Foreshadow

I was amazed on finishing Foreshadow: Trapped In Her Own Mind to discover that Leena Althekair was only fourteen years old when she published this novel. Fourteen! I admit to being rather envious of her talent! Foreshadow is a well paced young adult science fiction story which does require a certain suspension of disbelief, but it is written so plausibly that, once I accepted the reality of Meghan's brother's attic laboratory, the rest of the tale was wonderfully engrossing.

At its heart, I think Foreshadow is a story about friendships and family relationships with our young, overthinking heroine, Meghan, learning to appreciate those people being there for her, despite her increasingly erratic behaviour. I loved how Althekair portrays interactions between characters, especially within Meghan's friend group and between her family members. I think this book would appeal to fans of authors such as Adiba Jaigirdar and Sally-Anne Lomas. Conversations always felt natural to me, even when they encompassed some seriously bizarre happenings, and the typical traumas of being a teenager are as disorienting as the aftermath of the disastrous experiment.

On the negative side, I was disappointed to see animal experimentation treated with such casual disregard especially by a character who had such an affinity with a cat. Also, there were a couple of early storylines which seemed to fizzle out without resolution, but I did like the open-ended final moments which leave the possibility for a sequel, but without me feeling short changed by a cliffhanger. All in all, Foreshadow is a fun novel with a worthwhile message and I think it's a great addition to the YA canon.