Nev’s reverse chronological experience. Once she understands her predicament and enlists Airin (or rather is enlisted by them, convinced by their memory of Nev’s … futurepast?), the story ramps up in intensity.
I think what makes this story so interesting is the way that it gradually morphs from “I have to escape this fate for myself” to “I have to protect others and prevent this from happening at all.” Sinn is clearly trying to make Nev out to be a flawed, somewhat selfish person who needs to learn a lesson as she travels backwards through her life. It’s a valuable idea, though I’m not sure it is executed very well.
The same can be said for the antagonist (if that is what you want to call him) and the eventual resolution of the glitch. In the eleventh hour, Nev confronts the antagonist. It’s a pretty tense moment, yet the result is anticlimactic. The same goes for the ending itself. Not quite a cliffhanger yet also not quite conclusion, the ending might be Sinn’s attempt to say, “It doesn’t matter what happens to Nev from here on out.” It might be an attempt to ask the reader to imagine Nev’s futurepast. I’m not sure—and that’s the problem.
This is a book with a very cool premise and a lot of glimmers of brilliance. But everything from characterization to plot to the final lines feels half-finished. Underwhelming. Far from crisp. A Second Chance for Yesterday has great ideas, but it never comes together to become a truly entertaining or enlightening read.
Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.
Nev Bourne is the lead programmer on a technology that lets people rewind time a few seconds. An accident at work causes her to relive, successively, each previous day of her life. Nev is going backwards in time, yet no one else is aware of this. It’s only through an unlikely team-up with a former college associate that Nev manages to wrest some semblance of control from this chaos and work to fix the glitch—before it can happen to the millions of people who will soon use this tech.
This novel works best when you don’t try to peek underneath the hood and question the mechanics behind the time travel. Sinn posits that Nev’s employer has a “quantum mainframe” that can somehow reset the universe a few seconds into the past whenever someone triggers an ocular implant. OK, sure. If you can handwave past that, the story itself is quite enjoyable. They take some time developing the mystery behind Nev’s reverse chronological experience. Once she understands her predicament and enlists Airin (or rather is enlisted by them, convinced by their memory of Nev’s … futurepast?), the story ramps up in intensity.
I think what makes this story so interesting is the way that it gradually morphs from “I have to escape this fate for myself” to “I have to protect others and prevent this from happening at all.” Sinn is clearly trying to make Nev out to be a flawed, somewhat selfish person who needs to learn a lesson as she travels backwards through her life. It’s a valuable idea, though I’m not sure it is executed very well.
The same can be said for the antagonist (if that is what you want to call him) and the eventual resolution of the glitch. In the eleventh hour, Nev confronts the antagonist. It’s a pretty tense moment, yet the result is anticlimactic. The same goes for the ending itself. Not quite a cliffhanger yet also not quite conclusion, the ending might be Sinn’s attempt to say, “It doesn’t matter what happens to Nev from here on out.” It might be an attempt to ask the reader to imagine Nev’s futurepast. I’m not sure—and that’s the problem.
This is a book with a very cool premise and a lot of glimmers of brilliance. But everything from characterization to plot to the final lines feels half-finished. Underwhelming. Far from crisp. A Second Chance for Yesterday has great ideas, but it never comes together to become a truly entertaining or enlightening read.
Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.
saffyjadd's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Set in a near-future, a tech company has established SavePoint, revolutionary tech that allows users to undo the last five seconds of their life at any point of their choosing.
Expanding on this success, the company are looking to launch a SavePoint 2, which will allow users to roll back even further. However, Nev, the leader programmer is experiencing some unforeseen consequences… Those being that she’s moving backwards in time.
I absolutely loved the premise of this. I was instantly gripped. The tech, the glitch, the awkwardness of working with someone who is moving through time in the opposite direction to you. Absolutely thrilling stuff.
Unfortunately, I think the second half is less engaging than the first. The intentions of the characters is hazy and it’s not always fully developed what they’re actually doing. Some of this can hide behind the mechanics of the two main characters’ space in time. They never know the full picture so neither do we, the reader. But there’s no aha! moment that ties it all together either, which is missed.
As with all time-travel creations, there are some rules the traveller must follow (Nev can only wake up in the place she awoke in her original timeline, etc). Unfortunately, some of these rules are distracting at times and pose more questions.
Overall, a really solid sci-fi with an excellent premise.
Set in a near-future, a tech company has established SavePoint, revolutionary tech that allows users to undo the last five seconds of their life at any point of their choosing.
Expanding on this success, the company are looking to launch a SavePoint 2, which will allow users to roll back even further. However, Nev, the leader programmer is experiencing some unforeseen consequences… Those being that she’s moving backwards in time.
I absolutely loved the premise of this. I was instantly gripped. The tech, the glitch, the awkwardness of working with someone who is moving through time in the opposite direction to you. Absolutely thrilling stuff.
Unfortunately, I think the second half is less engaging than the first. The intentions of the characters is hazy and it’s not always fully developed what they’re actually doing. Some of this can hide behind the mechanics of the two main characters’ space in time. They never know the full picture so neither do we, the reader. But there’s no aha! moment that ties it all together either, which is missed.
As with all time-travel creations, there are some rules the traveller must follow (Nev can only wake up in the place she awoke in her original timeline, etc). Unfortunately, some of these rules are distracting at times and pose more questions.
Overall, a really solid sci-fi with an excellent premise.
extinctpanda's review
I really liked to concept of this one, but unfortunately I put it down at the half-way mark. It wasn't bad I just felt no interest in continuing. I really didn't connect with Nev as a character, so didn't really care that much about what happened to her. I also just didn't feel like the time travel aspect was as interesting as it could have been, it was largely just a bit confusing, and starting to get a bit dull as it seemed mostly to be Nev not knowing what to do.
I'm sure other people will really enjoy this one, but it just wasn't for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I'm sure other people will really enjoy this one, but it just wasn't for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
hanreadsstuff's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
This is a well-paced, YA, timetravel adventure. It's got thoughtful queer representation and an interesting concept with Black Mirror vibes.
Nev works at a big tech company on a product that lets people go back in time by 5 seconds. While she's working on the launch of a new product, she suddenly starts experiencing time in reverse. Now, Nev needs to figure out why and how to get her life back on track.
This was a really fun and fast read. The characters were well written, the world was interesting and the pacing was fast and fitting (for the most part)
It's very good light sci-fi - think of River Song from Doctor Who rather than a story that is tackling the theories of time travel. Honestly, I've never read a time travel book that made sense in that way anyway!
At times I found the characters' choices a little frustrating but not so much that I needed to put the book down.
I was a bit disappointed with the way things wrapped up and wish Nev had been stronger about dealing with her past religious traumas.
Overall, it's an enjoyable holiday read with a sweet, almost plutonic love story.
The book ends on a cliffhanger and gets ready for a sequel, which I'll probably pick up!
Thanks, NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for this advanced copy.
thepagesofpoppy's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
frombethanysbookshelf's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
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