Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King (Review)

Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary
Book Length: 307 pages
Publication Date: October 14th, 2012
Publisher: Little Brown
Format: Hardcover
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Synopsis:
Graduating from high school is a time of limitless possibilities--but not for Glory, who has no plan for what's next. Her mother committed suicide when Glory was only four years old, and she's never stopped wondering if she will eventually go the same way...until a transformative night when she begins to experience an astonishing new power to see a person's infinite past and future. From ancient ancestors to many generations forward, Glory is bombarded with visions--and what she sees ahead of her is terrifying: A tyrannical new leader raises an army. Women's rights disappear. A violent second civil war breaks out. And young girls vanish daily, sold off or interned in camps. Glory makes it her mission to record everything she sees, hoping her notes will somehow make a difference. She may not see a future for herself, but she'll do anything to make sure this one doesn't come to pass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 So I have finally read my first A. S. King book. Was I absolutely blown away by this book and am dying to read more by his author? Well...not exactly. Don't get me wrong, this was a very good book and I loved it, but I felt like this was a weird mix-up that this book was for me yet wasn't.

It's hard to describe how this book wasn't for me, but it's just that I felt like it was a little bit more of a mature YA and that I'm not entirely used to that since I don't read quite as much I think. I do believe that a lot of people would like this book, but trying to get used to it will take some time for me.

Another thing was that I didn't connect with any of the characters. And it primarily towards Glory herself. I felt like, especially earlier on in the book that she didn't care about anything or very little, but she did start to later on in the book and especially at the end. Another thing was that she was mean to her only really close friend in the book, and called her slutty especially in Part (Book) 2.

But this doesn't, by any means, mean that I hated this book despite what I have said about it. My favorite part of the book were all of transmissions Glory got (more of the future than the past) and how it affected her and Ellie (her best friend). And she wrote down what the transmission were that she saw in a book that she titled The History of the Future, and I think that the civil war she saw in entirely possible. I kind of wished that we got more transmissions about the History of the Future because, in my opinion, that was the most interesting part of the book.

Another thing that I liked was that all of the characters in the book do play a role in Glory's life. Although I do find it a little unrealistic how the major characters in the History of the Future were in Glory's city/area. Although since the transmissions were probably not real, I guess that makes sense but...it just annoyed me.

In the end, I would give Glory O'Brien's History of the Future a 4/5 stars. Even though I wasn't used to the more mature elements of the book and didn't connect with the characters, I loved learning at the History of the Future itself and how the characters did connect with it. The writing may not have blown my brain cells out, I still thought it was pretty good. I am excited to check out more of A.S. King's books in the future.