Book Review: Erasing Time by C.J. Hill

Erasing Time
Author:  C.J. Hill
Publisher:  Katherine Tegen Books, 368 pages
Publication Date:  August 28, 2012

From Goodreads:
When twins Sheridan and Taylor wake up 400 years in the future, they find a changed world: domed cities, no animals, and a language that's so different, it barely sounds like English. And the worst news: They can't go back home.

The twenty-fifth-century government transported the girls to their city hoping to find a famous scientist to help perfect a devastating new weapon. The same government has implanted tracking devices in the citizens, limiting and examining everything they do. Taylor and Sheridan have to find a way out of the city before the government discovers their secrets. To complicate matters, the moblike Dakine has interest in getting hold of them too. The only way for the girls to elude their pursuers is to put their trust in Echo, a guy with secrets of his own. The trio must put their faith in the unknown to make a harrowing escape into the wilds beyond the city.

Full of adrenaline-injected chases and heartbreaking confessions, Erasing Time explores the strength of the bonds between twins, the risks and rewards of trust, and the hard road to finding the courage to fight for what you believe in.

Review:
What a great book, a dystopian with  time-travel and just a bit of romance.  The book is mainly told through the POV of Sheridan, with some chapters from Echo's POV (all third person).  Sheridan is an eighteen year old high school senior who wants to be an English professor while her twin sister Taylor is already working on her Ph.D in particle physics.  They get pulled 400 years into the future, a future where the accents are so different is's hard for them to understand what people are saying, and the people look a lot different.  "Some had hair that stood straight up in colorful geometric shapes.  The rest had long hair colored with strange streaks, stripes, and designs.  Their faces were likewise decorated.  Some wore only smudges of color, others looked like they'd painted entire murals on their bodies."  

Echo and his father, Jeth, are wordsmiths--historians who study the progression of the English language so they are charged with looking after the twins.  Sheridan and Taylor quickly find out that the future is wildly different, where the people live in domed cities because the ecosystem has failed, all of the animals have died off, the government keeps a tight control over the people (no access to information that is not provided by the government), and religion is banned.  

Sheridan was a great MC, and I loved her relationship with her sister.  They have very different personalities, but they're smart and strong, and they work together to figure out how they're going to escape this city.  Sheridan finds herself attracted to Echo, but she's not sure she can trust him because he seems to be keeping secrets from them.  

The plot is engaging, the world-building is interesting and well-done, and no love triangle.  The characters have to make difficult, ethical choices and the author explores themes such as integrity and loyalty.  The ending wraps things up, but is left open enough.  My understanding is that the book was meant to be a stand-alone, but the publisher asked the author to write a sequel.  I really enjoyed this book.

Posted by:  Pam