The Here and Now

January 27, 2014
Best known for her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books, Brashares forays into science fiction in this fast-paced, gripping, and romantic novel about a girl from a future that seems eerily possible. Seventeen-year-old Prenna James is from the year 2098, but she, her mother, and nearly 1000 other Travelers have fled an Earth devastated by climate change and plague, and are now living in 2014. The Travelers are a tight-knit and secretive community, and their 12 cardinal rules forbid everything from seeking outside medical care to interfering in the “natural sequence” of time or engaging in “intimate” relationships with outsiders. Prenna has long had a crush on her classmate Ethan, but she has always followed the rules until a mysterious homeless man upends Prenna and Ethan’s lives, and she begins to question her community’s dictates and intentions. Brashares focuses on Prenna and Ethan’s burgeoning romance, rather than the nitty-gritty details of her time-travel premise, and her fans will be happy to find that her prose is as resonant and realistic as ever. An Alloy Entertainment property. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, William Morris Endeavor.

February 1, 2014
In a stark departure, Brashares, of Traveling Pants fame, returns with a lightning-paced sci-fi time-travel romp that, much like a cinematic blockbuster, offers intrigue, romance and a healthy dose of implausibility. After blood plague ravages her world, Prenna James emigrates with a group of refugees, known as travelers. However, it's not where she ends up, it's when. Her community tries to assimilate into a society decades in the past, with stringent rules about how they must conduct themselves in the time natives' society. Predictably, Prenna falls in love with Ethan, a handsome time native--one of the gravest offenses a traveler might commit--and quickly learns that her tightly knit authoritarian community may indeed be harboring secrets. Brashares' worldbuilding is solid, and she handles the time-travel elements with a fluid, cinematic ease. Unfortunately, she relies too much on dei ex machina to propel Ethan and Prenna forward. Cars, money and opportunity pop up with uncannily good timing and convenience, helping the time-crossed lovers right the wrongs of the past. Those willing to overlook such shortcuts will surely be swept into the whirlwind romance and breathlessly turn pages to discover if there truly is a possibility for a better future. This quirky tale of love and time travel demands that readers totally suspend disbelief to enjoy some of the more contrived plot elements. (Science fiction. 13-16)

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February 15, 2014

Prenna James has traveled to the present from a future plague-riddled Earth on the verge of collapse. She and her community have made the trip ostensibly to prevent this catastrophe, although their rigid rules restricting altering the present and oppressive leadership make that nearly impossible. When Prenna gets close to "time native" Ethan Jarves, their relationship both threatens the community and generates the only hope for Earth's survival. Like the girls in Brashares's "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series, Prenna is smart, self-deprecating, and believably mesmerized by a first love characterized by mutual respect and intimacy. The less detailed female friendship subplot, though, is all the more disappointing in light of the author's gifts in capturing young women's emotional lives. In terms of sf, Brashares crafts a plausible future and satisfyingly metes out time-travel plotting. Much of the science is foggy, though, and the exposition-heavy denouement feels rushed. VERDICT The author's younger fans will enjoy the relationship between Prenna and Ethan, and adult fans will appreciate the moral gray areas complicating their lives. It would be a solid introduction to sf for YA and adult readers curious about the genre. For a more sophisticated look at postapocalyptic fiction, readers should turn to Peter Heller's The Dog Stars or Brian K. Vaughan's Y: The Last Man.--Nicole R. Steeves, Chicago P.L.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Prenna's life is shrouded in secrecy and intimidation. She's part of a select group of people who not only survived the Blood Plagues but also immigrated to present-day New York from more than 80 years in the future. Bound by rules that force her to sacrifice her personal freedoms and isolate herself from the local community, also known as Time Natives, Prenna can't help developing a close, yet guarded friendship with a classmate, Ethan Jarves. Both high schoolers are gifted science students who have more than a friendly, academic attraction, but physical contact with Ethan could endanger him as well as Prenna and the other Travelers. When a local indigent man, who mysteriously knows about the Travelers' origins, prophesizes a time fork on May 17, Ethan and Prenna are launched into a plan to stop a murder that could save the future of mankind. The story moves along at a compelling pace with enough foreshadowing and plot twists to keep the pages turning. The sense of adventure as the teens escape Prenna's corrupt leaders and fight off a murderer is stronger than the romance between the two. Older teens may enjoy the more palpable romance in Brashares's book for adults, My Name Is Memory (Riverhead, 2010), in which a love story transcends time. The Here and Now has a satisfying ending that only slightly hints at what would be a welcome sequel.-Lynn Rashid, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, MD

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2014
Grades 7-10 Prenna and her doctor mom are not your average immigrants. No, they have immigrated to New York from the 2090s, a future of climate-change extremes and mosquito-borne plagues that wipe out entire families and civilizations. The few who have survived the plagues and the journey back to 2010 have been charged with two challenges: change the course of environmental history and assimilate into the culture without disclosing their origins or becoming intimate with the natives. Prenna knows her friendship with Ethan is red-flag behavior. When an elderly homeless man warns her that she and Ethan must prevent a murder on May 17, 2014just days awayshe realizes she must defy the community and its counselors for civilization's greater good. Brashares, author of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series and other YA novels, builds on her adroit adolescent characterization and ear for teen dialogue and ports them into an exciting time-travel adventure complete with murderers to thwart and mysteries to solve. The book's environmental message won't be missed by readers, but this is a cautionary tale rather than a didactic screed. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The gargantuan success of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series ensures great demand for Brashares' latest. A multi-platform marketing campaign seals the deal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
Prenna, an immigrant from the future, leads a restricted, secretive life. When a homeless man tells her that she can change the course of history for the better, however, she teams up with Ethan, the cute guy in her physics class, to prevent a murder. Teen fans of love stories with a sci-fi twist will enjoy this bittersweet time-travel romance.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)