Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Review: Stolen Time by Danielle Rollins




STOLEN TIME by DANIELLE ROLLINS
Series: Dark Stars #1
Genre: YA fantasy, time travel, adventure
Publication Date: February 5, 2019
Publisher: HarperTeen


Synopsis

Seattle, 1913 // Dorothy is trapped. Forced into an engagement to a wealthy man just so she and her mother can live comfortably for the rest of their days, she’ll do anything to escape. Including sneaking away from her wedding and bolting into the woods to disappear.

New Seattle, 2077 // Ash is on a mission. Rescue the professor—his mentor who figured out the secret to time travel—so together they can put things right in their devastated city. But searching for one man means endless jumps through time with no guarantee of success.

When Dorothy collides with Ash, she sees it as her chance to start fresh—she’ll stow away in his plane and begin a new life wherever they land. Then she wakes up in a future that’s been ripped apart by earthquakes and floods; where vicious gangs rule the submerged city streets and a small group of intrepid travelers from across time are fighting against the odds to return things to normal. What Dorothy doesn’t know is that she could hold the key to unraveling the past—and her arrival may spell Ash’s ultimate destruction.



Praise for Stolen Time:

“Endearing, exciting, and very clever, Danielle Rollins' Stolen Time is the kind of time-travel story I'm always on the lookout for. I know I can't really speak for him, but I feel like Doc Brown would be onboard with this one.”—Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series

“The hauntingly evocative prose seduced me, the compellingly nuanced characters captivated me, and the twisting storyline ensnared my thoughts in an infinite spiral that refused to release me until the final word.”—Romina Russell, New York Times bestselling author of the Zodiac series

“Stolen Time is an explosive page-turner set in a richly imagined new world, with characters you can’t help but root for and a twist I never saw coming. I couldn’t stop reading!” Morgan Rhodes, New York Times bestselling author of the Fallen Kingdoms series

“Pure fun with an explosive twist.” Kirkus Reviews

“A delightfully fearless heroine and a delicious twist at the end make this a compelling trilogy starter.” Booklist

Purchase the book!



ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Danielle is the author of THE MERCILESS series, and SURVIVE THE NIGHT (as Danielle Vega) as well as BURNING, BREAKING, and the forthcoming STOLEN TIME trilogy (as Danielle Rollins.) She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and a cat named Goose.

THE MERCILESS has been acquired by Lionsgate with “Pretty Little Liars” creator I. Marlene King on board to write, and Hannah Macpherson directing.

SURVIVE THE NIGHT has been acquired by Warner Bros. with Pharrell Williams producing, and Tracy Oliver, the writer behind the hit comedy Girls Trip, set to write the script and direct.

Her newest project, the sweeping time travel trilogy STOLEN TIME, was acquired by HarperTeen, at auction in 2016. Foreign rights have already sold in France, Germany, Brazil and Spain.

Follow her: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook


REVIEW

Stolen Time (Dark Stars, #1)Stolen Time by Danielle Rollins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars









    “My darling, Alice. When you followed the white rabbit down the rabbit hole, you fell into a world where time was a circle instead of a line.”

I'm a huge fan of the time travel trope, so when I saw this book it was calling my name. First of all: GORGEOUS cover. It's so stunning and eye catching, but most importantly, the art represents the story perfectly. If you love time travel stories with some action and mystery, and/or a dystopian setting this will be the perfect read for you.

Dorothy and her mother are con artists running schemes in 1913 Seattle. She never had a choice in the matter, it was just how she was raised and the way she had to survive. Now her mother has forced her into what she thinks is the ultimate con: marrying her off to a wealthy surgeon looking for a trophy wife. She didn't have a problem attracting men with her captivating looks, but she wasn't interested in the kind of life he had to offer. She wasn't particularly fond of swindling people out of their money either, so on her wedding day she chooses to make her escape and get as far away as possible before she's caught by her mother. She had no idea how far she was about to go.

After stumbling upon Ash and his modified A-10 Warthog plane, he becomes her plan B. Despite his bizarre story of a destroyed city and and a flesh eating assassin terrorizing people back home, she's not swayed. He's going to pilot her to freedom whether he likes it or not. His destination: New Seattle, 164 years into the future. When they arrive, she discovers that the city is now submerged under water. Those who survived the great earthquake are now abandoned by the US government and their lives revolve around survival. This is one point about the book that took me a little by surprise. I wasn't really expecting a dystopian theme to the plot, but it wasn't an unwelcome surprise. It was a really original setting and concept that had some solid depth and complexity to it.

In the city, it's every man for themselves. But Dorothy is quickly introduced to the trusted few in Ash's inner circle. Not only are Zora, Willis, and Chandra all part of a team, they're best friends. Chandra, Willis, and Ash were all recruited by Professor Walker to be part of his Chronology Protection Agency for their specialized skills. He needed help in order to research the effects and possible consequences of traveling through history.

    “Scientists spent centuries studying concepts and coming up with ideas, but they were never tested, because they couldn’t be. Until the Professor came along.”

His journal entries describe his musings on paradoxes, possibilities of changing things in the past and future, and the events that led up to his sudden disappearance. These are interjected intermittently between chapters, and while it did slow down the pace for me in the middle a bit, it gave a lot of much needed information. The timeline of past and present are not linear, leaving some things a mystery for a good portion of the book. Why did one of their own betray them and join the Black Cirkus, a gang that terrorizes the streets at night? Where did the professor disappear to, and why? Is it possible for Ash to change the looming betrayal that he's seen in his persistent premonition?

Dorothy was an intriguing character with a backbone of steel. I never disliked her despite her morally questionable activities, because I could see that she never really had the option to explore another way of life until then. Being around Ash and his friends has given her an example of what it's like to be part of a supportive unit that looks out for each other's backs. It's obvious that she wants to be accepted by them and have a chance at becoming someone new. Proving her abilities, strength, and worth in this new world she stumbled upon. Used to being valued for her surface looks and how they can cheat people from their hard earned money, it's more than a little disconcerting when Ash sees beyond her physical appearance. It's more important to her that she's treated as an equal and not as if she's weak. The romance development wasn't heavy in this one, but there were hints here that things could have led in that direction.

I can't even begin to guess where the story will go next. This is one of those cases where I didn't have even the slightest inkling of the twist up until the last second. NONE! I appreciated the fact that the story was unpredictable and well thought out. There could have easily been plot holes galore with time travel in the mix, but it was obvious Rollins did her research on the scientific theories involved and plotted accordingly. I think book two has the rare potential to be even better than the first. After reading this twisted, jaw-dropper ending, there's no way I'm not reading the next installment as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.


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