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The Foreshadowing Marcus Sedgwick Books

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The Foreshadowing Marcus Sedgwick Books

I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. It was riveting, and I was learning all sorts of stuff about WWI. But, in the end, (no spoilers,) I thought it was kind of disappointing, because the author really didn’t explain everything that happened and left a lot of unanswered questions to our imaginations.


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The Foreshadowing Marcus Sedgwick Books Reviews

Alexandra Fox can see the future. Before you start thinking that her story is one of predicting winning lottery numbers and envisioning her future husband, though, be forewarned that the only thing Alexandra is able to see in the future is death. It all starts when, at the age of five, Alexandra knows, with utter certainty, that her playmate Clare will die. When her friend does die suddenly, and when Alexandra has ongoing visions of death and destruction --- visions that always prove accurate --- Alexandra's parents and brothers soon start to see her as a freak, refusing to acknowledge her gift. Or is it a curse?

When World War I breaks out, 17-year-old Alexandra desperately wants to help. Her oldest brother Edgar enlists almost immediately, but her other brother Tom opposes the war and wants to be a doctor instead. Alexandra finally convinces her father to let her train as a nurse, but her premonitions of her patients' deaths become almost too much for her to handle. When family circumstances finally drive Tom to the front, Alexandra has a recurring vision of his death, a vision that compels her to follow him to France in a desperate attempt to avert his fate. On the way, she encounters a man, known only as Hoodoo Jack, who also sees terrible visions of the future. Is it possible that Alexandra is among the subjects of his premonitions?

As Alexandra delves deeper into the horrors of the Somme, she also undertakes a more introspective journey --- to try to discover the extent, and limitations, of her unusual gift. "If I can see the future, then what does that mean?" Alexandra writes. "It would be like knowing the end of a story right from the start, almost as if you were reading it backward. And who wants to know how their own story ends?" Marcus Sedgwick cleverly constructs THE FORESHADOWING in this way, beginning with Chapter 101 and counting down to Chapter 1, where Alexandra's story ends, but not in the way readers might expect.

Alexandra develops a feeling of kinship with mythical character Cassandra, who was doomed to foretell the future of the Trojan War, but was cursed to have no one believe her. Mythical overtones abound in Sedgwick's fascinating novel, which combines Alexandra's dreadful supernatural gift with the equally horrific realities of trench warfare. THE FORESHADOWING also combines historical accuracy with extraordinary suspense, and it raises profound questions about destiny, fate, and a young person's place in the world.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
This is a ghost story, but yet it isn't! Alexandra (Sasha) Fox is the heroine of the story and yes, she sees dead people!!! She can also see the future and it's not a good view of things to come. She tries to tell her family about the horrors of the First World War that await her brothers, Edgar and Tom, on the battlefield, but no one is listening.
Seventeen-year-old Sasha has had the gift (or curse) of foresight since she was a child, having a vision of her friend's death when she was five years old. As happened then, no one believes her now or acknowledges her ability to tell the future when she predicts the death of her brother Edgar.

As the war begins, Sasha is tortured by her horrific dreams and visions. What she sees drives her on to become a nurse on the battlefront in order to find and save her other brother, Tom, despite her father's angry objections. Sasha's character develops as the story continues, her strength increasing as she becomes a woman in control of her own destiny, if not those around her.
On her journey, Sasha encounters many obstacles and unusual characters in her path and the story takes on a mythological aspect. On his website, Sedgwick himself points to the idea of the `Cassandra Syndrome' as being an underlying theme of the story. Basically, it is a psychological concept applied to people who exhibit the ability to see, usually bad events in the future, generally not believed by anyone else but which later turn out to be true. The term comes from the Greek myth of Cassandra (also known as Alexander), who was cursed with the gift of prophecy, whereby she could see into the future, but no one else ever believed what she saw.

Written with dollops of gothic motifs and evocative settings, the reader gets a sense of the eerie atmosphere of life on the front, as seen through the eyes of young Sasha. Sedgwick paints a gruesome yet poetic picture of the horrors of war. Intertwined with a supernatural theme and a young girl's heroic attempts at warding off foreseen evil, `The Foreshadowing' is an imaginative and compelling novel with a twist in the tale that'll leave you wanting more. Think Marilyn Manson and `Jar Head' meets the `Ghost Whisperer.' If that gives you a strong impression, read this story and blow away all the usual stereotypes you might expect from a book with subject matter such as this one. Highly recommended.
Very interesting—a psychic-flavored historical novel! It’s set during World War I. The main character, Sasha, can predict when someone will die, which is interesting, and I liked her dilemma of whether those fates were set in stone versus being changeable. There were war details that really made me feel the horror of the fighting and blood and devastating casualties. I really liked the twist at the end. It was also refreshing to read a YA book that did NOT have a syrupy romance going on where the main character is pining away for some hot guy. Sasha wanted to help with the war, be loyal to her family, and become a nurse. Despite a somewhat slow pace in parts, it was a very different and enjoyable read.
It was my first read by this author, and he blew me away with his writing as well as the story. My twelve-year-old daughter begged me to read it, and once I started I quickly realized I wasn't going to regret it.

This book was not just well written but also a great story that will keep you turning the pages. I wasn't quite sure how old Jack was but would have loved to see him and Alexandra end up together. What an amazing story, one that will leave you pondering, and all fuzzy inside. Definitely one I'll never forget.
I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. It was riveting, and I was learning all sorts of stuff about WWI. But, in the end, (no spoilers,) I thought it was kind of disappointing, because the author really didn’t explain everything that happened and left a lot of unanswered questions to our imaginations.