A Time to Die: Book Review

A time to die: (out of time book 1)

By Nadine Brandes

Genre:  Young Adult Christian sci fi / speculative fiction,

369 pages

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.

On my blog, I only review books that I actually recommend. I stick with 4 to 5 star books. I’d rather not waste my time writing a bad review on my blog. My goal is to encourage other authors, not tear them down.

Also, I try not to give out too many spoilers, but there could be some spoilers. So you have been warned.

My take on A time to die:

Amazing. 5 star book absolutely. Thrilling, adventurous, full of spiritual questions, even questions that non-believers find themselves asking. Parvin is definitely a relateable character for teenage readers. The ending was….shocking. I am still trying to process the ending. I usually jump right into the next book in a series, (if I can afford it) but I need time to figure this one out, and process all that’s happened. It’s that good.

What would you do if you knew the day you were going to die? Would  you be afraid? Would you travel? Go out and find a purpose for your life? What if everyone around you also knew the day they would die? Would you even care  about the knowledge? Would you accept it?

This is Parvin’s struggle. But there’s a twist, which you’ll have to read to discover.

I will admit, this book started off slow. I still don’t know if I like Parvin. Why do I still give it 5 stars? Because of everything else! All of the characters, including Parvin, were well developed, fascinating, full of intriguing backgrounds. Every single one has some surprising background that is explored further into the story. You never really know exactly who these people are right away until you get deeper into the story.

I love Brandes’ writing voice and style. I don’t know why, but I look for similes and analogies in the writing of the books I read and her similes are awesome! But that’s just my writing nerdiness coming out.

Brandes’ world building skills are superb. In many sci fi / fantasy novels, more so perhaps in adult sci fi/fantasy, you get this huge info dump/history lesson in the beginning. Sometimes that’s necessary in order to understand the story. But in this story, Brandes reveals the world Parvin lives in tidbit by tidbit. We find out when Parvin finds out. She lives in poverty, which is convenient for the reader, in that her discoveries of the rest of her very advanced world are genuine.

All of the other characters are what I thoroughly enjoyed about this book: Reid, Parvin’s twin brother – I am actually sad that the reader didn’t get as much insight to this great character until the very end. Then there’s Solomon, a man who she doesn’t even know, who helps her from afar (thanks to awesome advanced technology) And Jude, who Solomon sends to help Parvin, was probably my favorite character. Of course that might be because I’m a sucker for romance. Sometimes sci fi is difficult for me to read. A romantic arc immediately catches and keeps my interest and this aspect was well done. Very…teenage awkward, I-don’t-know-what’s-going-on. (ha!)

Betrayal, adventure, survival, suspense, spiritual and life questions that teenagers, and even adults, tend to ask ourselves, are all intricately woven together, with an

I highly recommend this book Onto Book 2. A time to speak

Hmmm – since the third book doesn’t come out until later this year…maybe I should slow down. Maybe.

Happy reading!