Book Review: Vortex by Julie Cross

Title: Vortex
Author: Julie Cross
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: January 15, 2013
Pages: 368
Source: Copy provided by author through a book tour hosted by Dianne

Summary (taken from Goodreads):

Julie Cross’s Vortex is the thrilling second installment of the Tempest series, in which the world hangs in the balance as a lovelorn Jackson must choose who to save.

Jackson Meyer has thrown himself into his role as an agent for Tempest, the shadowy division of the CIA that handles all time-travel-related threats. Despite his heartbreak at losing the love of his life, Jackson has proved himself to be an excellent agent. However, after an accidental run in with Holly—the girl he altered history to save—Jackson is once again reminded of what he’s lost. And when Eyewall, an opposing division of the CIA, emerges, Jackson and his fellow agents not only find themselves under attack, but Jackson begins to discover that the world around him has changed and someone knows about his erased relationship with Holly, putting both their lives at risk all over again.

Review:

Several months ago, I was able to do a review of Tempest, the first book in this series. While it didn’t end up as a favorite, it was still an enjoyable read, to think that I wasn’t really too keen about reading something sci-fi. So, when the opportunity came to review Vortex, I readily signed up because I was very curious about what happens next in the story.

I’m really glad I reviewed this book. Unlike Tempest, Vortex is more action packed. Jackson has now signed up as an agent for Tempest, the CIA division that handles all the time travel stuff. The first few chapters of the book was all about his training sessions, wherein we get the chance to get to know the other trainees as well such as Lily Kendrick, Stewart and Mason. I found all the CIA stuff interesting but more than that, I liked that the trainees all came from different backgrounds and specialized on different fields. It was really interesting how competitive they were at first but in the end, Jackson was able to form bonds of friendship with a few of them, which he didn’t really want and wasn’t really expecting. The book gave us an insight into the lives of some of these agents and I am so excited to see how these new characters will be developed in the next book.

As for Jackson and Holly’s love story, I really can’t help but sympathize with Jackson’s predicament. How really frustrating it must be to sacrifice and love someone and have that someone not remember anything about their relationship. I must say though, I didn’t particularly like Holly’s character in this book but it must have something to do with that twist in the story that I was totally not expecting. The time travels have altered time already and that caused things to be quite different from the initial year 2009 we were presented with in the first book. So, the Holly we remember from the first book is already quite different in Vortex, although of course there are some things about her that are still the same. It would be interesting to see what happens next in their love story now that everything has become more complicated.

Complicated is also the word I would use to describe time traveling as told in this series. It was already confusing to me in Tempest and it became all the more mind-blowing in Vortex because of all the new revelations. Honestly, I don’t completely grasp the concept of time traveling at all. I should have taken the time to write down illustrations, just like what Jackson did, in order to make sense of all the sci-fi info. That’s about the only thing that I don’t particularly like about the book though.

Overall, it was a really exciting book to read. Practically each chapter has an action scene and you’re never really sure about what will happen next because there are so many twists to the story. I truly loved the cliffhanger ending! It was totally unexpected. It made feel a little frustrated that I’d have to wait for the next book to find out what happens next. It was really a book that was hard to put down. I literally had to drag myself to bed at 3:00 am after reading eight chapters without stopping. I only stopped to sleep because I had work in the morning.

I liked Tempest but I LOVED Vortex. I give this book 4.5 stars.