A World Without You by Beth Revis (2016)

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Sofia was Bo’s first true love, and then she disappeared. Everyone thinks she committed suicide, but Bo knows the truth: Sofia is stuck in 1694. A couple days ago Bo had taken them back in time on the little east coast island they go to school on, and when he came back, Sofia didn’t. Besides the obvious problem that Sofia is stuck in the past, she’s stuck in the worst time possible. The Salem Witch Trials are taking place, and Sofia is Latina and can become invisible, which mean she’ll most likely be mistaken as a witch. Still, there’s another problem going on. Berkshire Academy, the school Bo goes to, is under investigation, and everyone is losing memory of their power. Soon, Bo is one of the only people who still has control over their power, and even he is sleeping. Now, it’s not just a race to save Sofia, but a race to save his mind and everyone else’s.
I was super excited about A World Without You, ever before it came out. I really enjoyed Beth Revis’s Across the Universe trilogy, despite the change to some very unappealing covers. This cover, though, is extraordinary and immediately drew my eye. I also thought that the premise of this book sound interesting and was pretty original, so of course I requested it from the library. And, overall, I can say I was pretty satisfied with the story.
This book is definitely a mind screw. We start off with have the characters saying that Sofia died, and the other half saying she was trapped in time. Then, throughout the book, most of the characters change their mind on what exactly happened, and it starts to become really tricky trying to decipher what’s real and what’s fake. Because of that, the story was definitely confusing at times. It took me until about 100 pages in to feel like I had a grip on the story, and then it completely flipped around and I was back at base one. With all the flips, the themes starting changing, too. From the synopsis, it sounds like a science fiction/paranormal read, but at a lot of points it became a story about mental health- I’ll let you decide which one it is.
A World Without You is an example of duo perspective done right. First up, there’s Bo, who was probably one of the sweetest characters I’ve ever met. I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything would be okay, but I couldn’t. I don’t think he necessarily went through character growth, but that the reader went through growth that then changes their perspective of Bo. By the end of the book, there was a whole different Bo than the one I started with. Bo’s life was pretty chaotic, so it was great to hear the perspective of his sister, Phoebe. Phoebe provided a lot of clarity in the story, and also offered a great opportunity to see what other people think of Bo.
The last thing I really liked was the romance between Sofia and Bo, or lack thereof. When Bo is introduced, Sofia is already gone, but we learn about their romance through flashbacks. In most YA novels, the love interests fall head over heels in love, but this was different. Their love for eachother was so pure and simple, but so slow. They went through a whole process of slowly falling in love with eachother, and it made my heart happy.
Writing this review has only made me appreciate A World With You even more, and I hope you enjoy it, too.

4 Stars

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