Loop

August 25, 2014
Debut author Akins introduces the
intricate world of Shifters—people born with the ability to travel through time—who are then trained (and monitored closely) by the government. Bree Bennis, a Shifter in training from the 23rd century, has traveled back two centuries to retrieve an item she left behind on a previous trip when the unthinkable happens. She somehow brings someone from the 21st century back to the future—a teenager named Finn, who insists that he has been ordered to protect her and now won’t leave her side. What follows is a complicated story that will test readers’ notions of time and how it might be manipulated. Bree’s and Finn’s relationship is enjoyably tense yet playful, their undeniable attraction to each other bridging the centuries they each call home. Akins opts for a light, humorous take on the time-travel novel (“blark” is mishap-prone Bree’s expletive of choice), but readers will still need to pay close attention, since the explanations about the mechanics of time travel can be tricky to follow. Ages 13–up. Agent: Victoria Marini, Gelfman Schneider.

September 1, 2014
Time-traveling, 23rd-century Bree creates a multiple-century mess that uncovers a conspiracy and, possibly, true love.Bree is a Shifter: Her brain mutation enables time travel. Shifters follow strict rules during their Shifts, relying on microchips in their heads to direct and track their movements through time and to prevent something mysterious and bad. Bree's mother is a time-traveling cautionary tale-theories behind her mysterious, Shift-related coma include a malfunctioning microchip, tampering or perhaps something more sinister. To pay her mother's hospital bills, Bree takes an illegal smuggling job through time. She botches it, losing her parcel. When she returns to retrieve it, she discovers that she already has-or at least, her future self has, and also had a relationship with a handsome boy from the past-awkward! Cryptic warnings from her future self and Finn's vow to protect her lead to her accidentally bringing Finn to the future-present. Trying to fix her mess, she follows her future self's clues toward a threat to the integrity of time. Initially disorienting and then seemingly impossibly tangled, the complicated plot will leave readers dying to know if debut author Akins can pull all of her pieces into a cohesive whole-and she does so with aplomb. Future and past selves provide a creative take on romance in a high-stakes, high-concept mystery that trusts its readers' intelligence. (Science fiction. 13 & up)

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July 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Bree is a Shifter, one of the lucky few born with the ability to travel through time. For Shifters in the 23rd century, history exams are hands-on affairs. When Bree's midterm sends her to the 21st century, she bungles it magnificently. The teen manages to kidnap a boy named Finn, lose a valuable device belonging to a temporal smuggler, and earn a 'D' for her trouble. Later, when she returns to retrieve the contraband, she accidentally transports Finn back to the future with her. Finn is now three years older than when they first met, and he claims to know-and love-Bree's future self. They trade witty banter as they investigate a mystery involving Bree's future actions, her comatose mother, and a conspiracy that stretches through the ages. The intricate plot circles back on itself, exploring themes of inevitability and predestination. Akins avoids many of the paradoxes that plague time-travel stories, laying out the rules of Shifting, then tweaking those rules without breaking them. While the time line gets a bit murky near the conclusion, the action and repartee come fast enough that few readers will mind. Loop is time well spent.-Tony Hirt, Hennepin County Library, MN

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