How would you live if you knew the day you'd die?
Parvin Blackwater 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 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.
Wow! This book was totally not what I was expecting at all, in every way. The idea of the Clocks and the Wall was so original. I will say the Clocks did seem unrealistic and sometimes my head hurt thinking about them and trying to figure them out, X) but the author did a nice job of spending just a couple of sentences explaining some theories of how they came into existence.
This was a Christian dystopian novel, which is a little-known genre that I really enjoy. Brandes did a good job of developing the character's faith throughout the story and developing the main character, Parvin, in general, which I liked. This book has been popping up everywhere for me and has been on my TBR list for a while. For some reason, the premise always seemed interesting, but a little weird to me. However, one day I decided I was tired of not having read this book and started reading it, which I'm really glad I did.
That being said, I'm going to dive right into the pros and cons.
What I liked 👍:
-The idea; like I said, super original
-The plot; I always wanted to know what was going to happen next!
-The imagery. Wow, this author has beautiful imagery. She was great at describing places as well as using metaphors, similes, and personification to bring life to the whole novel. This was probably my favorite part about this author's writing style.
-Parvin's faith. She had such a real faith in God that grew tremendously over the book. She was a broken human, who was open about her struggles, but, as I said, had a completely different faith at the beginning and end of the book.
-This book showed me how when awful things happen; the gritty, tragic stuff of life, God uses these trials to make us stronger and so much more equipped and capable to do His work at the end. I didn't realize how beautifully this was done until reflecting on it after finishing the book
-Minor characters. I loved the supporting cast of characters, Reid, Solomon, Willow, and Jude.
-The physical settings. This should probably go with imagery, but I LOVE the way Brandes describes all the places in the book. She can make you feel any emotion associated with a place; fear, hope, excitement, and dread.
-I loved the overall theme of the search and understanding of shalom throughout this story. You just have to read it for yourself. It's beautiful.
And now for...
What I didn't like so much 👎:
I'm going to try to keep this somewhat short because I hate book reviews that ramble on and on about everything they didn't like in the book. Writing is hard. Give the author a break.
-Parvin was pretty good, but not necessarily my favorite character ever. However, Brandes made up for this with a great character arc and amazing supporting characters.
-Sometimes there were little things in the writing that could've been better, but, being a writer, I just naturally notice this stuff I guess.
-This didn't bother me too much but I could see it potentially bothering some other people- There were some intense scenes. Not gory, just really intense. The kind of scenes where characters escape at the last minute in most books, well the characters didn't always escape in those types of scenes in this book. Bad stuff happens. Be warned.
Overall, I liked A Time to Die. It probably wasn't my favorite Christian dystopian book, and there were just some little things I didn't like, such as being bored in the beginning, but these are just minor issues that don't overpower a good book with beautiful themes. I loved the themes of purpose, shalom, and God being with us through the hardships. The ending was surprising, not a major cliffhanger, but enough to make me buy A Time to Speak to see what happens next. This book is a testimony to how much hardship and faith in God can change a person. If you can overlook little writing inefficiencies and don't mind intense and emotionally wrenching scenes, I would recommend A Time to Die.
My favorite quotes:
I'm adding some "..."s to leave out spoilers.
"How many screams for mercy have taken place on this knoll and not been heard? ... Why is the sound of a human voice ignored? "
"I don't want to leave, but that is the beauty of it. I don't want to leave yet I am choosing to. This gives me strength and confidence. I'm sacrificing for the sake of others. This step brings the same calm I had when ... This is right. This is me. This is my purpose."
(In both, I added the emphasis myself.)
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Have you read A Time to Die or any other Nadine Brandes book? If so, how did you like it? Comment below!