Book Review

A Time to Die | Book Review

Rose John Sheffler

A Time to Die  |  Nadine Brandes

Awards : None

21795840Parvin Blackwater lives every moment knowing exactly when she’s going to die. Everyone does. Everyone except Radicals without a Clock, that is. Parvin’s Clock has one year left, but there’s a problem. She’s been illegally sharing her Clock with her twin brother, Reid. They don’t know which one of them is actually a Radical. In Unity village, Radicals are doomed to cross the Wall. When the USE discovers her secret, she’s forced across the Wall to die a Radical’s death. But what she finds on the other side awakens a desire to be something more. What will she do now with the time she’s got left before she zeros out? What if her shared Clock isn’t really hers? Dive into this unique dystopian future where man has stolen the knowledge of death and reaped terrible consequences.

Pages : 400

Rating : PG-13

Poor relationship with mother. Mention of casual kissing, marriage, and sexual encounters (within the context of marriage). Dismemberment. Flirting. Attraction. Almost kissing. Gun violence. Depiction of birth. A man pushes a woman.

My Thoughts :

  1. Kudos to Nadine Brandes for writing about about death in a not-creepy way.
  2. For a first novel, it’s delightful.
  3. For a dystopian, it’s unique and refreshing.
  4. I called the ending in the first chapter. Sorry.
  5. This is one of the better depictions of a character’s relationship to God that I’ve ever read. That being said, many times it felt shallow, forced, and just … weird.
  6. I love how terrible Parvin is at surviving outdoors. She doesn’t immediately become competent at anything, which makes her 100% relatable.
  7. She paraphrased the Lord’s Prayer. I do not approve.
  8. The sort-of-not-really love triangle made me uncomfortable. And yet I still ended up loving both Jude and Solomon. I have a thing for dark, broody men. I also have a thing for gentlemen.
  9.   ◊◊◊  |  Would recommend if you like YA Dystopian and Religious Convictions don’t bother you.

-rj

ps. I’ve done reviews of the two sequels (because dystopians must be trilogies), A Time to Speak, and A Time to Rise.

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Published by Rose John Sheffler

I write. I read. I eat.

7 thoughts on “A Time to Die | Book Review”

  2. Pingback: A Time to Speak | Book Review – R. J. Sheffler

  4. I have to read this book for school, and this review has actually made me much more excited to read it! Thanks for writing this review, it’s a great summary of everything, and I love how you broke it all up so it was easy to understand.
    (By the way… as a writer, I have to say, you have a great writing style. Keep it up!)

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  5. Pingback: A Time To Rise | Book Review – R. J. Sheffler

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