Toward Yesterday

By: Paul Antony Jones

Narrated by: Alexander Cendese

Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

What would you do if you suddenly found yourself 25 years in the past? For the nine billion people living in the year 2042 it's no longer a question...it's a reality.

When a seemingly simple experiment goes disastrously wrong, James Baston finds himself stranded in the past alongside the rest of mankind. Here the old are young once more, the dead live again, and civilization is in chaos.

With the fate of humanity on the line, James must join a hastily assembled group of scientists, a reincarnated murder victim, and a genius trapped in her six-year-old body to reconcile the earlier mistakes of their future counterparts. The team struggles to prevent global extinction, and along the way they come face-to-face with their past losses, new loves, and a cold-blooded killer. As the team plummets toward a final confrontation, will they be able to undo time's unraveling in order to save the human race?

Revised edition: this edition of Toward Yesterday includes editorial revisions.

©2016 Paul Antony Jones (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Slow...so slow

The premise of this book is intriguing. However the delivery leaves much to be desired. Nearly 2/3 of the book is just describing the carnage going on around the main character in the same vein as The Scarlet Letter, painfully describing how the sunlight is bouncing off a blade of grass 3 different ways before moving on to the next long and drawn out description.

The time travel portion of the book is barely addressed at all, leaving many really interesting concepts unaddressed and unpursued by the storyline. While the last 45 min of the book finally picks up the pace, the ending left me unsatisfied with an interesting but largely unexplored resolution.

2 people found this helpful

sorry but this is one of the worst book.

this book took more than half of its time setting up the story. the second half to describe every little detail that nothing to do with the story to fill space. then took a middle school science class
test question to say the smartest people in the world didn't get. dumb!! to the author back the overblown description and come up with more of a story

2 people found this helpful

Can you check the time for me?

If you could sum up Toward Yesterday in three words, what would they be?

Original
Intense
Consuming

What did you like best about this story?

The original idea of the novel is at once standard fare done well ( a time leap ) and original ( what is the implications of the entire concept.) Very cool indeed!

What about Alexander Cendese’s performance did you like?

Again, I come back to the central voice casting ideas. Consistent, clear and original. He does all three, and it grows on the listener. Well performed, and I will look for him in future offerings.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The moment when "the event" occurred was highly compelling and described in relentless and profound detail.

Any additional comments?

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.

An excellent combination of author, idea and performance, this is a very unique book in the dystopian/timetravel category, and comes highly recommended.

6 people found this helpful

Creative concept; so-so implementation

Very early on New Year's Day of the year 2042 the people on earth find that the calendar has moved back 25 years to 2017. Most people are 25 years younger, many who died since 2017 were alive again, and people younger than 25 no longer existed. Creative contemporary sci-fi concept! The implementation is okay, but not as good as the concept. Overall Toward Yesterday is a worthwhile listen. It is made better by outstanding narration.

8 people found this helpful

Rip off

This hooks itself out as a book. It's not. It's an introduction to a series. It's not bad with some good thinking but the sudden gotcha ending leaves a very sour taste.

1 person found this helpful

Boring

What disappointed you about Toward Yesterday?

Lack of character development. Weak plot. Weak science.

Did Alexander Cendese do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I thought the presentation was good, there was just not enough material to work with in this novel.

1 person found this helpful

Interesting Idea - Could Have Been Fleshed Out More

Novel time travel premise - consciousness traveling back into earlier version of yourself. Entertaining story, and believable characters trying to figure things out and save the world.

Could have fleshed out characters and storyline a bit - climax felt rushed but ideas and way story narrated kept it interesting.

Better than average sci-fi.

3 people found this helpful

well read

i really liked the voice actor he was really good. i just wish the book was longer i feel like there should have been more story

2 people found this helpful

Really great book

I really enjoyed this! It reminded me a bit of the TV show Fringe at times. The narrator was very good. The narrator alone can make or break a book for me. I would be interested if there was a sequel. Not that there need be one. I will be checking out this authors other works.

2 people found this helpful

interesting therory

enjoyed the story line & its changing timelines. putting it all together as the story progresses must have been a writer's challenge. An excellant job & ending to possibly restart in another book

Time Slip Tale With A Difference

Another entertaining sci fi thriller from this author. He is excellent at reworking fairly standard themes into unexpected tales on a grand scale. He has a rare eye for detail which engages the listener all the more. The narrator is excellent. I have no hesitation recommending this book