Erasing Time by C.J. Hill

I have this one as an ARC, but it comes out at the end of the month (August 28^th). I’m really glad I read this one. A) It was pretty awesome. B) I’m trading it (along with another book) for two new dystopias! And C) It was just so unique and I’m not used to unique dystopias any more.

It’s about teen twins, Sheridan and Taylor. Taylor is the smart one. And when I say smart, I mean child prodigy –already working on her graduate degree in physics– smart. And Sheridan leans more toward reading novels. I kind of liked that for once it’s the smart sister that attracts the most boys. But, clearly Sheridan is the more centered around main character. She’s relatively normal and easy to relate to.

Any way, everything in the girls’ lives changes when a light appears in their bedroom. Both girls get sucked into what we learn later is a time strainer, an honest to goodness time machine. And they arrive hundreds of years in the future. They wind up in a lab filled with arguing scientists speaking a very different, evolved form of English that practically is a foreign language to the twins.

The scientists of the future wanted to bring back a scientist from the past: Tyler Sherwood who helped create the time machine in the future. In other words, they needed his help to improve the machine. But, clearly something went wrong when two teen girls showed up instead. The scientists bring in wordsmiths Jeth and his son Echo, to translate. They had been studying Taylor and Sheridan’s time period for a length of time and understood how to communicate effectively with them. Though apparently this doesn’t include them understanding metaphors, euphemisms, slang, or sarcasm.

The girls are sort of heralded from one dangerous place to another. There’s threats of memory swipes, murder, torture, and imprisonment. What made this book a dystopia was the very scary world Jeth and Echo live in. Everyone has crystals implanted in their arms that work as locators so the government always knows where you are. There’s rules and blocks on all kind of information. There’s propaganda commercials that won’t turn off in the cars. And there’s a mafia type group that seems just as interested in the twins as the government does.

It soon becomes clear to both Taylor and Sheridan that they need to get out before their memories are taken and before they can get trackers placed into them. It would be much easier to escape before they are too trapped. There’s a mafia type gang that captures them. There’s evil torturing scientists that interrogate them, there’s wild goose chases among the streets of the future, there’s romance between Sheridan and Echo (a boy who’s lost his twin brother to the gang, there’s outlawed religion, and plenty of plain old problem solving and quick thinking that make this book so much more believable.

This book is action-packed! I loved reading about the future! I loved how the girls could talk in metaphors and no one would understand them! I loved listening to the twins try to explain religion to the people of the future. I loved the romance. This would be a great book to turn into a movie, if anything just to be able to see all of these remarkable things that I have been imagining!

I also loved all the characters. I loved how smart Sheridan (the normal twin) was. I loved how strong and brave the girls were, and ho unwilling they were to give up on their beliefs even when laser boxes (kind of the new and improved shotgun) were being pointed at them.

I’m not a huge fan of the name, Echo. I also think both girls were sometimes a little too quick with things like picking up the future lingo. Though, this did come in handy. I was fascinated with the crazy world outside the city limits, and it was scary watching the girls learning the hard way that they couldn’t just go out on their own. I kind of would love to hear more about the one-handed killers (who seemed to eat people?) It was also a little slow for me in the beginning. I didn’t see how it was a dystopia till a little bit later, and then I think I liked it a lot more. After a relatively slow start, it was nothing but speed, adventure, escape, and survival –all great elements for a new YA dystopia!

I have to mention that the combo of time traveling, twins, dystopia, romance, the future, rebellion, mafia, and a pinch of zombie was just so awesome! What’s not to like? Really, this book was so much fun! I can’t wait to hear what more people have to say about it.  It gets a 10/10 from me!