Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs - OPTIONAL

Briggs, Elizabeth  Future Shock (Future Shock, #1), 265 pgs.  Albert Whitman and Company, 2016.  $16.99 

Content: Language: R (65 swears, 5 “F”); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13.  

Elena is in the foster care system and unsure of her future when she is approached by a tech company with a hard to resist proposal.  Aether Corp will pay Elena a large sum of money and give her a scholarship if she will work for them for one day.  Elena goes into the bargain unsure of what is expected of her, but when she finds out that she will be traveling to the future with four other teenagers, she accepts the assignment in the hopes of bettering her life.  What she finds in the future changes everything.  

I enjoyed the world building and the plot line of this futuristic novel.  The characters could have been better developed, because they weren’t easy to relate to.  I felt like too much of the novel was spent in the future, so the ending was rushed.  This is the first of a three part series but it can stand on its own.  

HS – OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.