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Waking Romeo
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
2083. London. 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?
2083. London. 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?
373 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2021
51 people are currently reading
5481 people want to read
About the author
Kathryn Barker
3 books82 followersKathryn Barker was born in Canberra, started primary school in Tokyo and finished high school in the woods outside Olympia, Washington State.
In the years that followed she went to university, became a lawyer, completed her masters in film production and worked in television.
Kathryn's first novel, In the Skin of a Monster, was published to high acclaim winning the Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel, being short-listed for two Davitt Awards and recognised as a CBCA Notable Book.
Waking Romeo is her second novel, published by Flatiron Books internationally and Allen & Unwin in Australia and New Zealand.
Kathryn lives in Sydney with her family.
In the years that followed she went to university, became a lawyer, completed her masters in film production and worked in television.
Kathryn's first novel, In the Skin of a Monster, was published to high acclaim winning the Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel, being short-listed for two Davitt Awards and recognised as a CBCA Notable Book.
Waking Romeo is her second novel, published by Flatiron Books internationally and Allen & Unwin in Australia and New Zealand.
Kathryn lives in Sydney with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
Want to read
May 18, 2017That's like the weirdest ever synopsis but sure, let's go
December 17, 2025
Despite such a beautiful cover and a promising concept, this messy written book left me quite disappointed. However, I really liked some of the thoughtful dialogues in the book.
“𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧,” 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙅𝙪𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙘, “𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙨 𝙪𝙨.”
“𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧,” 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙅𝙪𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙘, “𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙨 𝙪𝙨.”
December 17, 2021
This time pretzel is making me thirsty. Kathryn Barker has turned some tried and true classic storylines inside out and upside down. My brain hurts, but in a good way. Have you ever yearned for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to be redeemed? What about the bad boy Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights?" All is not lost. Juliet (Jules) may have more backbone than we thought and she will be a part of the mission to wake Romeo and save the world. Those two things may or may not be connected. Just kidding. In this book, everything connects to everything else -- often in surprising and fresh ways. You have to read it to believe it. If you love a good time-traveling tale, this is the book for you!
Thank you to Flatiron Books and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Flatiron Books and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
forthcoming
September 22, 2017"ROMEO AND JULIET meets WUTHERING HEIGHTS."
Riiiiiiiight. B/c neither of them is miserable enough by themselves . . .
Riiiiiiiight. B/c neither of them is miserable enough by themselves . . .
January 10, 2022
3.5/5 stars, the retelling of Romeo and Juliet and historical aspects was interesting!
Thank you to Flatiron Books for a physical advanced-readers copy in exchange for an honest review!
I absolutely adore retellings of anything from fairytales to classic stories, so when I was reached out to by Flatiron books to review this, I said yes immediately. Going into this story I was expecting just a retelling of Romeo and Juliet in the future, with some science fiction aspects. But I got a lot more than that, a retelling for sure but also a rewrite of some historical events which was interesting, and time travel! I haven't read many books about time travel so I was very excited.
It's the year 2083 and the end of the world, literally. Time travel has been proven to be possible, but you can only move forward, and everyone has left these years behind. Juliet and her family choose to live in the present but live on scraps, but she lives with the love of her life Romeo. However Romeo lives in a coma and Juliet is estranged from her friends and family, dealing with the fallout of their teenage relationship. Then a time traveler Ellis arrives from the future, defying every law Juliet thought was real about the future, and tells her they must wake Romeo. This mission makes her question everything, especially about her life and the love she chose.
While it seemed to set up for a very interesting story, I had a few smaller problems with how the plot actually played out. I think at times it went by really fast, and we were jumping through plot points too fast for me to understand what was going on. Pacing is something that takes time to master, and while this isn't a debut, it can still be easily seen as a newer author. I think that was my biggest complaint about the book because while it was interesting, it was hard to keep up with at times!
The setting being in a future where humanity has discovered time travel and everyone has messed up the life for others, was not too far off haha. Of course, the time travel was, but seeing the impact we all truly have on each other just reinforced my concern about global warming. There were a few more places the story traveled other than the future which was interesting, and I won't spoil them but I enjoyed seeing how history came to play as well.
Juliet "Jules" was a nice main character, but not really memorable. She reminded me a lot of every other main character in ya romances, and literature. This isn't bad though, as these character traits keep coming back for a reason, they are successful. I just wish she had a bit more depth to her character, but I appreciated her growth that happened in the background. She ended up being a really strong character and took control of her own story.
Ellis was simple just like Juliet but I can see how that really worked for this story. He was sweet and kind, and exactly what Juliet needed to discover her worth. However, I never fell totally in love with him. He could've been built up much earlier in the book, he was much later. His past was really interesting however but I wish it had been earlier.
The romance in this book was sort of insta-lovey, it's complicated and I don't really know how to explain it cause the time travel was confusing. I didn't really adore it, it came on too strong in the beginning for me and then kinda fizzled out, but turns out it didn't. Again I think the time travel confused me more here, but I didn't mind the romance entirely.
Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to readers who are looking for a retelling that's out of their comfort zone, or the typical retelling. It was interesting and as long as you can keep up with the time travel it should be a pretty okay story. While it was a bit more middle of the road for me, I appreciated the complexity of the time travel and the uniqueness of the story.
[TW: mention of suicide, death of a family member, suicidal intentions, guns, depiction of PTSD, ableism, mutilated bodies, self-harm (mention and scars), and blood (light)]
Thank you to Flatiron Books for a physical advanced-readers copy in exchange for an honest review!
I absolutely adore retellings of anything from fairytales to classic stories, so when I was reached out to by Flatiron books to review this, I said yes immediately. Going into this story I was expecting just a retelling of Romeo and Juliet in the future, with some science fiction aspects. But I got a lot more than that, a retelling for sure but also a rewrite of some historical events which was interesting, and time travel! I haven't read many books about time travel so I was very excited.
It's the year 2083 and the end of the world, literally. Time travel has been proven to be possible, but you can only move forward, and everyone has left these years behind. Juliet and her family choose to live in the present but live on scraps, but she lives with the love of her life Romeo. However Romeo lives in a coma and Juliet is estranged from her friends and family, dealing with the fallout of their teenage relationship. Then a time traveler Ellis arrives from the future, defying every law Juliet thought was real about the future, and tells her they must wake Romeo. This mission makes her question everything, especially about her life and the love she chose.
While it seemed to set up for a very interesting story, I had a few smaller problems with how the plot actually played out. I think at times it went by really fast, and we were jumping through plot points too fast for me to understand what was going on. Pacing is something that takes time to master, and while this isn't a debut, it can still be easily seen as a newer author. I think that was my biggest complaint about the book because while it was interesting, it was hard to keep up with at times!
The setting being in a future where humanity has discovered time travel and everyone has messed up the life for others, was not too far off haha. Of course, the time travel was, but seeing the impact we all truly have on each other just reinforced my concern about global warming. There were a few more places the story traveled other than the future which was interesting, and I won't spoil them but I enjoyed seeing how history came to play as well.
Juliet "Jules" was a nice main character, but not really memorable. She reminded me a lot of every other main character in ya romances, and literature. This isn't bad though, as these character traits keep coming back for a reason, they are successful. I just wish she had a bit more depth to her character, but I appreciated her growth that happened in the background. She ended up being a really strong character and took control of her own story.
Ellis was simple just like Juliet but I can see how that really worked for this story. He was sweet and kind, and exactly what Juliet needed to discover her worth. However, I never fell totally in love with him. He could've been built up much earlier in the book, he was much later. His past was really interesting however but I wish it had been earlier.
The romance in this book was sort of insta-lovey, it's complicated and I don't really know how to explain it cause the time travel was confusing. I didn't really adore it, it came on too strong in the beginning for me and then kinda fizzled out, but turns out it didn't. Again I think the time travel confused me more here, but I didn't mind the romance entirely.
Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to readers who are looking for a retelling that's out of their comfort zone, or the typical retelling. It was interesting and as long as you can keep up with the time travel it should be a pretty okay story. While it was a bit more middle of the road for me, I appreciated the complexity of the time travel and the uniqueness of the story.
[TW: mention of suicide, death of a family member, suicidal intentions, guns, depiction of PTSD, ableism, mutilated bodies, self-harm (mention and scars), and blood (light)]
April 30, 2022
Jules and Ellis have been nominated for so many awards! The dog is celebrating.
Happy Release Day in the US Jules and Ellis!!! Don't forget to Wake Romeo Before Nightfall...
I've been waiting three years to read Waking Romeo. And it did not disappoint. Although, as usual, time travel and I do not get on. I love the concept, but the details do my head in.
Waking Romeo is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet, from the point after they die, in the 2080s. They both survived Shakespeare's 'death' (And he only wrote 35 plays by 2083.) Jules has horrific scars and an arm with no feeling. Romeo is in a coma.
There’s a strong influence on the story from Wuthering Heights. The book has a staring role. Ellis is from the time of Wuthering Heights, but he’s not who you might think he is. Due to Romeo’s coma, Ellis and, when he recruits her, Jules, have to Wake Romeo, before nightfall. But which nightfall? In which time period? And stop skipping through time, you two, you’re making my head spin!
As to be expected in a book about time travel, the action is set across three centuries, although the main events are in the future – from our perspective. Jules and Ellis often experience an event with Jules or Ellis from a different time (yes, my head is still spinning). They resort to asking, "What happened from your perspective?" Sometimes the answer is "No comment."
Jules’ narrative starts in 2083 and Ellis is at the end of time. In case you were wondering, there is an end to time. Additionally, time can break. At this time, I am broken… After Jules and Ellis meet (who knows when) they jump to 2056, as you do, in order to fix their timeline.
Back in the 2030s (I think) humanity discovered time travel, but only forwards. What could possibly go wrong? Unsurprisingly, it caused the apocalypse. Who wants their own shitty life when you might have a better one in the future? Thus the reader, from whatever time, lands smack bang in the middle of a dystopia, when we meet Jules and Ellis. And things are dire.
I had this idea that once time travel messed up the world, doing more time travel could only make things worse. But what do I know? There’s experts who (supposedly) know how to fix it all.
Waking Romeo is a love story, but the romance has a twist. All the tropes of romance are interrogated (and found wanting):
- love triangles
- insta love (fka love at first sight)
- true love
- soul mates
- girl hate over a boy
- What even is love?
Feminism, toxic relationships, racism and ableism are all important themes driving the storyline. And the cause of all the drama - attempted suicide, and how it affects those left behind. I often have difficulty reading books with suicide in the story, but I didn't here. Who knows why.
Then there’s the ethical dilemma of So many questions. Jules and Ellis may have the answers.
There’s much to love about Jules’ and Ellis’ story and much to scramble my brain. Ellis agrees with me:
This is from my blog https://ofceilingwax.wordpress.com/20...
************
Even though I bought this pretty much the day it was released, and I've been waiting 3yrs for it to be published, I didn't start reading it for 2mths. Well, I've read it now!
18/02/21
I get to read this next month! I'm so excited.
Happy Release Day in the US Jules and Ellis!!! Don't forget to Wake Romeo Before Nightfall...
"If it wasn't some Epic Love Story, then it was just a tragedy."
I've been waiting three years to read Waking Romeo. And it did not disappoint. Although, as usual, time travel and I do not get on. I love the concept, but the details do my head in.
Waking Romeo is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet, from the point after they die, in the 2080s. They both survived Shakespeare's 'death' (And he only wrote 35 plays by 2083.) Jules has horrific scars and an arm with no feeling. Romeo is in a coma.
There’s a strong influence on the story from Wuthering Heights. The book has a staring role. Ellis is from the time of Wuthering Heights, but he’s not who you might think he is. Due to Romeo’s coma, Ellis and, when he recruits her, Jules, have to Wake Romeo, before nightfall. But which nightfall? In which time period? And stop skipping through time, you two, you’re making my head spin!
"The fate of all life on Earth can be a bit much to process on a daily basis. But a tree? Now a tree you can fight for."
As to be expected in a book about time travel, the action is set across three centuries, although the main events are in the future – from our perspective. Jules and Ellis often experience an event with Jules or Ellis from a different time (yes, my head is still spinning). They resort to asking, "What happened from your perspective?" Sometimes the answer is "No comment."
"I wonder what exactly happened in that additional chapter between us."
Jules’ narrative starts in 2083 and Ellis is at the end of time. In case you were wondering, there is an end to time. Additionally, time can break. At this time, I am broken… After Jules and Ellis meet (who knows when) they jump to 2056, as you do, in order to fix their timeline.
"Just...sometimes my past catches up with me."
Back in the 2030s (I think) humanity discovered time travel, but only forwards. What could possibly go wrong? Unsurprisingly, it caused the apocalypse. Who wants their own shitty life when you might have a better one in the future? Thus the reader, from whatever time, lands smack bang in the middle of a dystopia, when we meet Jules and Ellis. And things are dire.
"I was wrong. There's apparently room for much worse... I thought I knew what a tragedy was... This is real - real tragedy. It has stench and gore and a terrifying mess about it."
I had this idea that once time travel messed up the world, doing more time travel could only make things worse. But what do I know? There’s experts who (supposedly) know how to fix it all.
"Though perhaps time really is more like a circle - no end and no beginning."
Waking Romeo is a love story, but the romance has a twist. All the tropes of romance are interrogated (and found wanting):
- love triangles
- insta love (fka love at first sight)
- true love
- soul mates
- girl hate over a boy
- What even is love?
Feminism, toxic relationships, racism and ableism are all important themes driving the storyline. And the cause of all the drama - attempted suicide, and how it affects those left behind. I often have difficulty reading books with suicide in the story, but I didn't here. Who knows why.
"I am sorry you were in a place where the light could not find you."
Then there’s the ethical dilemma of So many questions. Jules and Ellis may have the answers.
There’s much to love about Jules’ and Ellis’ story and much to scramble my brain. Ellis agrees with me:
"All this fluid nature of time shite - does your bloody head in."
This is from my blog https://ofceilingwax.wordpress.com/20...
************
Even though I bought this pretty much the day it was released, and I've been waiting 3yrs for it to be published, I didn't start reading it for 2mths. Well, I've read it now!
18/02/21
I get to read this next month! I'm so excited.
December 18, 2021
Sooooo not what I was expecting! Honestly I didn't have high hopes, but this was so good! Dystopian wuthering heights hits smack into romeo and juliets. I do know how she did this. Mind boggling, tear jerking, page turning, surprisingly wonderful. Thank you for bringing something good to this wacky year!
Want to read
May 18, 2021what is happening what is going on that entire pitch is a wild ride from start to finish
update: HELLO BEAUTIFUL COVER 😍
update: HELLO BEAUTIFUL COVER 😍
Want to read
July 5, 2019interested in this mainly because the plot sounds so crazy
July 26, 2022
Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker is a story of Romeo who is in a coma and Jules who is by his side. There is time travel and traveling pods. The mission wake Romeo up!
I felt like this story was all over the place. I felt like so much of it was repetitive. At times I didn’t even know what was really going on because it was hard to stay focus. I was really disappointed in this read because it started off good for me and well then it just kind of fell flat and uninteresting.
Thanks to Flatiron Books and Net galley for providing an ARC of this book for an honest review.
I felt like this story was all over the place. I felt like so much of it was repetitive. At times I didn’t even know what was really going on because it was hard to stay focus. I was really disappointed in this read because it started off good for me and well then it just kind of fell flat and uninteresting.
Thanks to Flatiron Books and Net galley for providing an ARC of this book for an honest review.
May 16, 2022
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Waking Romeo was a fun retelling to jump into. Not only do you get the lovely and dramatic Romeo and Juliet vibes, but you also get some Bronte added as well. Mixed in with some time traveling and you might be hooked. At least I was.
From the very beginning, things felt odd but very unique too. One wouldn't think things would end up working within this mixture, but it magically did. Kathryn definitely has a way with words because I fell in love with it all. So much happened throughout this that it was sometimes hard to digest. It's definitely best to do the opposite of what I did and that's to digest everything slowly.
Besides that, each twist and turn kept me on my toes. The characters were pretty likable too. Especially when it came to the overall mission to save and wake up Romeo. Out of everyone, I definitely like Ellis a bit more than Juliet and Romeo. It just seemed like he should have been the main character in my eyes. I also really enjoyed getting to know him more but wished we got to him sooner rather than later.
Other than that, the romance was also developed in an interesting way. Definitely not insta-whatever but complicated and real. I do think it was more of a back burner idea than anything though since it comes in and out throughout the book. Not really a main focus which I thought it would have been.
In the end, I'm really happy that I got the chance to jump into this. It was definitely entertaining from start to finish. I honestly can't wait for my next retelling and another book written by Kathryn!
Waking Romeo was a fun retelling to jump into. Not only do you get the lovely and dramatic Romeo and Juliet vibes, but you also get some Bronte added as well. Mixed in with some time traveling and you might be hooked. At least I was.
From the very beginning, things felt odd but very unique too. One wouldn't think things would end up working within this mixture, but it magically did. Kathryn definitely has a way with words because I fell in love with it all. So much happened throughout this that it was sometimes hard to digest. It's definitely best to do the opposite of what I did and that's to digest everything slowly.
Besides that, each twist and turn kept me on my toes. The characters were pretty likable too. Especially when it came to the overall mission to save and wake up Romeo. Out of everyone, I definitely like Ellis a bit more than Juliet and Romeo. It just seemed like he should have been the main character in my eyes. I also really enjoyed getting to know him more but wished we got to him sooner rather than later.
Other than that, the romance was also developed in an interesting way. Definitely not insta-whatever but complicated and real. I do think it was more of a back burner idea than anything though since it comes in and out throughout the book. Not really a main focus which I thought it would have been.
In the end, I'm really happy that I got the chance to jump into this. It was definitely entertaining from start to finish. I honestly can't wait for my next retelling and another book written by Kathryn!
May 4, 2021
3.5 stars*
Instead of reading 'Wuthering Heights' for my degree I read this book and here were my experiences...
First off, if you are planning to read this book I implore you to mentally prepare yourself for the amount of times that Ellis says "nought", it drove me crazy. I get it .... he's from the 1800s and the author does not want us to forget but please. Despite this, I still prefered his point of view to Jules by a long shot. Watching her inward monologue as she unpacks something so mundane, such as killing yourself over a boy you've known for 2 seconds is baad, for 50 pages got very repetitive.
Also massive Trigger Warning for teen suicide and toXXXIc relationships. The intended audience is 14-18 but I feel as though you need a perspective on high school relationships that you only get in your 20s when you realize that boy you thought you loved in highschool was actually a massive asshole who emotionally manipulated you and trapped you in a highly toxic relationship. Jules figured it out in the end though, so props to her.
The concept of time travel was really interesting and at times it felt well executed but the end definitely dragged on for a while. I felt like I couldn't really see their faces, which may be an odd thing to say. I felt like the author focused too much on trying to integrate Shakespearean quotes that it felt awkward and jaded at times, and failed to paint an image of the main characters. Mostly I saw Baz Lerman's cast of 'Romeo and Juliet' when I read.
Overall, I was really entertained and more invested in the story than I was anticipating, though I did recognise how ridiculous some parts were. During my really stressful week, this book gave me an escape and welcome company.
Instead of reading 'Wuthering Heights' for my degree I read this book and here were my experiences...
First off, if you are planning to read this book I implore you to mentally prepare yourself for the amount of times that Ellis says "nought", it drove me crazy. I get it .... he's from the 1800s and the author does not want us to forget but please. Despite this, I still prefered his point of view to Jules by a long shot. Watching her inward monologue as she unpacks something so mundane, such as killing yourself over a boy you've known for 2 seconds is baad, for 50 pages got very repetitive.
Also massive Trigger Warning for teen suicide and toXXXIc relationships. The intended audience is 14-18 but I feel as though you need a perspective on high school relationships that you only get in your 20s when you realize that boy you thought you loved in highschool was actually a massive asshole who emotionally manipulated you and trapped you in a highly toxic relationship. Jules figured it out in the end though, so props to her.
The concept of time travel was really interesting and at times it felt well executed but the end definitely dragged on for a while. I felt like I couldn't really see their faces, which may be an odd thing to say. I felt like the author focused too much on trying to integrate Shakespearean quotes that it felt awkward and jaded at times, and failed to paint an image of the main characters. Mostly I saw Baz Lerman's cast of 'Romeo and Juliet' when I read.
Overall, I was really entertained and more invested in the story than I was anticipating, though I did recognise how ridiculous some parts were. During my really stressful week, this book gave me an escape and welcome company.
March 5, 2021
Thank you to Allen & Unwin for providing me with a copy of this book, AND a gorgeous parcel, including the biggest chocolate frog I’ve ever seen 😄, in exchange for an honest review!
Jules had whirlwind romance with Romeo, that ended the way the well known story did….except Romeo is in a coma and Jules sits by his bedside every day, waiting for him to wake up. When humanity invented time travelling pods, that could only travel forwards in time, we messed it up as spectacularly as you would imagine. The world in the far future is a wasteland and Ellis, together with some other friends, are the only ones with the technology to travel forwards AND backwards in time. With the help of their AI, Frogs, they might be able to save the world. The most recent mission? Wake Romeo. But that might be harder than it sounds.
This book was an incredibly wild ride and I absolutely loved it! The characters were brilliant and the modern/futuristic take on the old classics had me captivated. I love books about time travel. I even love the way you sometimes feel like you’re disappearing up your own nostril, and scrambling your brain, while reading them 😂 and this was one of the better ones I’ve read. There were so many time jumps, impossible meetings, twists and aha moments. Half the time I lost track of which year we were in, but I didn’t even care, I loved the story so much I just couldn’t put it down. The growth of Juliet’s character, from lovestruck girl to someone awake to the silliness of instant love, was brilliantly done and I adored Ellis as a character in every part of the book. Alongside this complex time travel story, issues of racism, mental illness, disabilities and more were all explored.
The story of Romeo and Juliet took centre stage as the retelling, but Wuthering Heights also played a large part. I am much more familiar with the former, so I’m sure lovers of Wuthering Heights would identify even more of the cleverly interwoven aspects from that book.
I’d highly recommend picking this one up if you love time travel stories!
Jules had whirlwind romance with Romeo, that ended the way the well known story did….except Romeo is in a coma and Jules sits by his bedside every day, waiting for him to wake up. When humanity invented time travelling pods, that could only travel forwards in time, we messed it up as spectacularly as you would imagine. The world in the far future is a wasteland and Ellis, together with some other friends, are the only ones with the technology to travel forwards AND backwards in time. With the help of their AI, Frogs, they might be able to save the world. The most recent mission? Wake Romeo. But that might be harder than it sounds.
This book was an incredibly wild ride and I absolutely loved it! The characters were brilliant and the modern/futuristic take on the old classics had me captivated. I love books about time travel. I even love the way you sometimes feel like you’re disappearing up your own nostril, and scrambling your brain, while reading them 😂 and this was one of the better ones I’ve read. There were so many time jumps, impossible meetings, twists and aha moments. Half the time I lost track of which year we were in, but I didn’t even care, I loved the story so much I just couldn’t put it down. The growth of Juliet’s character, from lovestruck girl to someone awake to the silliness of instant love, was brilliantly done and I adored Ellis as a character in every part of the book. Alongside this complex time travel story, issues of racism, mental illness, disabilities and more were all explored.
The story of Romeo and Juliet took centre stage as the retelling, but Wuthering Heights also played a large part. I am much more familiar with the former, so I’m sure lovers of Wuthering Heights would identify even more of the cleverly interwoven aspects from that book.
I’d highly recommend picking this one up if you love time travel stories!
January 5, 2022
4.5 stars
Time travel adventure + Shakespeare retelling + a little star-crossed romance = one very happy reader.
If you are looking for something different from the Young Adult genre, look no further than Waking Romeo. Not only does it combine all of the aforementioned ideas, but it also manages to pack in great characters and a breakneck speed that forces you to say "Just one more chapter" again and again. Did I understand all of the science behind the time travel? No. Did I need to? Maybe, but I think that Barker does a good enough job of bringing you along for the ride that I didn't end up questioning it.
As an adult reader that sometimes struggles with the sameness of Young Adult books, Waking Romeo felt like a breath of fresh air. I hope that everyone involved in bringing this book to life has a wonderful pub day!
Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!
Time travel adventure + Shakespeare retelling + a little star-crossed romance = one very happy reader.
If you are looking for something different from the Young Adult genre, look no further than Waking Romeo. Not only does it combine all of the aforementioned ideas, but it also manages to pack in great characters and a breakneck speed that forces you to say "Just one more chapter" again and again. Did I understand all of the science behind the time travel? No. Did I need to? Maybe, but I think that Barker does a good enough job of bringing you along for the ride that I didn't end up questioning it.
As an adult reader that sometimes struggles with the sameness of Young Adult books, Waking Romeo felt like a breath of fresh air. I hope that everyone involved in bringing this book to life has a wonderful pub day!
Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!
Want to read
October 15, 2018This pitch has the weirdest combination. I'll read it.
January 24, 2022
MY FIRST 5 STAR READ OF 2022!
Damn. What a RIDE. I seriously could not put this down. I started it this afternoon and just finished it at midnight. I wouldn't consider it a short, quick read either. It's just one of those I-need-to-know-what-happens-next stories.
I'll tell you right now - this book is definitely not going to be for everyone. If you don't love time travel, Romeo & Juliet, AND Wuthering Heights, it most likely isn't for you. However, if you're like me and immensely love each of those three things, I really do think you'll love this as much as I did.
Let's start with the time travel dilemma itself. I haven't seen this kind of problem in a sci-fi book before - time travel exists, but you can only move forward so it becomes a problem of people jumping too far ahead too many times and leaving practically no civilization behind to keep the world moving. There need to be "settlers" who stay in the time they're in to save the world.
There are a lot of mind blown moments here with time jumping over itself and present people meeting past versions of people they know and vice versa. It's a time travel story. It's gonna happen. It's a lot to wrap your brain around, but I just loved all the details and how they all wrapped up in the end.
The best thing in here is the romance. It's the catalyst for everything. I've reread the blurb multiple times to make sure I wasn't stupid and just completely missed something. I loved that I didn't know going in that this was the bulk of the story so I want you to go in blind too.
Oh man. You know how you read a wonderful book and you have that exhilarating feeling afterwards? I'm feeling that right now. I don't know how I'm supposed to get to sleep now.
My book club is going to read this as our September 2022 pick. You can bet I'll reread this when the time comes.
Damn. What a RIDE. I seriously could not put this down. I started it this afternoon and just finished it at midnight. I wouldn't consider it a short, quick read either. It's just one of those I-need-to-know-what-happens-next stories.
I'll tell you right now - this book is definitely not going to be for everyone. If you don't love time travel, Romeo & Juliet, AND Wuthering Heights, it most likely isn't for you. However, if you're like me and immensely love each of those three things, I really do think you'll love this as much as I did.
Let's start with the time travel dilemma itself. I haven't seen this kind of problem in a sci-fi book before - time travel exists, but you can only move forward so it becomes a problem of people jumping too far ahead too many times and leaving practically no civilization behind to keep the world moving. There need to be "settlers" who stay in the time they're in to save the world.
There are a lot of mind blown moments here with time jumping over itself and present people meeting past versions of people they know and vice versa. It's a time travel story. It's gonna happen. It's a lot to wrap your brain around, but I just loved all the details and how they all wrapped up in the end.
The best thing in here is the romance. It's the catalyst for everything. I've reread the blurb multiple times to make sure I wasn't stupid and just completely missed something. I loved that I didn't know going in that this was the bulk of the story so I want you to go in blind too.
Oh man. You know how you read a wonderful book and you have that exhilarating feeling afterwards? I'm feeling that right now. I don't know how I'm supposed to get to sleep now.
My book club is going to read this as our September 2022 pick. You can bet I'll reread this when the time comes.
March 2, 2021
Thank you to Allen & Unwin got sending me a review copy.
CW: talk of suicide
A lot of us know the tragedy of Romeo of Juliet, but this is an absolute twist! This was an absolutely amazing retelling in a dystopian kind of world starting after the tragedy occurs and all of the events thereafter.
The world as we know it is getting worse, so time travel has been invented, but they can only go forward into the future and not back. Continuing to go into the future to escape the problems results in a near dead future.
We meet Ellis who is part of a group who have the tech to travel back and forward in time to help keep the time on a loop and ensure there are no disturbances, when he's tasked with an adventure that will change him.
All of the twists, turns and plot twists absolutely made me fall in love with this book and I can't even begin to explain how well this story was done.
From the different personalities to the intricate process of how the time travel works with consequences and more was just brilliantly done!
I 100% need a novella to come through, because Frogs needs their own story!
CW: talk of suicide
A lot of us know the tragedy of Romeo of Juliet, but this is an absolute twist! This was an absolutely amazing retelling in a dystopian kind of world starting after the tragedy occurs and all of the events thereafter.
The world as we know it is getting worse, so time travel has been invented, but they can only go forward into the future and not back. Continuing to go into the future to escape the problems results in a near dead future.
We meet Ellis who is part of a group who have the tech to travel back and forward in time to help keep the time on a loop and ensure there are no disturbances, when he's tasked with an adventure that will change him.
All of the twists, turns and plot twists absolutely made me fall in love with this book and I can't even begin to explain how well this story was done.
From the different personalities to the intricate process of how the time travel works with consequences and more was just brilliantly done!
I 100% need a novella to come through, because Frogs needs their own story!
April 20, 2021
This book was so good! I had to take a bit of a break in the middle because of a book I had to read for school, but I LOVE THIS BOOK. I was confused for 90% of the time, but I loved all the twists and having things revealed to me as they were being revealed to the characters, I loved how deep this book was, how complex the actual world was, how you knew basically as much as the characters going in (which wasn’t a lot), how it strayed so far from the original Romeo and Juliet without feeling disconnected, how it tied in classic literature in a new way, the characters and the writing was beautiful and I just really loved this book. It’s definitely a new favourite and one you have to read a few times to fully appreciate, merely because of the timelines and how time travel works in this world. I love this book. So good! Also not what I would normally pick up, but it makes me want to read every YA time travel romance (I feel like this might be a very specific genre, and might not have a lot of options. Haha 😂)
January 10, 2022
Thank you, Flatiron Books for the ARC win for this book!
I really ended up loving this book! I love all the references to the classics and the time traveling and end of the world scenarios. I loved the characters and the slow reveal of everything.
It was like a puzzle as we went along, everything falling into place. Out of order, but flowing.
I'm horrible at writing reviews, but if you love time traveling stories, I recommend this book!
I really ended up loving this book! I love all the references to the classics and the time traveling and end of the world scenarios. I loved the characters and the slow reveal of everything.
It was like a puzzle as we went along, everything falling into place. Out of order, but flowing.
I'm horrible at writing reviews, but if you love time traveling stories, I recommend this book!
March 10, 2021
You can really see Barker put her whole heart into this tale of time-travel. The characters development through out the book is intensively formatted and tenderly cared for. Jules finds love in herself, Ellis lets go of his past love and opens up his heart and they have an amazing adventure along the way.
did-not-finish
April 30, 2022This sounds ridiculous but Melina Marchetta blurbed it and who am I to argue with her?
October 13, 2025
What do you get if you combine the elements of Romeo + Juliet, Wuthering Heights, The Time Machine, The Terminator and a Taylor Swift song? A big heaping mess, you're right.
Read
January 29, 2022Full Review
CONTENT WARNINGS: lots of emotional trauma, in the past and present; ableism, past racism, substance abuse, pregnancy, abusive/toxic relationships depicted, violence and minor gore, etc. I'd personally recommend for ages 15 and above. Mayyyybe late 14-year-olds. It's very dense, though, and deals with VERY heavy topics. You've been warned.
And for those wondering when it comes to representation, this book does depict transgender, suggestively queer, and POC characters.
I don't even feel equipped or qualified to write a review on this book, but I tried. My attempt is below:
BOOK 2/2 OF MY MONTHLY PHYSICAL TBR — JAN
Oh my goodness gracious, this was one of the craziest things I have ever read, and I adored it so, so much. This is one of those books that you can never decipher it fully, even if you re-read it a thousand different times. Though I'll most certainly try. In the future, I certainly want to re-read this and annotate the crap out of it. I just have to: I'm putting it on my mental bucket list now. It's simply a necessity. Because there's so much to this book. It's crazy, it's chaotic, it's brilliant, and it's challenging. This book will bend your brain in so many different directions, it's not even fair. Yes, there's the time-travel aspect, which is inofitself insane to read about (but executed in the perfect way-- action-packed, and mind-bending without being confusing), but the chaos comes from all the conflicting themes that shouldn't work together, that should make no sense together, but absolutely, completely do. The very last line of this books is something along the lines of "And I come full-circle", which absolutely summarizes everything about this.
At the beginning, you have NOOO idea what's going on. Not with Jules. Not with Ellis. Not with this crazy, dystopian, time-traveling world. But as you read, piece by piece starts to fall into place, the characters start to come into themselves, and by the middle you get a good glimpse of the full picture without truly knowing the full picture, and you are just blown away. I couldn't put this book down, technically after the first page, but truly after Act III. Even though I read this in three days, it felt like absolute centuries, because, well-- technically it was.
My feelings about Wuthering Heights, which was one of the main sources of inspiration for this book, tend to be very complicated, but this book made me want to sit down and go through that torture all over again. And I probably will, one day. All thanks to this beautiful novel.
This book challenges each and every part of love, life, time, family, etc etc etc. It turns tropes on their head and makes things you thought you knew into things completely different. It's crazy, and after many re-reads I have no doubt that I'll still struggle through all of the denseness of what this is.
Man, this author-- absolutely, undoubtedly and completely talented. This book was insane. If you want something subtly introspective, something action-packed that will make you question everything about yourself-- pick up this one. It's incredible.
Not to mention all of the characters, their connections and dynamics, and their humor is highly, highly enjoyable. Jules was lovely to follow, and I absolutely adored Ellis with my whole heart. I also loved the side cast of characters: Beth, Iggy, Henry, and of course my beloved Frogs. Just wonderful all-around, I had such a fun time following each of them. This book deserves a large fanbase, one that will treasure it and the characters, and just adore the living crap out of it.
So please, do yourself a favor and read this book. It's not for everyone-- no book is perfect, after all-- but man. It's so out of the ordinary for me, and I absolutely adored it, so give it a try! Even if you don't love it, I guarantee your life will never be the same. It's just one of those page-turners.
And if you're like me, and enjoy listening to music while reading, highly recommend this track. It's weird and wonderful and so fitting for the book.
CONTENT WARNINGS: lots of emotional trauma, in the past and present; ableism, past racism, substance abuse, pregnancy, abusive/toxic relationships depicted, violence and minor gore, etc. I'd personally recommend for ages 15 and above. Mayyyybe late 14-year-olds. It's very dense, though, and deals with VERY heavy topics. You've been warned.
And for those wondering when it comes to representation, this book does depict transgender, suggestively queer, and POC characters.
I don't even feel equipped or qualified to write a review on this book, but I tried. My attempt is below:
BOOK 2/2 OF MY MONTHLY PHYSICAL TBR — JAN
Oh my goodness gracious, this was one of the craziest things I have ever read, and I adored it so, so much. This is one of those books that you can never decipher it fully, even if you re-read it a thousand different times. Though I'll most certainly try. In the future, I certainly want to re-read this and annotate the crap out of it. I just have to: I'm putting it on my mental bucket list now. It's simply a necessity. Because there's so much to this book. It's crazy, it's chaotic, it's brilliant, and it's challenging. This book will bend your brain in so many different directions, it's not even fair. Yes, there's the time-travel aspect, which is inofitself insane to read about (but executed in the perfect way-- action-packed, and mind-bending without being confusing), but the chaos comes from all the conflicting themes that shouldn't work together, that should make no sense together, but absolutely, completely do. The very last line of this books is something along the lines of "And I come full-circle", which absolutely summarizes everything about this.
At the beginning, you have NOOO idea what's going on. Not with Jules. Not with Ellis. Not with this crazy, dystopian, time-traveling world. But as you read, piece by piece starts to fall into place, the characters start to come into themselves, and by the middle you get a good glimpse of the full picture without truly knowing the full picture, and you are just blown away. I couldn't put this book down, technically after the first page, but truly after Act III. Even though I read this in three days, it felt like absolute centuries, because, well-- technically it was.
My feelings about Wuthering Heights, which was one of the main sources of inspiration for this book, tend to be very complicated, but this book made me want to sit down and go through that torture all over again. And I probably will, one day. All thanks to this beautiful novel.
This book challenges each and every part of love, life, time, family, etc etc etc. It turns tropes on their head and makes things you thought you knew into things completely different. It's crazy, and after many re-reads I have no doubt that I'll still struggle through all of the denseness of what this is.
Man, this author-- absolutely, undoubtedly and completely talented. This book was insane. If you want something subtly introspective, something action-packed that will make you question everything about yourself-- pick up this one. It's incredible.
Not to mention all of the characters, their connections and dynamics, and their humor is highly, highly enjoyable. Jules was lovely to follow, and I absolutely adored Ellis with my whole heart. I also loved the side cast of characters: Beth, Iggy, Henry, and of course my beloved Frogs. Just wonderful all-around, I had such a fun time following each of them. This book deserves a large fanbase, one that will treasure it and the characters, and just adore the living crap out of it.
So please, do yourself a favor and read this book. It's not for everyone-- no book is perfect, after all-- but man. It's so out of the ordinary for me, and I absolutely adored it, so give it a try! Even if you don't love it, I guarantee your life will never be the same. It's just one of those page-turners.
And if you're like me, and enjoy listening to music while reading, highly recommend this track. It's weird and wonderful and so fitting for the book.
April 12, 2023
This book is so very good. As a teenager I was obessed with Romeo and Juliet and this is the version my 35 year old self needed. Confusing at times my makes you page turn and really think. I was drawn to begin from the cover. I absolutely loved it.
March 18, 2022
I always appreciate a good time travel book. In this case more so, because the struggles the author must have gone through to make sure everything fit and was well connected to the plot must have taken ages. Let's pause to appreciate Kathryn Barker's marvelous skills.
Ok, I'm going to do a little summary now. Juliet is a girl living in the future (our future, not her future). Ellis is a boy living in her future, but he was born in our past. Juliet's boyfriend, Romeo committed suicide and is now sleeping in a coma. Will he ever wake up? Ellis must wake Romeo because he and Juliet are supposed to form a child that will save Ellis from dying in the past and bring him to the future. Confusing right? I promise you, it gets more understandable in the middle then back to confusing near the end. The book also kinda merges Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet into the story, which is quite nice. But the play Romeo and Juliet doesn't exist in their world. So as a subplot, Juliet is writing her and Romeo's story but romanticizing it, because he was a horrible boyfriend.
I rated it five stars because I really enjoyed it. It's like Ruby Red and The Ones We're Meant To Find mixed together.
Ok, I'm going to do a little summary now. Juliet is a girl living in the future (our future, not her future). Ellis is a boy living in her future, but he was born in our past. Juliet's boyfriend, Romeo committed suicide and is now sleeping in a coma. Will he ever wake up? Ellis must wake Romeo because he and Juliet are supposed to form a child that will save Ellis from dying in the past and bring him to the future. Confusing right? I promise you, it gets more understandable in the middle then back to confusing near the end. The book also kinda merges Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet into the story, which is quite nice. But the play Romeo and Juliet doesn't exist in their world. So as a subplot, Juliet is writing her and Romeo's story but romanticizing it, because he was a horrible boyfriend.
I rated it five stars because I really enjoyed it. It's like Ruby Red and The Ones We're Meant To Find mixed together.
March 5, 2021
Thank you to Allen & Unwin for giving me access to a proof to review!
This was definitely a wild ride! Wuthering Heights meets Romeo and Juliet meets dystopian time travel story, it is certainly ambitious. Time travel is always a bit confusing for me, but I think Barker did a really good job of keeping things as neat as they could be, though I could definitely benefit from a re-read. There was a really good message in here about how women in classic literature are depicted as living only for love, and letting it destroy them, whereas Jules realises a big dramatic love story isn't everything in life! I think this is something important to teach young girls, and while it felt a little heavy-handed at times, I'm glad it was included. I also like how the interactions between Jules and Ellis played out to serve this moral. There's also a climate change, the importance of acting NOW element to this that kind of smacks you in the face but in a book about time travel where the world gets more trash the further forward you go it makes sense. I think for YA it's pretty common to have the message of the book spelt out a little more, but I also don't think the main character needs to spell out the moral for you 1000 times through inner monologue.
It's a little camp, a bit goofy, but was an overall fun read! I will say as someone who hasn't read Wuthering Heights or Romeo and Juliet, I probably didn't get the full experience of understanding all the references to the original stories, but this didn't hinder me from knowing what was going on. If anything, I think it may have enhanced my enjoyment because I found the constant quoting of Shakespeare to be a little grating, and maybe if I were also picking up on these other references it would be overwhelming. While a lot of the major plot points in this are similar to those in the original texts, I think Barker does a good job of changing the stories enough to make this feel like a new adventure!
TLDR: a fun read with a good (albeit not subtly delivered) message and also the word naught used 1000000 times
For another stellar Romeo and Juliet retelling give These Violent Delights a read!
This was definitely a wild ride! Wuthering Heights meets Romeo and Juliet meets dystopian time travel story, it is certainly ambitious. Time travel is always a bit confusing for me, but I think Barker did a really good job of keeping things as neat as they could be, though I could definitely benefit from a re-read. There was a really good message in here about how women in classic literature are depicted as living only for love, and letting it destroy them, whereas Jules realises a big dramatic love story isn't everything in life! I think this is something important to teach young girls, and while it felt a little heavy-handed at times, I'm glad it was included. I also like how the interactions between Jules and Ellis played out to serve this moral. There's also a climate change, the importance of acting NOW element to this that kind of smacks you in the face but in a book about time travel where the world gets more trash the further forward you go it makes sense. I think for YA it's pretty common to have the message of the book spelt out a little more, but I also don't think the main character needs to spell out the moral for you 1000 times through inner monologue.
It's a little camp, a bit goofy, but was an overall fun read! I will say as someone who hasn't read Wuthering Heights or Romeo and Juliet, I probably didn't get the full experience of understanding all the references to the original stories, but this didn't hinder me from knowing what was going on. If anything, I think it may have enhanced my enjoyment because I found the constant quoting of Shakespeare to be a little grating, and maybe if I were also picking up on these other references it would be overwhelming. While a lot of the major plot points in this are similar to those in the original texts, I think Barker does a good job of changing the stories enough to make this feel like a new adventure!
TLDR: a fun read with a good (albeit not subtly delivered) message and also the word naught used 1000000 times
For another stellar Romeo and Juliet retelling give These Violent Delights a read!
March 24, 2022
3.75
a great reimagining of romeo and juliet and the time travel aspect of it is fascinating
a great reimagining of romeo and juliet and the time travel aspect of it is fascinating
January 14, 2022
Good time travel story that remixes Romeo and Juliet and also Wuthering Heights a bit. The time travel was done REALLY well imo, it was twisty and hurt my brain a bit but I loved how it all came together!
Took a star off for the writing itself. It feels like the author tried too hard to integrate lots of little quotes and nods to Shakespeare throughout the book, often giving it an awkward and inorganic feeling. I'm still puzzling over the line from a Chuck Berry song that felt pretty forced.
Overall it was a fun, literary time travel remix of a classic tale. Would recommend. :)
Took a star off for the writing itself. It feels like the author tried too hard to integrate lots of little quotes and nods to Shakespeare throughout the book, often giving it an awkward and inorganic feeling. I'm still puzzling over the line from a Chuck Berry song that felt pretty forced.
Overall it was a fun, literary time travel remix of a classic tale. Would recommend. :)
May 24, 2021
4.5 Stars
I read a review on this novel a while ago and I was intrigued enough to want to read it and I'm so glad I did. This was a fabulous read, something so different to anything else I've read, time-travel, dystopian fiction, romance, built on a classic novel, so many different aspects that made up this unique novel. The world has essentially ended, humans have destroyed the earth and resources are limited, but with the invention of pods, people can travel forwards only, into the future, hopeful of a better life.
When the book starts it is 2083 and Juliet (Jules) is not in a good place, the love of her life, Romeo is in a coma after a tragic accident 2 years beforehand that left Jules with a dead arm and feeling even more on the outer than she did before. The actual events of that night and those leading up to them are uncovered slowly as the story progresses, but all is not as it would appear and Jules will face a lot of truths, ones she has deluded herself into believing, ones she has written into a story The Love Story of Juliet and Romeo, written in the style of Shakespeare, and ones that she has been told are the truth but aren't.
Ellis, a deadender, a traveller from the future, but also from the past, is charged with the mission to wake Romeo and is transported back to 2083 where he encounters Jules and together they work to do just that. Jules was under the impression you could only travel forwards in time and needed a pod to do so, but Ellis throws this and many other of her beliefs into disarray.
There is a lot to get your head around in this novel, especially the jumping back and forwards in time, the different timelines and how they play out, the memories and Jules' story, but if you go in with an open mind then you'll be in for one hell of a ride. This would have been a five star read if it hadn't been for the final couple of chapters where for the first time I did struggle to get my head around the time travel/ consequences aspect, but I will get this out of the library again and reread those chapters, and hopefully, it will all become clear.
I loved the way the author has played with Shakespears story, but not only Shakespear but another classic author, Emily Bronte for who Ellis was the inspiration of her classic story.
An ingenious novel.
I read a review on this novel a while ago and I was intrigued enough to want to read it and I'm so glad I did. This was a fabulous read, something so different to anything else I've read, time-travel, dystopian fiction, romance, built on a classic novel, so many different aspects that made up this unique novel. The world has essentially ended, humans have destroyed the earth and resources are limited, but with the invention of pods, people can travel forwards only, into the future, hopeful of a better life.
When the book starts it is 2083 and Juliet (Jules) is not in a good place, the love of her life, Romeo is in a coma after a tragic accident 2 years beforehand that left Jules with a dead arm and feeling even more on the outer than she did before. The actual events of that night and those leading up to them are uncovered slowly as the story progresses, but all is not as it would appear and Jules will face a lot of truths, ones she has deluded herself into believing, ones she has written into a story The Love Story of Juliet and Romeo, written in the style of Shakespeare, and ones that she has been told are the truth but aren't.
Ellis, a deadender, a traveller from the future, but also from the past, is charged with the mission to wake Romeo and is transported back to 2083 where he encounters Jules and together they work to do just that. Jules was under the impression you could only travel forwards in time and needed a pod to do so, but Ellis throws this and many other of her beliefs into disarray.
There is a lot to get your head around in this novel, especially the jumping back and forwards in time, the different timelines and how they play out, the memories and Jules' story, but if you go in with an open mind then you'll be in for one hell of a ride. This would have been a five star read if it hadn't been for the final couple of chapters where for the first time I did struggle to get my head around the time travel/ consequences aspect, but I will get this out of the library again and reread those chapters, and hopefully, it will all become clear.
I loved the way the author has played with Shakespears story, but not only Shakespear but another classic author, Emily Bronte for who Ellis was the inspiration of her classic story.
An ingenious novel.
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