Heartstream was one of my most anticipated reads from my YALC TBR this year. There was so much hype around Tom Pollock this time last year due to the release of White Rabbit, Red Wolf and i never got around to picking it up.
When Heartstream was announced, it seemed more up my street and something that i knew i would be absolutely thrilled to read. So i went out on release day and picked up a copy for myself. It’s been a while since i dove in to a mystery, thriller type book, and this sounded perfect to fill that gap in my reading at the moment.
As i said, i’ve not read another book by Tom before, so this was my first experience of his writing. I did really enjoy his writing style and how easy it goes by. I flew through the first two thirds of this book, and absolutely adored it from the start. It’s told through two point of views, that of Amy and that of Cat. Both stories are being told during different years and over different time periods, and that’s something that really drew me to this book. The fact so much was happening in one story and purposefully, so little was happening in the other, i found it incredibly interesting. Heartstream was truly a joy to read.
I really enjoyed the characters in this book more than i thought i would. I must admit, i found Cat to be a little irritating at times, but i think that’s more my dislike of the way her story was going. It’s not to my personal taste, but i can definitely understand why so many people would love it. She became quite obnoxious to me, and that’s something i just cannot connect with. However i really enjoyed reading from both girls points of view, along with the side characters that were excellent. Evie was a personal favourite of mine and truly one of the most realistic and well thought-out characters i’ve read in a long time.
The story itself was incredible. It’s sort of dystopian, sort of sci-fi with a focus of the future of technology. Books like this always have me hooked from the start because i love seeing where people think technology will take us in the future. The idea is that Heartsteam can let you stream your thoughts and feelings in a similar way to a live stream. You are literally living what that person is. It sounds so in depth but told in a very understandable way, and i really enjoy it. The entire focus isn’t on the technology of the modern world, but the bits of it thrown in really make it something different in YA at the moment.
Reading Heartstream has made me want to pick up the rest of Tom’s work definitely. I had an absolute blast reading Heartstream and i imagine i’ll like everything else he has to offer. In some ways, his writing really reminded me of Lauren James, who i absolutely adore for her incredible plot-twists. If you’re in doubt about picking up Heartstream, just do it, you’ll love it.
The Little Contemporary Corner 