R.A. Sinn: "A Second Chance for Yesterday" (ARC Review)

Title: A Second Chance for Yesterday [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: R.A. Sinn [Twitter | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi
Year: 2023
Age: 18+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Intriguing, inventive sci-fi twist on the Merlin Sickness trope. Relatable lead.
Cons: Requires some suspension of disbelief. The temporal disruption and its consequences can get confusing. The family issue resolution feels unearned. The ending doesn't give straight answers (if that's something that bothers you).
WARNING! A few scenes involve vulgar/inappropriate male nudity.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy narratives that play with time. Those who love redemption arcs and star-crossed romances.

Blurb: Nev Bourne is a hotshot programmer for the latest and greatest tech invention out there: SavePoint, the brain implant that rewinds the seconds of all our most embarrassing moments. She’s been working non-stop on the next rollout, even blowing off her boyfriend, her best friend and her family to make SavePoint 2.0. But when she hits go on the test-run, she wakes up the next day only to discover it's yesterday. She's falling backwards in time, one day at a time. As things spiral out of control, a long-lost friend from college reappears in her life claiming they know how to save her. Airin is charming and mysterious, and somehow knows Nev intimately well. Desperate and intrigued, Nev takes a leap of faith. A friendship born of fear slowly becomes a bond of deepest trust, and possibly love. With time running out, and the whole world of SavePoint users at stake, Nev must learn what it will take to set things right, and what it will cost. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Rebellion Publishing for providing an ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

SERIOUS FUN

Here's the thing: I love narratives that play with time because they're great fun (even the tragic ones, if you get my meaning). But I also love them because, at the same time (no pun intended), they're perfect to vehiculate philosophical concepts, or simply, to make you think. This one, while I'm not thrilled about the direction it went with regard to the family angle (more about that below - I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum), had a lot to say about ethics, redemption, and becoming, if not the best, at least a better version of yourself - and mind you, it managed to stay entertaining and to throw a few surprises at the reader in the process (though I should probably have seen at least one of them coming - but even if I didn't because I was engrossed with the story, and not because the twist was difficult to figure out, that's still a good thing!). [...]

SCIENCE AND CONSCIENCE
                              

All in all, ASCFY is light on the science (though SavePoint is said to be based on Rovelli's principle), and it's probably just as well, because I have to admit that the rewind technology requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. I can buy into a device that allows you to backtrack on an embarrassing interaction by sending you five seconds into the past, but for all purposes, by using such device you rewind time for your interlocutor and the people around you as well, which poses a few problems. I was hoping that the authors would give an explanation of sorts, which they didn't - but since the premise (outlandish or not) was the very thing that had drawn me to the book, I decided to just roll with it, and I did enjoy the implications it generated, both practical and ethical. When something goes wrong with SavePoint 2.0 and Nev starts living backwards, the story introduces some mystery/thriller threads and a star-crossed romance (involving a non-binary, pan character), but ultimately, the lead's moral development remains its fulcrum. By going backwards one day at a time and racing against the clock to sabotage SavePoint 2.0 before its launch, Nev gets the chance to reexamine (and question) her past choices, all while wondering if, in saving everyone else, she can also save herself. But regardless, she can still make amends for some of her past mistakes - or has she already?   

ON A SOUR NOTE

I have mixed feelings about the ending. In a way, it feels a bit anticlimactic, though appropriate - I think maybe a different execution could have strengthened it somehow. But what rubbed me the wrong way was the handling of a certain family issue. While Nev's confrontation with her parents is pivotal in her (reverse) coming-of-age journey, it doesn't exactly feel consistent with the "lead's mistakes" theme, since her parents were the ones whose actions caused irreparable harm, and they never owned up to it. The resolution here feels forced and unearned, and frankly, I think that Nev deserved better. Other than that, I really enjoyed this partly sad, partly humorous mix of time travel, thriller, coming of age and (budding) romance, and I'm looking forward to reading it again and pick up all the clues that I missed the first time around (wait, maybe I should reread it...backwards? 🤔 😉).

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Like this book? You might also be interested in Todd Mitchell: "Backwards".