Call it Consequences — A Review in Brief
Two quick notes:
First, admittedly, I have not kept up with reviewing many books, mainly because a majority of the books I read are textbooks for grad school. Perhaps someday I’ll get back to that, but I do enjoy writing some poetry in the meantime.
Second, I tend not to enjoy YA novels. Likewise, I tend not to enjoy Sci-fi. Both genres have been so filled with cheap tropes, trashy writing, and often predatory plot points. So, when the author of Call it Consequences reached out to me and asked if I would write a review for her new time-travel, YA book, I immediately said yes. The thing about Alli Prince is that, though I am not familiar with much of her other work, I am familiar with the mission behind her writing, and it’s one I can get behind. At the very least, I trusted her to deliver an adequate story. This, she did, and more. Perhaps the source of my praise for this book stems from being pleasantly surprised by the fact that I enjoyed it as much as I did.
There’s a mysterious agent, there’s a woman in time, and there’s a… bird in the KFC? Call it Consequences by Alli Prince can only be described as an energizing work of speculative fiction. Lorraine Sullivan’s life had been entirely uprooted by a scientific experiment gone wrong, one that killed her mother and left her father obsessed, disgraced, and seemingly unreachable. But it also left her with something else… (You’ll have to read the story to find out what—I don’t make the rules).
Alli Prince does a stellar job digging into the nitty-gritty of a time travel story without burdening the reader with so many details of the science behind it as many sci-fi books tend to do (Magic systems, including speculative technologies, should not necessitate any excessive explanation to justify their existence. Prince does not fall into this trap). Despite its timey-wimey nature, I could hardly call the book sci-fi. It is simply a good story. But what makes it good?
It has been said that good stories reveal the human heart—they are not meant to cater to our escapist fantasies. This book offers a good story. It is a lens to look at our own grief and guilt, forcing us to face questions like: “If you could fix the moment that broke your family, would you?” and “What if we could make the sad untrue?” Call it Consequences may fit into the speculative fiction genre, but it is a confrontation with real ideas and emotions you will face in your life. Love does not necessitate the absence of evil. Healing does not need to wait upon the expunging of pain. Call it Consequences reveals that, ultimately, our suffering becomes meaningless if it can be undone by our own actions.
If it’s not clear, I am encouraging you to read this book. The snarky dialogue will keep you reading, and the heart of the story will keep you growing.
4.5/5
The book releases only a few short hours from when I am writing this, so consider going and checking it out. If these sorts of books aren’t your cup of tea, as they usually aren’t mine, try it anyway. You might be pleasantly surprised. You can find the book on Amazon or, I’d imagine, wherever else you get your books. I’ve linked the Author’s website below as well.