Future Threat

I was really excited to read Future Threat by Elizabeth Briggs because I absolutely loved the first book. Elena's story has intrigued me from the very beginning, her adventures never stopped exciting me and Future Threat was a spectacular sequel. I wondered how Future Threat could match it's predecessor but it actually surpassed it on the scale of awesomeness.
Another day another adventure. Elena, Adam and Chris are sent thirty years into the future to recover a team of travelers -which includes the son of the owner of Aether Corporation- who were out of contact.
It is quite different from the first book in many ways but no less enjoyable. Elena is one character that is easy to love and fall for, Adam is just too freaking adorable albeit his tendency to keep secrets and Chris is just Chris <3. New lovable characters are introduced. While they cannot replace the space Trent and Zoe left in my heart (They are irreplaceable), they are awesome and I really love them.
The action is Future Threat was engrossing and left me on the edge of my seat. The main characters have changed in many ways, all of them still bearing emotional scars from the events of the previous book.
Future Threat is full of twists and turns that left me scared of the fate of the protagonists each time they made a decision because there is a lot more to lose this time. This installment in the series is full of time travel, it really explores how easy it is to screw up the lives of a lot of people with a single stupid decision.
Future Threat has a perfect ending that resolved most of the mystery and all my questions and gave us a glimpse of a happy and hopeful Adalena( That's my ship name for Adam and Elena). Filled with action, adventure, mystery, murder, time travel, romance, corporate espionage and cool technology, I can definitely say Future Threat has it all and is utterly perfect.
This is a SciFi book like no other, It manages to be distinct enough to be a special masterpiece. Elizabeth Briggs has made me a huge fan of her work with this bewitching series of hers, I can't wait for the next book. I gladly recommend this book to anyone who loves fantastic SciFi filled with adventure and a touch of romance.

Future Threat is the first book by Elizabeth Briggs that I have read and I honestly wasn't sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised and I loved the book! I highly recommend adding this to your reading list, you won't be disappointed!

As with many time-travel stories, the back-and-forth of the plot lines was a little confusing at times. Still, I like how the MC remained strong and determined to do what she felt was right throughout all of them. I also like how the many threads were tied up by the end -- I thought it was clever and intriguing how everything was woven together. I think my favorite part was the combination of Elena's fierce independence and vulnerability paired with Adam's sweet love and loyalty.

I really wanted to love Future Threat. I loved the first in this series. It was new, it was unique. It was awesome.

Future Threat was a really intense read, but it fell a little short for me. They had to go back to the future numerous times. I was frustrated with them! I was like, no! don’t do it. I felt like every time they were going to mess something else up. But something that Briggs did that was pretty great was the mystery behind what was happening. I honestly, never would have guessed and I didn’t.

I love these characters. But Elena was driving me nuts lol. Adam is super in love with her, everything about her but she kept pushing and pushing her away. I just wanted to slap some sense into her and different points in the story. Future Threat is an enjoyable read, despite all of that.

Like I said before, Future Threat is intense, it’s nail biting. I couldn’t turn the page quick enough. But I didn’t connect with the story the way I did with the first. Overall, I give this Four Boundless Stars.

This book is just as good as the first one! Im very glad I picked up the first book out of curiosity 😀

I saw this book on NetGalley and thought it sounded unique and interesting. Before reading Future Threat, I got the first book from the library. I read both books in three days and really enjoyed them both. It is a very interesting take on time travel and the ripples that only a few lives can make on the future.

If you know me you know my love for all things time travel and parallel life. I’m a sucker for stories where you get to see the future or what life could have been my making a change. To me these two things really go hand in hand. If someone travels into the future they are now creating a parallel life where this happens and that will change things. It is an endless loop of mind games and questions. And the newest book in the Future Shock trilogy, Future Threat, does just that.

Future Threat takes place 6 months after the end of Future Shock. Elena, Adam and Chris are trying to get back to their normal lives after everything that happened to them and what the Aether Corporation have done to them. But getting back to normal is easier said than done. Each of them struggle with what happened and with the memories they can’t forget, especially Elena. Prepared to never think about Aether or time travel again the 3 of them are once again approached by the company needing their help. Reluctantly the 3 of them travel 30 years into the future to help bring back another team of time travelers. While they are there things don’t go as planned and soon they all find themselves fighting to find a way to fix a future that they could lose forever.

I will say that I found Future Threat predictable. Not in a bad way. I mean I knew how it was all going to go down almost immediately, but I still was on the end of my seat trying to figure out if I was actually wrong or not. I was 100% entertained and interested the whole time. Part of that interest was because of all the parallel worlds that were formed because of changes. I honestly couldn’t stop thinking about them and how each choice these teens made in the future would essentially effect not only the past but the future from that past, if that makes sense. I was fascinated by how things changed so easily from visit to visit and was curious what it would all mean to the main couple, Adam and Elena.

Oh Adam and Elena. Elena killed me in this book. She refused to get out of her own way and I wanted to shake her. Actually I wanted to shake Adam too because it was so obvious what she was doing and he ignored it. They definitely frustrated me. But I also really liked there story and how even when they were being weird with each other they still had each other’s back. That is really important to who they are as characters and I was happy that was still the case. I also really liked how they responded differently to things they saw in their futures and wanted to work to make it all happened.

In the end I really liked this installment of the story. I liked where the characters went and how they changed and learned. And I loved the time travel aspect. The end was a little too cliff hangery for my liking, but just all the more reason to look forward to book 3. Final thought…thumbs up.

Future Threat takes up six months after Future Shock ends. Elena and Adam are together, at least as much as Elena can be with her survivors guilt and PTSD from the results of their last trip into the future. They are trying to get on with their lives after Aether Corp. messed with their future. One day Aether comes calling and asks Elena, Adam and Chris back to run some tests. They end up being drugged and forced to go back into the future to rescue another team that had not come back from their most recent mission. Forced, they strike a bargain. We’ll do this if you’ll leave us alone forever. Little do they know that bargain or not, their lives are in danger and it’s up to them to make sure they all come out of this mission alive.

This novel starts off quickly, and even though it had been quite a few months since I had read Future Shock, I very easily got swept back into this time traveler plot. Elena felt a lot of guilt over her previous teammates not returning to their own time. That guilt messed with her head during this entire novel, and it was overplayed just a touch. Don’t get me wrong, Elena is a strong, very likable character, but I felt that she hadn’t learned anything about trusting people, Adam particularly. I mean, what did he have to do? He already proved himself to her in Future Shock. I would’ve liked to see that relationship had progressed a little more. However, the tension between those two characters was a huge plot point and actually reached its conclusion in this book.

I loved the different glimpses into Elena and Adams future we were given. At one point Elena runs into herself and is told that she had to work really hard for any happiness she had. That lesson resonated, and was a pivotal moment in this book. It’s hard to remember what it was like when I was eighteen, but patience and hard work is not usually a virtue of the young, and Elena didn’t believe in herself, so it was nice the older, future Elena gave her that push in the right direction. I think this may just be a two book series because all of the characters loose ends were tied in a pretty bow. It would be kind of nice to see which future Elena and Adam end up with, so maybe this authors could give us a Future HEA?

My first thought was to begin this review with the word "fascinating", but then I thought maybe I said that in my review of the first book in this series, Future Shock. So I looked and I was right, "fascinating" all by itself was how I started that review. That word is pretty perfect to describe the series up to this point. These books are the can't put down type that keep you turning pages and then you want more. I would classify them as older young adult science fiction/mystery. If you have any intention of reading the first book in the series, than you need to know that this review is going to feature spoilers about that book. Can't be helped..

Six months previously, five teenagers with special talents were sent thirty years into the future in order to bring back technology by a huge corporation named, Aether. All but one of them, were foster kids, ones that have problems. They only had twenty four hours there, but, managed to find trouble on every corner. After being warned not to try and find out anything about their future selves, of course that is exactly what they do. And it's not pretty. Now there are only three members of the original team left. And the corporation has just sent them back again-against their will. It seems that even though their foray into the future was so messed up, the corporation has been sending another team back and forth on several occasions. Now the team is missing, so the original team is forced to go. This time they have only a few hours to find the other team. Should go smoothly, right? Wrong!

The main character is Elena. She has an eidetic memory, which means that she remembers everything. It's also the reason she was initially chosen to go to the future. She was a foster child, jumping from one home to another. Now she's on her own, in college, and has her own apartment-all thanks to the huge payment from Aether for her work. Also back for this installment is Adam, cute nerd extraordinaire. He was sent to the future due to his genius mind, although he was not a foster child. Elena and Adam are dating now, although Elena has no expectations that someone like Adam would ever stay around with the likes of her.The third character is tough guy, mechanically minded, Chris, who became close friends with Elena and Adam after their shared experiences. He's married now and his wife is expecting their baby in just a few days. None of them had any intentions of ever going to the future again after what they went through the last time, but of course it happens.

So that's all I am saying about the actually story this time. Suffice it to say that the book is a huge adventure, featuring murder and mayhem, and lots of edge of your seat moments. The question here is, will the team find the other group in time, and get everyone back to the past in one piece, or will life and death problems still plague this team, as happened previously.

The fascinating part is both the futuristic setting and the uncaring Aether corporation and all it's evilness. There's plenty of villains here, but there's also a descriptive vision of the future that I am sure the author had fun imagining. I also enjoyed the romance between Elena and Adam, and rooted for Elena to get over her self esteem problems when it came to Adam-foster child with a father in prison for killing her mom and a cute nerd that will someday win the Nobel prize for his medical cures-she can't see it.

Well written, paced, and plotted, I highly recommend this series to young adult and adult readers, ages 15 plus due to violence and language, but not sexual scenes.

I received a copy of this from Net Galley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

As soon as I realized that Rockstar Book Tours was hosting a blog tour of Future Threat by Elizabeth Briggs, I knew I had to take part based on how much I enjoyed last year's Future Shock, book one in the series. I'm tickled that I got the opportunity to read this ARC of Future Threat via NetGalley for this blog tour - and it didn't let me down at

Elena, Adam, and Chris are dealing the best they can with the aftermath of their last Aether mission six months ago. As far as they're concerned they're done with Aether and time travel, but Aether isn't done with them. They're forcibly recruited to rescue the missing members of another Aether time travel team. When they arrive thirty years in the future, it's much different and more advanced than the future they remember due to Aether reverse engineering tech brought back by the other time travel team. Unfortunately, the rescue mission goes south and they have to go back to the future again to try to make things right. They quickly realize that the future they go back to is different yet again with an all new set of consequences. If they want to save lives, they're going to have to master a steep learning curve.

Future Threat ups the stakes in some of the coolest ways from it's predecessor - in everything from the consequences to the gadgets. Just in case you've forgotten anything from book one, the author gives us a concise recap via our narrator, Elena, and we learn just how much her previous time travel experience has affected her life. We see how her relationship with Adam has developed as well as her friendship with Chris, her survivor's guilt, and her determination to make the most of whatever the future may throw at her. I particularly enjoyed seeing just how far our core cast has come since they were first introduced. As much as I liked getting to know more about Elena and Adam, I was hoping that we would get to know Chris just a little more. A good chunk of the story revolves around him after all.

If you've followed my blog at all, you'll know that time travel is one of my favorite things, but it can be tricky to do right. Luckily, the time travel here is done well. It gets pretty complex in this installment yet for the most part it isn't too difficult to keep up with what's going on at any given time. That being said, sometimes the story does feel a little overstuffed with all of the goings-on. I particularly enjoyed seeing the differences between all of the possible futures that our cast visits. It's fascinating to see what has stayed the same and what has changed. Trying to work out what caused these changes is certainly interesting to consider as a part of the mystery. My favorite returning future character has to be Wombat, but of course he's a bit different than how Elena and company remember him.

Overall, I highly recommend the Future Shock series by Elizabeth Briggs, especially if you enjoy Back to the Future (particularly Part II in this case) and Doctor Who. It has so much to like from time-travel thrills, diverse characters, an intriguing mystery, a dash of romance, plenty of fast-paced action, and mind-bending twists. Book three, Future Lost, can not come soon enough! How am I supposed to wait until 2018 to see what happens next after that final turn?

A VERY good sequel to the original - the original didn't leave me all that warm, but this more than makes up for it. With the characters now established I felt much more involved, and the action took me through. It was also, strangely, more heartfelt and I enjoyed the difference with Elena and how much she'd grown. Good read!

If you haven't read the first book you should. Not that the author doesn't try to fill in background so you could make sense of this volume on its own but because you will miss the richness and depth of the initial conquest of time and all the nuances of the relationships. Book 2 builds on all of this and you are cheating yourself of the full scope of this project.

This saga is more complex and multilayered as it expands on the earlier actions and tries to fix errors that changed the future. Buried inside the corporate spying and rescue missions is not one but several different murder mysteries whose resolution is the key to the paradoxes presented. This intricate cross-genre series appeals across a variety of tastes.

Having read the first volume from Netgalley I was delighted with myself that I had also snagged the second. Enjoy!

Really enjoyed this book. First things first this is book two and if you want to read this book I'd recommend you lovely readers check out this previous one first. I did end up jumping into this book not knowing about the previous book not sure if it was one of those stand alone but don't do that, read the previous one first. After reading the first, it was easier to follow what was going on in this great book. I'm not one for books with time travel is but this year I've been trying to branch out and find new books and this book definitely fit into the category of something I wouldn't read. Its hard to say why I enjoyed this book being that I don't want to spoil it for why this book is fantastic but trust me when I say you are going to want to get your hands on this book but read the first one of course.

It has been six months since the Aether Corporation sent Team Delta into the Future with a mission to bring back information on technology. Six months since the team discovered that, upon their return, they’d all be killed by one of their own. And six months since Elena Martinez stopped the real murderer and saved herself plus two other members of her team, while unfortunately losing two.

Elena is not dealing with the present very well. On the surface her life seems perfect: she’s going to school, living in her own apartment, and in a steady relationship with Adam. But inside, she’s still dealing with what happened six months ago. She’s filled with guilt over the loss of her two friends, and she’s still horrified at the murder she had to commit to keep the rest of them alive. She’s just waiting for Adam to leave her–like everyone else in her life—so she pushes him away. Plus, Aether has been keeping tabs on the three survivors, and Elena can’t figure out why.

Well, as it soon comes out, Aether needs the remaining team to head back to the future in order to save another team gone missing. Once there Elena, Adam, and Chris discover there’s more going on than a simple extraction of missing persons. This time around, the team discovers just how much their actions (or inactions) can affect the world.

Future Threat hit its stride as far as tackling the whole time-travel concept. It expanded so much on what was started in Future Shock and added so many layers and possibilities. I would say none of the concepts were completely shocking but the way Elizabeth Briggs presents the timeline is clear and easily accessible to those who are maybe less familiar with time-travel reading.

The feeling of the ticking clock is amped up in Future Threat as the group has less time to find the other team. In the first book, they were in the future for 24 hours. Here there’s only a hand-full, so this limited time frame really drives the story forward and makes it easy to read through very quickly.

I’d say the only issue I had was, unfortunately, with Elena. Who, when not being the smart-thinking woman we know her to be, was berating herself for having failed everyone by not being able to predict the future (ha ha). I grew tired of it very quickly. And the fact that this causes her to push Adam away kept me from being able to care about their relationship, which is a problem because a lot in the story revolves around their relationship.

As stated above, I really liked the way Elizabeth Briggs handles the future timeline. Expanding upon this is the idea/message that all of our actions have reactions or consequences. The smallest change in one timeline can have a major effect on another. I loved that these ideas were introduced in this book and I look forward to seeing how these are further built upon in the last installment in the trilogy. I loved that this story has a clear ending, no cliffhangers, but you can definitely see where the conflicts might crop up next.

You know when you get to spend time with a friend that you haven't seen in a while? And you wonder what things will be like since the last time you saw them? But you know that no matter what's changed in either of your lives, you're unbelievably excited to be reunited with them because you still care so much about them? Yeah. That's pretty much what it was like to open up Future Threat and see Elena's name on the first page.

Still reeling from the events of Future Shock, in which they lost two of their original team members and nearly their own lives, Elena and Adam are trying to adjust to a somewhat normal life. But Elena can't ignore the feeling that someone (namely Aether) is keeping tabs on her, and the black car that's been following them around for the last six months doesn't exactly help those feelings. Not to mention she's been suffering from severe PTSD ever since what happened during their last encounter with Aether. Factor in that, despite Adam being the perfect boyfriend, she can't seem to stop pushing him and anyone else away; and Elena truly feels like even after Aether is supposedly out of their lives, hers is still falling apart. And she feels as though she's to blame.

The action and intensity in Future Threat completely lived up to, if not surpassed, that of Future Shock, which is no easy feat for a sequel to such an incredible book. It seemed like our group of teenagers truly couldn't win in this one; and that no matter what they did, they were destined to lose someone. I don't want to give away too much about this book, since it's a sequel; but I will say that I was incredibly happy with the way certain things turned out, although there are of course other heart-breaking things I wish could have been avoided.

All in all, Future Threat was a fantastic sequel; and diving back into this world with Elena, Adam, and Chris was exactly like catching up with that old friend and knowing that, no matter how different things are, they're still the same wonderful person you fell in love with the first time around. Also still the same were the vivid writing, stunning detail, and elaborate world-building. This series has become one of my favorites, as has this author. I can't wait to dive back in with Future Lost in 2018 and see where Elizabeth Briggs takes me and this amazing group of characters next.

Initial thoughts upon finishing (more of a full review to come :) ):

In ways, this was more interesting - the murder mystery more convoluted. The future changing so much (which was more a plus and minus for me)

But in others, it was frustrating. Elena was ridiculously stubborn and self-centered. Chris dies and she doesn't think they should have stayed together (despite knowing how that future plays out) but that she should have taken his place. And her anxiety over her relationship was too much. They were almost never happy and she just shut Adam out, not caring that it hurt him each time.

It also bothered me that the future was so much more advanced and that it was because of the cheating. I get why it was done but i guess I just liked how realistic the first future was.

Adam is sort of less of a character here, which is also a bit sad because he was my favorite character in the first book. I liked the new characters well enough, but none of them necessarily stood out all that much.

The mystery was better here. I got the motive quickly enough but not the who or how. There were some surprises, for sure.

Definitely an interesting and suspenseful sci fi and I am excited for a third book where perhaps Elena is less neurotic.

Future Threat, written by Elizabeth Briggs, is the second book in the Future Shock trilogy. Last year, I had the pleasure of reviewing Future Shock and so I was eager to review this book at well. As with the first book, the pace is quick and the plot moves right along as Elena and the others zip back and forth through time once more. As with the first book, the fast pace makes both character and relationship development difficult, but at the same time, the characters don’t feel exceptionally flat. Elena is still an interesting, engaging and daring main character, while other characters fill their roles and provide support to the plot.

This science fiction adventure is lots of fun to read, and once again, the time travel aspect is very well written. This is a sequel that definitely builds off the first book, and keeps the twists and energy going. I enjoyed this book just as much, if not more, than the first, and I look forward to the third installment in this trilogy.

This book is a fast read, and written in a straightforward style that will appeal to many readers. Readers who enjoyed Future Shock are likely to enjoy Future Threat, as well as fans of science fiction, action, and teenage angst. This would be a good one to add to the summer reading list!

Best for ages 13 and up due to some scenes of violence and adult situations.

Future Threat is the second installment in author Elizabeth Briggs Future Shock trilogy. As the story opens, it has been (6) months since protagonist Elena Martinez was part of a research project called Project Chronos that sent a group of teenagers into the future 30 years in order to collect future technology. In those six months, Elena found a niche to fall into.

She's going to college, she is in a relationship with Adam O'Neill, the boy who will one day discover for a cure for cancer, and her own personal demons, Aether Corporation, has stuck by their agreement and left Elena and the remaining members of Team Delta alone. For her friend Chris, that means that he has had time to be with his girlfriend who is expecting their first son any day. How quickly things change.

Aether once again drags Elena, Chris, and Adam (formerly Team Delta) back into the fold after one of their newest teams, Team Echo, fails to return from the future. Given absolutely no option but to do what they are told, Elena and team once again find themselves 30 years in to the future. This time, things have drastically changed since the last time they were here. Things are more advanced, and some interesting twists have happened since there were there last.

For Elena, who has perfect memory recall, this trip to the future will test her in every possible way imaginable, including her relationship with Adam. As Elena & team track down Team Echo, Ken, Zahra, Paige, & Jeremy, they encounter some troubling aspects that lead them to find a way to prevent even more troubling effects from happening in the future.

I love the fact that Briggs doesn't leave readers in a lurch. She concisely summarizes what happened in the previous novel, but also gives Elena realistic issues like flashbacks, and nightmares to deal with. We see her struggling to come to terms with her relationship that has grown leaps and bounds over the past 6 months. And yet, she still believes that she somehow isn't worthy of being loved after what happened in the past.

We also see an Elena that is suffering from survivors guilt knowing that she survived when others weren't so lucky. One could say that this story is Elena's way of making things right for what she believes is her fault. It may put a heavy load of responsibility on her back, but she isn't going to leave anyone behind, no matter how much they desire otherwise.

The ending has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, but not because of anything that the author did. No, this book is a fantastic ride with a really fascinating storyline, and twists that will keep you guessing right until the ending. Rather it's because of what certain characters do behind Elena's back that has now forced her to rethink things. With one more book in the series to come, I dare say that I am hopeful of more Chris, and yes, even more of Team Echo who has become some of the more interesting characters you will read about.

Future Shock was a fast-paced, time-travel mystery full of twists and turns, and I was excited to see where the sequel, Future Threat, would go after finishing it last year.

Future Threat picks up six months after Future Shock ended with Elena, Adam, and Chris dealing with the aftermath of what happened in book one. They thought they were done with Aether Corp for good, but just when they thought they were out, they are pulled back in. Aether sends Elena, Adam, and Chris again into the future in order to save another group of teenagers who have been making trips into the future. After their mission goes horribly wrong, Elena and crew are sent back to the future for another time in order to try to fix their mistakes from their previous mission.

Time-travel books can be hard to pull off, but Elizabeth Briggs succeeds again with Future Threat. I loved seeing the different futures that were created based off of the different choices Elena and crew made. These parallel worlds were interesting and conjured up so many questions.

I was able to predict the outcome of the mystery fairly early in Future Shock, so I loved that the new mystery kept me on the edge of my seat while trying to guess what happens next. I really enjoyed the diverse cast of characters in Future Shock and was happy with the new additions that were introduced.

Overall, Future Threat was a strong sequel to Future Shock, and I look forward to reading the last installment of this thriller time-travel trilogy next year!

While I enjoyed Future Shock, it wasn't a book I was necessarily dying to re-read. So when I discovered the book would have two sequels, I added them to my to-read list and promptly forgot about them. If it wasn't for NetGalley, I might have never read Future Threat. I'm glad I did.

Future Threat picks up six months after the events of Future Shock. I don't want to spoil too much, but Elena and Adam are forced back into the future again for Aether Corporation. But unlike Future Shock, they don't go to one future but to three throughout the course of the storyline. With each future radically different, Elena and Adam go through a whirlwind of emotions over their possible fates and the obstacles they face.

The suspense and the actions are fantastic in this book, as is the romance and mystery. I think it can be entirely owed to the three futures the characters experience. I couldn't put it down at points (and read most of it in two sittings) and was completely shocked by the twist at the end. I now eagerly await Future Lost, which I unfortunately won't be able to get my hands on until 2018.

I won the first book in this series, FUTURE SHOCK (”FS”), at the end of spring last year, not long after it had been released. I had put FS on my TBR from the moment I first heard of it, because I am a sucker for time travel books (and seeing the cover clinched it for me, I will not lie). I will read anything and everything having to do with the idea of traveling through time (as well as to other worlds/universes)! Something about the concept captured my imagination when I was young and never let go. I love the consideration of all the possibilities time travel holds, as well as the paradoxes it may hold - even while thinking about the latter sometimes makes my head hurt!q

However, despite having won FS almost a year ago, I hadn’t yet found time to read it; so many books, so little time, as usual! When I saw the tour announcement, then, I jumped at the chance to take part, so I’d be “forced” to make time to read it. Luckily, I was not at all disappointed as I read through FS! I found it to be a great mix of mystery/thriller and sci-fi that dealt with time travel in a fairly simple and straightforward way. I didn’t have any lulls in reading; the story was exciting and had me constantly wanting to read “just one more chapter!” I experienced every emotion the characters experienced, and I could “see” the bleak future in which they found themselves as if I was there, too. Ms. Briggs even brought me to tears once or twice!

I was actually very happy that I had FUTURE THREAT (”FT”) in hand to read right away when I finished FS, because I enjoyed FS so much and had fallen in love with Adam and Elena. Now, FS does not end on a cliffhanger, and if you wanted to end your experience there, for some reason, you certainly could; Ms. Briggs excelled at telling a complete story in the one book. That said, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read more about Elena and Adam and, hopefully, to get a taste of how their actions in FS may have changed their future.

It’s fascinating to me to think about how all the little decisions we make in life impact and shape the future we will have, and to consider what would be different had we made a different choice, had we chosen the other path with which we’d been presented. Elena and Adam get an up-close, in-person look at how the future can be positively affected by altering their behavior in the present. However, in their second time travel adventure, they also find out that the future can be affected - positively and negatively - by their actions *in the future* to which they have traveled. At that point, they must decide whether or not to travel back to that future, to see if they can prevent tragedy from befalling their team – and if they make the attempt and it doesn’t work, then what? Do they try a third time? Is it even possible to get back to the seemingly perfect future they found at the beginning of the book, or have circumstances spun out of their control completely?

While FS spent more time acquainting us with the characters and the mystery behind the fate they each discover while breaking the rule against looking up their future selves, FT digs deeper into the paradoxes of time travel and the intricacy and fragility of “the future.” Elena, Adam, and the others are exposed to how quickly - and drastically - the future can be altered, even by what seems like such a small deviation from the plan. Ms. Briggs really gets the reader thinking about the “butterfly effect,” as it becomes clear how interconnected everything in our universe is. Because of this, the small change the group makes to their actions in their second trip to the future at the beginning of FT results in drastic, large changes to that future. Then they must decide if it’s worth it to try and override that mistaken change by making a third trip to the future. What if, in doing so, they accidentally make yet another small change that will add up to another drastic alteration of the future, and so on and so forth? When does it ever end? And should they be “playing God” in this way??

FUTURE THREAT is a smart, sophisticated book that really gets the reader thinking about time travel and all its potential possibilities and pitfalls. I kept saying, “but wait! what about xyz??” and “oh no, you can’t change the plan! that’s a terrible idea!” I loved how Ms. Briggs handled this complex issue without overwhelming the reader (or making my head hurt!). Like I said, I’m a sucker for time travel books, and FUTURE THREAT (as well as FUTURE SHOCK) is right up there with some of the best YA time travel books I’ve read.

I also want to make sure I mention how much I loved the characters, apart from all the time travel stuff, because I really did feel like I got close to them in both of these books. Adam is just…ADORKABLE!, and I loved him from pretty much the moment he appeared in the Aether conference room in FS. What can I say? He’s so very much my type! Chris is also a great character, a young man who’s had such a hard time in the foster care system and wants nothing more than to have a future in which he can be the great parent he wishes he had growing up. The new characters that we meet in this book are also likable, although they didn’t quite shine for me in the way that the rest of the original team (ie, Zoe and Trent) did in FUTURE SHOCK. 

As great as Adam, Chris, and the others are, though, my favorite character was definitely Elena. She was tough, smart, sarcastic, caring, empathetic, brave, courageous, daring, and so much more. I loved her tattoos, her self-doubt, her strength in the face of daunting odds, and her determination. She is the type of female main character that I LOVE to read about. I would dearly love to see more characters like her, and even more importantly, I know there are young women much younger than me who don’t just *want* to see characters like Elena, they *NEED* to see characters like Elena. Why? Because she is them. She reflects what many of our young women face, in one aspect or another, whether it’s as a foster child, as a Latina, as a smart girl with a talent (her eidetic memory) that she feels the need to hide, or as a victim/survivor of, and witness to, domestic abuse. I sincerely hope we will continue to see more and more great characters like Elena in YA literature, and I want to say thanks to Ms. Briggs for giving us such a wonderful, strong, complex heroine!

Well, this review was way longer than I’d intended for it to be, but I guess sometimes the words won’t stay put and feel the need to be set forth! For those who aren’t so in to reading long reviews, though, I’ll say this:

TL;DR – Read this series, especially if you enjoy time travel adventures and wonderfully complex, strong, courageous, but also flawed heroines!

Briggs has done it again in the exciting second installment of the Future Shock series! Although not quite as good as Future Shock, Future Threat is a thrilling ride with plenty of twists and intriguing mystery to keep a reader guessing. Also, Briggs seems to have a talent for writing novels that are enthralling – you can read the entire novel without realizing you’ve been reading for hours!

We return to the life of Elena a few months following the events covered in Future Shock. Aether Corp has promised to leave the ill-fated team of misfit teenagers alone and Elena struggles with PTSD. Meanwhile, the rest of the surviving crew are well on their way towards creating a better life for themselves using the Aether Corporation pay-off and are relieved to be done with time travel forever. Unfortunately, it seems Aether needs Elena and her friends’ help once again on a dangerous mission to save another team pushed into time travel like Elena’s crew. Elena and Adam struggle to fix the future once more in Future Threat by sleuthing out who is betraying Aether Corporation and destroying the future of the world.

Strong, bad ass characters? Check. Beautiful and creative futures? Check. Sweet and flawed romance? Check. Danger, intrigue and a murder mystery? Definitely. What else could a YA novel about time travel and corporate greed need?!

Elena Michaels is just as bad ass as the first novel in this series, but more broken. Her experiences in the future and her stand off with Lynne has left her with nightmares and extreme trust issues that have spilled over into her relationship with Adam. Meanwhile, Adam struggles to support Elena regardless of how much she pushes him away. Adam’s understanding and support are undeniably sweet and develop a relationship worth mentioning in YA literature: it’s a healthy relationship strategy and one that makes Adam’s love for Elena all the more realistic. I loved the Elena/Adam struggle mostly because while Elena is so damaged from her childhood and most recent events, Adam is patiently waiting for Elena to heal. However, I am a bit concerned that Adam will become Elena’s door mat because he does allow her to push him away in times when he needs her the most.

The time travel in this novel is just as interesting as the last with worlds very different and yet similar to today’s. I doubt the world will change this much in twenty years, but it still stokes my curiosity of what kinds of worlds Briggs will come up with in Future Lost. Extreme recession, Golden Age of technology, apocalyptic world, genetic warfare..it will be interesting to see what happens with the secrets revealed at the end of Future Threat. Readers are in for a treat.

Readers should must read the first installment of this series before venturing into Future Threat. The story will make sense to new readers, but the depth of the characters, their emotional turmoil and the effects of the events of Future Threat will be lost on readers without the first book. The Future Shock series is worth the read from beginning to end!

This novel will appeal to readers who enjoy time travel novels, mysteries set in futuristic worlds, murder mysteries and novels that centre around relationship drama. I would recommend this to readers who have had difficult upbringings since the character still maintains her edge and legitimacy throughout Future Threat and also recommend this to lovers of YA science fiction.

Future Lost is going to be awesome and people should not miss out on this series!

Such an interesting concept. Totally something I'd recommend to my students.