Best known for her “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” books, Ann Brashares tries science fiction in this fast-paced and romantic novel about a girl from a future.

    Seventeen-year-old Prenna James has traveled to the present from the year of 2098, when a plague-riddled* Earth is on the verge of* collapse*. She and her people are now living in 2014. The time travelers are a strict and secretive* community, and their 12 rules forbid* everything from seeking outside medical care to interfering* in the “natural sequence” of time or engaging in “intimate*” relationships with outsiders.

    When James gets close to “time native” Ethan Jarves, their relationship both threatens the community and becomes the only hope for Earth’s survival. Like the girls in Brashares’s “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series, James is smart, self-deprecating*, and head over heels* in love. In terms of science fiction, Brashares creates a believable future and satisfyingly plans the time-travel plot. But much of the science is foggy. The end of the book feels a bit rushed.

    The author’s younger fans will enjoy the relationship between James and Jarves, and adult fans will like reading about the moral gray areas complicating* their lives. It would be a good introduction to science fiction for those curious about the genre.(SD-Agencies)