So, today I’m hopping on board with Nadine Brandes‘s book tour/thunderclap thing for the release of her new book, A Time To Rise. And I will be reviewing A Time To Die. I’ve waited for way to long to read this book. (Plus, Nadine is awesome. ❤ I loved her talk at the OYAN workshop in June AND got to sit with her at lunch. *bounce* :D)

Anyway. Review time!

A Time to Die: Book Review

Synopsis:

How would you live if you knew the day you’d die? Parvin Blackwater believes she has wasted her life. At only seventeen, she has one year left according to the Clock by her bedside. In a last-ditch effort to make a difference, she tries to rescue Radicals from the government’s crooked justice system. But when the authorities find out about her illegal activity, they cast her through the Wall — her people’s death sentence. What she finds on the other side about the world, about eternity, and about herself changes Parvin forever and might just save her people. But her clock is running out.

 

Good stuff:

I don’t usually read dystopian stuff. I kind of get the impression that it’s all just “everything’s gone horrible in the world and now everyone’s killing each other” and that would get old fast.

But this book actually worked a cool concept, which I loved. ❤

So . . . a list of good stuff.

• The clocks were a really well explored concept. All of the questions that came to mind with the whole thought process of “They have clocks? Whoa, so like what if . . .?” were answered quite nicely.
• The characters had a lot of variety. It wasn’t just the cookie-cutter on the main cast or the background people. Everyone was distinct and memorable as a character.
• I think this would be a bit spoilery to explore, so I’ll stay ambiguous here. But I really did love the villain character here. His motivations are very clear and understandable to the point that it took me quite a bit to actually figure out that he was the villain character. XD
• The world over the wall. Usually when there’s the element of “oh we just don’t go there because it’s forbidden and just plain horrid over there”, either the other world is a barren wasteland roamed by monsters or an undiscovered candyland. Thankfully, this didn’t fall into either cliché and just made the world over the wall . . . another part of the world with all the good and bad that come along with that.
• Okay, tiny love here. But I loved this aspect of the culture. ❤
• Brother + sister interaction. Parvin and Reid weren’t sappily sweet in their getting along, or constantly at each other’s throats. It was a relationship and it was realistic, which was awesome.
• Theme was great and made me think. You’ll definitely see time in a different way afterwards. 😛
• PB&J. My ship here, and the only kind of PB&J I like. Spot it if you can . . .

 

Bad stuff:

And another list!

• Things get a bit . . . intense at certain parts. There are skeletons and poison and a healthy dose of limb chopping . . . so not for squeamish ones. Description doesn’t go into detail, but it happens, so I’d put this probably on par with a PG-13 movie.
• A dash of romance. It wasn’t a huge deal for me, but it was there so . . . alerting anyone who is bothered by that.
• Okay, my only writing gripe will go right here. The ending. Yes, yes I know it’s a trilogy and all. Gotta leave all the setup for next time. But the two setups that I’ve known to work are either “tie everything up nicely, then end with a bit of foreshadowing” (something like The False Prince) or “cut off at a crucial moment and leave your readers screaming from cliffhanger torture because they need to know what happens within the next 10 minutes” (The Peleg Chronicles). This wasn’t really either? There were like two subplots that needed to be very immediately addressed, but weren’t, and then the big stuff came to a very sudden end and everyone sort of ignored the villain. Parvin had a moment of catching her breath and going “huh?”, then there was sequel foreshadowing and it ended. I don’t know, it didn’t feel really completed properly. *rant over*

 

Overall: A really cool and thought provoking dystopian. I’d recommend for sci-fi dystopian fans of age 13 or older.

 

And linky things if you want to find A Time To Die in other places.

 

A Time to Die

And linky things if you want to find Nadine elsewhere (which of course you do what am I saying)

• Website: http://nadinebrandes.com
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/NadineBrandesAuthor
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/NadineBrandes
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/NadineBrandes 

Plus, a cool countdown timer for the last book! 😀

https://countdownsbyerin.com/cd/time/So, have you read A Time to Die? Think you will?Please comment!~writefury