Review: The Impossibility of Tomorrow

The Impossibility of Tomorrow
Avery Williams
Series: Incarnation, #2
Release Date: June 4th, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Rating: (A Very Generous) 2 stars
Word Rating: Ugh
Reviewed by: Blythe

The immortal Seraphina is forced to face the darkness of her past—and risk losing the love of her life—in this second novel in the Incarnation series.

Seraphina has been living for centuries, thanks to a special method of alchemy, but only recently has she really felt alive. She’s finally broken free from her controlling boyfriend, Cyrus, and after years of swapping bodies to preserve her immortality, is happily settled into a life worth sticking with. Because in this life, she has Noah.

But Noah might not be as trustworthy as he seems. After he delivers an ominous message that could only come from Cyrus, Sera is worried that her new friends and family will find out her secret. And as her suspicions extend beyond Noah, Sera is forced to wonder about her new friends as well: Could her old coven be disguising themselves right under her nose?

Will Sera have to move to another body—and take another life—or can she find a way to keep what she’s got, forever?

I won't make an attempt at sugarcoating it--The Impossibility of Tomorrow was a really, really frustrating read for me, in a variety of ways. Having been an impressed reader with Avery William's debut, as well as this novel's predecessor, The Alchemy of Forever, I went into The Impossibility of Tomorrow with reasonably high expectations, predicting for all of those expectations to be surpassed. Ultimately, The Impossibility of Tomorrow proved to be an entirely disappointing read, meeting a portion of if not none of my preconceived expectations. 

Whereas the biggest downfall in The Alchemy of Forever was the character development, or lack thereof, the biggest downfall in The Impossibility of Tomorrow is undoubtedly its pacing, which, oddly enough, wasn't an issue in the slightest in the novel's predecessor. While there are still definite flaws concerning the character development, and I really don't have a concrete understanding of who the characters are behind the basics even now, that flaw that was so glaring in The Alchemy of Forever was just among the least of my concerns in The Impossibility of Tomorrow. 

When it takes more than three quarters of a novel for me to become even remotely interested in what is going on, there's an absolute problem. With an ending like the The Alchemy of Forever's (no spoilers, don't worry), I genuinely thought The Impossibility of Tomorrow would be a surefire thrill ride chocked full of suspense at every turn. But no. The little twist introduced to us at the end of The Alchemy of Forever? Resolved within the first fifteen percent or so of The Impossibility, and in one of the most frustrating ways imaginable. 

From that frustratingly tidy resolution of an awesome twist onward, things hadn't gotten better in the least, much thanks to aimless pacing and plotting. When things finally did pick up and got interesting, thrilling, and intense like I had expected the entire novel to be (this was all in the last quarter at most, mind you), I was unable to muster up any significant amount of interest concerning what was going on, and really I just wanted it all to be over. 

I'm giving this a half a star for getting interesting, and an extra half of a star for surprising me with a twist by the end, despite the fact that I likely would have gotten the twist down had I been more attached to the novel as I read it, bringing this rating to a wholly generous two stars. Based on the ending of The Impossibility of Tomorrow, whether or not there will be a third novel to follow The Alchemy and The Impossibility can go either way, but I think it's certainly safe to say I will not be sticking around to read it. 

Unless I'm informed that everyone with the exception of Noah dies. Yeah, maybe then I'd give it a shot.