I really enjoyed this one. It kept me on my toes and i was flipping the pages to see what was going to happen next. This is one that I would recommend.

It's 5 months since I finished this and finally feel able to write a review. With the benefit of some distance, We can admit that this book might have been the one to permanently cure me of my interest in YA.

There's nothing sadder for me than not liking sequel of a book that I had loved. In my original review of Down World, I said that I was pleased that it was a standalone novel and I loved the way that it wrapped up in the end. This contributes in large part to why I didn't like the sequel; I felt it was unnecessary. By the end of Yesterworld, after all of the ret-conning, I still felt that way.

What is the point of the sequel, what is the point of carrying on the story, when you demonstrated that you can (and will) simply undo things again.

There was also another aspect of the story which made me increasingly uncomfortable. There was an escalating theme throughout both books of xenophobia. The author set the antagonist in the first novel to be Russians, which I thought was fair enough. Alternative histories have focused on Russians and Germans before and what would have happened if they had come to power in the western world.

The problem with Yesterworld is that the xenophobia goes further than just the antagonists' actions and enters the realm of the protagonist's thoughts and biases. Marina refers to people as 'foreigners' or as speaking with a foreign accent and it just didn't sit right with me.

The final nail in the coffin for me was when Marina is shown to have an affair with her school teacher. She is a school child, she is still in school in the novel and he is her teacher. There is a massive power differential there and it's not okay. Marina also self-identifies as naive and stunted due to the time previously lost in Down World and she admits that while she is 18, she is an immature 18. This increases her vulnerability yet the author lets Marina explain away the affair - what happens in Down World stays in Down World - without ever challenging the teacher's role in it.

I don't think I'll be reading the final novel in the trilogy. I think I'll just pretend that the sequels didn't happen.

A little more than a year after Marina's last trip through the portals into Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow in the basement of her school, Marina is adjusting to her life with the consequences of the changes she made in the portals.  Marina is now a senior in high school and making college plans.  However, Marina  has a new history teacher, Mr. Martel who might derail her plans to never go back through the portals.  Mr. Martel has secrets and plans of his own concerning the portals and plans to drag Marina back through to help fix his own mistakes in the portals. 

Yesterworld is the second book in the Down World series and I highly recommend reading the books in order to understand the portals and how they work.  Yesterworld picks up soon after the events in Down World where Marina is trying to adjust to the changes she caused while in the portals.  Marina believes that she stopped the portal to the corrupt Down World from being created. She soon learns from Mr. Martel, or rather Adam, that the Down World still exists and that his friend is trapped there.  Yesterworld is action packed, suspenseful and full of surprises.  It was interesting to see how Marina's current timeline was altered by her trips through the portals.  The introduction of Adam's character brings another layer into the story and creates an unexpected relationship.  I was a little unsettled by Marina and Adam's relationship;  however, the portals do have that effect.  I was glad to learn about how the portal formed and how they were tied to events during World War II.  The creation of the portals also explains how the Down World became controlled by the Russians.  The changes Marina and Adam made in the portals this time seemed to have caused even more changes, even though they fixed a bigger issue.  I can't wait to see what happens next for Marina. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

I really liked DownWorld so no surprise I liked this one too and it’s usually hit of miss with sequel.

Marina is lured back into DownWorld by a mysterious man. A man that is here new hot AP teacher. A man who comes from that world an needs her help. Months have changed since the last time she was there and things aren’t the same, but she decides to help him because what else does she have to loose.

The world really isn’t a new place if you read the first book. Marina’s life isn’t that great but she makes do and is a strong character. She doesn’t really have a world where time is what it seems. I also really like the world building and the fast paced plot. I also love seeing a character who grows and had developments.

I can’t wait to see what else Rebecca Phelps develops with this world! Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an early copy for review.

5 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.


If it was possible to give this book six stars I would. I absolutely loved the first novel, Down World, and somehow Phelps has topped that with this one. If you haven’t read Down World, you must read it first.

Marina’s timeline is all messed up. She came back, but somehow it’s months later. Apparently she’s with Brady, not Kieran. Her mom and brother live across the country. She’s doing her best to get through school and head off to college. Marina is amazingly gifted in math & science, likely could get into MIT, but she doesn’t want to put that kind of pressure on her dad.

One day at school they get a new AP History teacher. His name is Adam, and he’s hot. Marina isn’t interested, but Adam takes an interest in Marina. And then she figures out why. Adam has been to Down World. Adam wants something from Marina. Is Marina willing to risk everything to help Adam?

Like I said, this one was better than the first. If you go back and read my review for Down World, I was blown away. While I knew all about Down World in this novel, I didn’t expect to learn the crazy things about the place. One little choice can have lasting impact on the world in which we live.

Read it. It’s amazing.

This is the second novel in the Down World series and builds very much off of the events of the first novel, so it isn't a standalone.

Interdimensional travel mixes with time travel and intrigue to create an original and exciting tale.

Coming to terms with the new reality, after her trips through the dimensions to save her brother during the first book, Marina is simply trying to survive her senior year in high school and not mourn the parts of her life that she treasured before they were changed. At least, her brother is now alive. But guilt weighs down as she sees the lives of her friends changed, sometimes, for the worse. When her ex-boyfriend appears in front of the doors, a different version of the one she once knew, her heart breaks more. To add to the problems, the hot, new history teacher possess a key to the doors with an offer he won't let her refuse. Mariana's not sure he isn't working for her evil mom, and every trip seems to make something else worse. But the more often she goes in, the more sinister secrets she uncovers.

After reading the first book in this series, I was curious what would happen with Marina and the dimensions next. The first pages didn't dive right into the action, which was nice since it did give us a chance to see Marina's 'new normal' as she coped with her changed reality. Her unsettled feelings are understandable as she's stuck comparing what she had to what she ended up, especially in respect to the lives of her friends and family. It makes her easy to relate with, and her more risky decisions of entering the doors again sympathetic.

This is, for the most part, a quick-paced read with action and tenser moments, especially when it comes to the 4th door, Down World. The warped, historical twists are interesting and offer a grim outlook on how things might have been. But then, world building is a stronger aspect of these novels, which does make flipping through the dimensions grabbing. While the darker and tense side of the intrigue Marina stumbles on thrusts this tale forward, the more personal, relationship side isn't forgotten. Some characters from the first book do seem a bit left-by-the-wayside, but other ones come out stronger and gain depth. I'm not a huge fan of the various romantic strands, but they aren't completely illogical considering the various timelines. I just wish her head was more in the main game. But romance fans get do get their nice dose of tense scenes on that end, too.

It's a good continuation of the series, and I am hoping Marina isn't done quite yet because it'd be interesting to see where things go next. I received a complimentary DRC and found it to be a grabbing read.

I cannot tell you how much I LOVE the worlds that Rebecca creates! I can only hope there will be one more adventure for Marina and that she gets that perfect happy ending that she deserves after all the hard work she’s put i to fixing everything. Wonderfully written book that sucks you in from the beginning.