★★★★★ 3
About that twist…
Format: Kindle
SPOILER ALERT!
The thing about big, improbable twists in stories is that the less time you have to think about them, the better their effect. For fans of the classic TV show The Twilight Zone, it has always been clear that the half-hour shows were far better and far more punchy and memorable than their rather sad hour-long cousins. And a book has far, far more time to contemplate a twist than a TV show.
Unfortunately, despite some pointed observations by the author (narcissistic people are pretty much unlikable, cruelty and brutality give power to weak men, abused children very often cling to their abusers), the big, improbable twist in Yesteryear almost completely sinks the story.
The twist is the same one that sank M. Night Shyamalan’s 2004 movie The Village, and it fares no better here. Yes, people can and do live off the grid. But avoiding every single sign of civilization for years on end? Even if you’re not in a commercial flight path, there are such things as helicopters and small private planes, especially in remote areas. Perhaps people rarely stray onto private land in the wilderness, but once in a while, stray they do. And when that wilderness home was once widely publicized? Excuse me, but people are going to look for it.
This is all not to say that Yesteryear was not entertaining - it was. I read it in one sitting. The characters, as unlikable and unreliable as they are, were well drawn. A couple of the children were also quite believable, but the author’s excuse for the rest of the kids being cyphers was that their mother saw them as cyphers as well. Okay, that’s fair, but knowing them better would have enhanced the story for the reader.
This is certainly a promising book. It held my attention and was very well-written. But that twist - well, it sank M. Night Shyamalan, too.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2026
