Carole's Sunday Review: For all time - Caroline B Cooney

Author: Caroline B. Cooney

Title: For All Time (Time Travelers #4)

Genre: YA, Sci-Fi, and Historical Fiction

Pages: 272

Published: Oct 2001

Where I Got It: My Shelf (I honestly can't remember)

Annie Lockwood is testing Time. She’s traveled through it before, but always at Time’s bidding. Now she is asking Time to take her to the year 1899, when Strat is in Cairo. But Time doesn’t like to be tested. In what feels like a cruel joke, Annie is transported to ancient Egypt, thousands of years before Strat was born — to a world far removed from the one she knows. Meanwhile, in 1899, Strat is photographing the same pyramids that Annie walks among. But while Strat eagerly awaits Annie’s arrival, another visitor arrives: his father, Hiram Stratton, Sr., has come to Egypt to collect his son.

Powerless, Annie and Strat both look to Time. Can its force, which brought them together once, help them find each other again?

I swear my memory is getting so bad. I swear I read this and the other books in the series an eon ago...but after reading this I don't recall anything. Lucky me, though, this stands well as a stand alone so I was able to read this even though I couldn't remember the events of the past. 

This story follows a few characters. There is Annie who is from the 1990s and she has a special bond with Time..it likes to sweep her around. Strat is a young man in the 1890s whose dad is rich and crappy, so he decides to run away and become an archaeologist. Annie and Strat met in the past books and are in love. The author also included a couple side characters: Rennifer (a girl in Ancient Egypt), Camilla (a woman who dresses as a man to be a hired secret agent), and a couple others who got their two cents in. 

I felt bad for Annie and Strat. Time is a cruel wench who likes to put them together for a day or two and then tear them apart again. That would really stink. However, it was fun to cheer for them!

I really loved the interplay of all the different time periods and locations. The author did wonderful mixing everything together. The author did a good job at writing the different POVs. However, I do think that some of the POVs were not really needed and seemed to slow the pace of the story. The pace wasn't consistent. 

Also...I hated the ending. I get what the author was doing...but GAH *throws book*. Annie needs a kick in the butt. I felt bad for her, but I was so annoyed with her the entire time, but the ending made me loath her. Stupid chit. However, Strat was a cutie and I think he deserves a better everything...better family, a better lover, etc. Poor guy has had a hard time.

I am curious to see what happens next. I do recommend this even if you skip the other books. This was a fun book, but it did have some issues. I'll give this 3 stars.