Review - Forget Tomorrow

Forget Tomorrow

2 1/2 out of 5 Futuristic Stars

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Synopsis:

Imagine a world where your destiny has already been decided…by your future self.

It’s Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she’s eagerly awaiting her vision―a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they’re meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist.

Or in Callie’s case, a criminal.

In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo―a prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes the hellish prison.

But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all.

Callie herself.

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"Knowing the future doesn't take away your free will. Only you can decide what you will do."

I was really looking forward to this one, even debated buying it. I'm sad to say that I'm glad I borrowed Forget Tomorrow from the library instead, because I'm a bit let down. I love the first half of the book—it's different, engaging, fast-paced, and really held my attention. 

In the first half, there's action and depth and complexity to what's happening, and it's a great read. I love getting to experience Callie's future memory and the life inside of Limbo, of these teenagers who haven't committed any crimes but are being punished based on what their future selves will do. It's an interesting idea and really shows how twisted this future is.

Dunn doesn't hold back on the gruesome details either, and her use of dark sarcasm is spot on. The analogies she uses are unique and interesting in a good way, and the relationship between Logan and Callie doesn't feel forced at all. It feels natural and sweet, even though it gets a bit cliche and sappy at times, and I like the flashbacks to when they were kids. 

The development of Callie's power and the character of Sully are also parts that make the book interesting. All this in the first half of the book had me devouring page after page, but it's after Logan helps Callie escape Limbo that things start to go downhill for me.

"I killed her. In my future memory, Jessa was in a hospital bed in TechRA, and I stabbed a needle into her heart. I murdered my baby sister. How can I love her? And if I don't love her, how can I love anyone?"

First off, the logistics of the escape don't really work out for me. It's too simple, too easy. This problem comes up again later in the book, and even though this is a futuristic dystopian type of novel, I still like the world-goings to be realistic, and in this area, the novel definitely is not. 

Also, the reasoning behind some ideas doesn't sit well with me. It's like Dunn went with the easy way out, the fit-in-the-box answer, and I expected more. The big reveal at the end, again, seems too easy. There's not enough evidence for the conclusions that are made, making them feel illogical and simple-minded. I want more depth, like we have in the beginning of the novel. 

What happened between the first and second half that changed this awesome book into a let-down? I'm disappointed where the story went, with how it goes from this new, engaging idea, to something that I've read already. Callie goes from a character whose thought process I'm able to really able to understand to a character that I've read about a thousand times now. 

Oh, and a quick thought—why the bird feathers on the cover? Yeah, it's pretty, but leaves definitely have more significance throughout the story than the small mention of a feather. And never have your characters say "what could go wrong?" Obviously, everything is going to go wrong! (I am all behind using this line sarcastically, but unfortunately, that is not how it is used in this specific scene)

"Love isn't something you can give halfway."

Despite all my problems with the second half of Forget Tomorrow, Pintip Dunn really did surprise me with a secret revealed about Callie and her sister Jessa, and with the ending. I guess I should have seen the ending coming, as it fits in so well with Callie's character, but again, it feels like the easy way out. Maybe I was surprised because I was still hoping for the awesomeness of the first half to make its appearance again, that Dunn wouldn't fit so well into the mold of YA dystopian. I don't know. 

If you really like YA dystopian, then this is the novel for you. And if you like the idea of the future affecting the present and the idea of time travel (which starts to get more engaged throughout the novel), then take a chance on this book. This novel just wasn't for me, no matter how much I wanted it to be. I might read the sequel Remember Yesterday when it comes out on October 4th, or I might not. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

"Hope, no matter how irrational it is, is a powerful thing. When the odds are against us, when the battle seems insurmountable, hope may be all that keeps us going."