Berkley Trade
(October 3, 2006)
256 Pages
$9.99
(paperback)
You know, they better be joking about that '256 pages' part (I'm going to have to go check) because if not, then this is the third book in a row I've read/reviewed that's 256 pages...
Popsicle takes on the idea of someone--teenage Floe Ryan--contracting an illness and the next thing she knows, it's tens years later and she finds out she's been frozen. Or vitrified, actually. You'd be amazed how much can change in ten years. Like, your little sister can become your older sister and--because your parents also got the same disease and were also frozen and still are--said sister is now your guardian.
Such is Floe's life. Sounds interesting and just enough problematic that it'd make for a great novel, right? Throw in Star Trek-y jumpsuits and it sounds even better. Problem is, time travel books almost have to be perfect because there are so many opportunities for plot holes.
I understand that ten years was probable chosen because it was enough that things could understandably have changed drastically but Sunny, Floe's sister, and Floe's friends would only be twenty six, but enough things were supposed to be different for the kids she was going to school with that 10 years didn't make sense, really. (Even if they were tenth/eleventh graders, they would have been in school for eleven or twelve years which means they would have had at least a year or two of school 'the old way.')
Another thing (about the crazy names now) could have just been not written well and actually meant the babies but then there were some high school kids with odd names and they would be sixteen or seventeen...
Floe's sister and brother-in-law, were very inconsistent characters, too. one or both of them would be one way and then be another way (with or without a transition), the scene would end and the new chapter would start and the change would be reversed just because. A few of the other secondary characters were like that as well, but to a lesser extent. It wasn't even like a roller coaster--unless in the future roller coasters involve teleporting (more sudden).
All of that said, the author did come up with some interesting ideas for the future, so if you want to read this book for that, then it's fun but the problem is that it tries to focus on the relationships and stopping the Cryonics Center from being shut down and I don't feel there's enough strength behind that.
This could have been a great book, looking at the ethics of the Cryonics Center and 'freezing' people or Floe and Taz (the other person thawed with her and her 'love interest') transitioning into life again--which it tried to do--but I felt like this book just scratched the surface.
The Amazon reviews are really good though so perhaps I'm being too picky with the book and others will enjoy it. I give it 6/10, though.
The sequel is: Beyond Cool
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