Weekly Reads: Glory O'Brien's History of the Future

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future is A.S. King's newest YA book. She is such an amazing novelist, and I wish she had been writing books when I was a teen. I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review, and a chance to promote it to my teens if I liked it. Spoiler alert: I loved it.

The premise of the book is a bit far fetched (Glory drinks bat dust one night and can see people's futures afterward) but it wasn't done in a way that made me obsess over the insanity of it. It deals with some typical teenager issues: sex, STDs, post-high school plans and obsessing, friendships, relationships, family issues, but it is so much more than a regular coming of age story.

Read this now. And then read it again. It's that good.

My rating: 5 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

WOULD YOU TRY TO CHANGE THE WORLD
IF YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD NO FUTURE?

Graduating from high school is a time of limitless possibilities—but not for Glory, who has no plan for what's next. Her mother committed suicide when Glory was only four years old, and she’s never stopped wondering if she will eventually go the same way...until a transformative night when she begins to experience an astonishing new power to see a person’s infinite past and future. From ancient ancestors to many generations forward, Glory is bombarded with visions—and what she sees ahead of her is terrifying.

A tyrannical new leader raises an army. Women’s rights disappear. A violent second civil war breaks out. And young girls vanish daily, sold off or interned in camps. Glory makes it her mission to record everything she sees, hoping her notes will somehow make a difference. She may not see a future for herself, but she’ll do everything in her power to make sure this one doesn’t come to pass.

In this masterpiece about freedom, feminism, and destiny, Printz Honor author A.S. King tells the epic story of a girl coping with devastating loss at long last—a girl who has no idea that the future needs her, and that the present needs her even more.