The Future of Us

I wanted to like this book. Really I did. I loved the nostalgia. AOL. CD-ROMs. The whole nine yards. I remember when Facebook first came out and the good old days when I had dial-up internet. It was definitely great to reminisce and think how simple a time it was. But that’s where the goodness of this book ends.

I felt like the whole “time travel” plot that The Future of Us was supposed to portray was weak and underdeveloped. The authors played the key point about how what you do in the present affects the future, but that’s pretty much a given. There was no part that stood out, no big climactic event that threatened the characters in any life-changing way. I mean, sure, after realizing what was going on they adjusted and things came to a head, but it wasn’t as big or momentous as it could’ve been. It just felt so dumbed down and simple to me, I really couldn’t get into it.

Not to mention Emma was annoying as hell. I really didn’t like her at all. The other characters didn’t do anything for me either and it was really an unbelievable kind of story when really, if the authors tried harder, it could’ve been something great. Emma and Josh’s relationship was pretty childish and they didn’t even do much “time travel” business. Most of what happened in the book fell along the lines of “do something different today, see a different status on Facebook that night” kind of thing. Pretty lame if you ask me.

I’d say, if you’re up for nostalgia, a nice trip down memory lane, and you really don’t have anything else to read, give this a try. If you don’t care for any of it, don’t even bother with this one. Chalk this one up to false intrigue.