Chuckles Retro Reviews: Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs (Future Shock #1)

Elena Martinez has street smarts, the ability for perfect recall, and a deadline: if she doesn’t find a job before she turns eighteen, she’ll be homeless. But then she gets an unexpected offer from Aether Corporation, the powerful Los Angeles tech giant. Along with four other recruits—Adam, Chris, Trent, and Zoe—Elena is being sent on a secret mission to bring back data from the future. All they have to do is get Aether the information they need, and the five of them will be set for life. It’s an offer Elena can’t refuse.

But something goes wrong when the time travelers arrive in the future. And they are forced to break the only rule they were given—not to look into their own fates. Now they have twenty-four hours to get back to the present and find a way to stop a seemingly inevitable future—and a murder—from happening. But changing the timeline has deadly consequences too. Who can Elena trust as she fights to save her life?

My Review: 
I first read this book in July 2017. I had fallen out of love with YA in previous years, wasn't a huge fan of sci-fi or reading a lot about time travel, so it was a surprise that I decided to read this one but I'm glad I did. I re-read this book in November 2018 so I could move on and complete the trilogy.

Elena is two months from being ejected by the foster care system and still cannot find a job as nobody seems interested in hiring her. Help comes when a tech company offers her the chance to take part in their tests for more money than she could have hoped for. Despite her suspicions that she isn't being told the truth and that she is being used in some way, Elena feels she has little choice but to agree. This money will set her up for life and give her a future, which she doesn't have at the moment. She is teamed with Chris, Adam, Trent and Zoe, each with different complementary skills for the task ahead. They are being sent ten years into the future for 24 hours to gather information on technology and come back. The scientists are confident that the employees of the company ten years in the future will be there to meet them and assist with the mission. What could possibly go wrong?

A lot. They arrive in the future to discover that the tech company is gone and the building is deserted so there is nobody there to guide them. As they start to explore the local area, it becomes clear that they are thirty years into the future and don't recognise any of the technology being used in everyday life, which makes them stand out in the wrong way. As instructed, they start to note what they can to take back, through Zoe's drawing skills and with the use of Elena's memory. It is when they try to buy something that they discover that all citizens are entered in a computer database and if you aren't on it, you can't buy...but why is only Adam in it? Why are the other four not there? It is then that they decide to break the golden rule of the Aether Corporation not to look up information about their future selves...

I grew tired of YA fiction several years ago because of the tropes and the same tired plots. I liked the idea of this one so I risked giving it a try and I really enjoyed it. Part of what made this book was the characters. I liked Elena as the MC as she wants to find a better future for herself and help her foster sister too. She is struggling to get anyone to give her a chance at a job and the offer from the company just seems to be the answer to her prayers. I had sympathy for her and liked the way she stood up for Adam when she first meets him, and how capable she is having been through the foster care system. She is also the smart one who is questioning the situation, and is disturbed before the trip to discover that they are not the first attempt to go into the future. What went wrong with that mission and why are Aether claiming that they are the first to be sent? 

I grew to like the group dynamic. I wasn't sure I was going to like Trent and Chris when they were fighting with Adam but as soon as they got to the future and started working together, I grew to like them all. Things start to get interesting when the group start wondering about why Adam is the only one in the database. Does this mean that in thirty years time the rest of them are dead? It is decided that they should try to find Zoe's sister who might still live in the future city and see what she can tell them about her. What she says is shocking and leads to a very tense visit to the library to find out more about their future selves and past events. I very much enjoyed this twist in the story and what we find out there starts off a chain reaction of events that is fast paced and entertaining. I don't want to go into any more detail but I will hint at getting help from a couple of future selves which is fascinating. I liked the idea that there was an event in the past that Elena wanted to change but was at a loss as to how she would be able to do it, wanting to keep the details from her new friends.

It wasn't a complicated story despite the time travel and science elements. It doesn't focus on how the time travel works and the reader is told very quickly that it works without a ton of heavy tech explanations, which I liked. It was more a story about finding out your future and trying to change it in the space of a few hours. It was tense and dramatic and I kept wondering how they could change things. Also the way it ends sets things up for all kinds of sequels. Time travel fascinates me and if it is done well, it can be quite exciting. This was a book that did it well and I'm interested to see what happens next so I'm going to grab book two as soon as I can. I recommend this to those interested in time travel and trying to change your destiny. There is also some minor romance in the background but it does fit the story nicely without becoming more important than the plot and the book is well paced throughout.

The book had the perfect balance between characters and plot, working in harmony together. I would be interested in other books by the author in the future.

Read July 2017, November 2018.
5 stars.