Waking Romeo

By: Kathryn Barker

Narrated by: Grace Cooper Milton, Tashinga Bepete

Kathryn Barker's Waking Romeo is a spectacularly genre-bending retelling of Romeo & Juliet asking the big questions about true love, fate, and time travel.

Year: 2083. Location: London. Mission: Wake Romeo.

It’s the end of the world. Literally. Time travel is possible, but only forward. And only a handful of families choose to remain in the “now,” living off of the scraps left behind.

Among them are eighteen-year-old Juliet and the love of her life, Romeo. But things are far from rosy for Jules. Romeo lies in a coma and Jules is estranged from her friends and family, dealing with the very real fallout of their wild romance.

Then a mysterious time traveler, Ellis, impossibly arrives from the future with a mission that makes Juliet question everything she knows about life and love.

Can Jules wake Romeo—and rewrite her future?

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

Critic reviews

“Original, ambitious, powerful. Barker’s ability to challenge the boundaries of genre and find light in the darkness is a gift.” —Melina Marchetta, Printz Award-winning author of Finnikin of the Rock

“The most beautiful, moving, and rigorously plotted time-travel novel I have ever read.” —Justine Larbalestier, author of My Sister Rosa

“A genre-bending masterpiece that effortlessly juggles classic literature, existentialism, time travel, and dystopia—with action and feels. I freaking loved every minute.” —Lili Wilkinson, award-winning author of Pink

“Waking Romeo is a stunning reimagining of the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet—meets Wuthering Heights, meets epic time-travelling extravaganza. Highly recommended for fans of science-fiction and timeless love stories.” —Books + Publishing (Australia)

“This brilliantly clever story brings together myriad dystopian futures, the concepts of fate and existentialism, and a disorienting but engaging tale of love and time—but not in the way you may first think. A fun read for fans of classic literature turned on its head, this is a spectacular genre-twisting tale.” —Claire Atherfold, Readings State Library (Australia)

“Waking Romeo is like nothing you have read before. It spans genres, adding twist upon twist you’ll never see coming. If you love dystopian, science fiction, and/or time travel YA, this one is completely, utterly, 100% for you.” —Kids’ Book Review (Australia)

Good audio performance, but confusing story

This was a lot. It’s a combination of time travel and Romeo and Juliet retelling/continuation, and Withering Heights retelling/continuation. I think it was a little for science fiction then what I was prepared for. I found it pretty confusing and sort of found myself dreading coming to the book after the 60-75% mark.

I do think this would be good for those who liked This is How You Lose The Time War as it somewhat reminded me of that but with more classic reimaginings. But if you’re ready to really think about the interconnectedness and work hard for the payoff, then this is for you.

Overall, I did like the concepts, but found it just a little too difficult to understand for me. I’d love to have the author talk about this book as I believe whole-heartedly that they probably did a ton of research and mapping for this one.

2.75 stars rounded up.

The voices

I loved the accents and the emotion behind everything. Really gave me a visual picture in my mind