A Book Review of A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes

There was once a time when only God knew the day you'd die.

Yesss, we're bringing these back! As part of the new theme I unveiled with the coming of the new year, I've decided to start bringing back book reviews to you all. And honestly, it's quite shocking that the last review I wrote was in 2020, but that's a whole other thing that I won't go into.

With that said, I'm so excited to dive into this new book today—one I just finished not long before writing this review. I've heard about A Time to Die from numerous other fellow writers, and was inspired by Nadine Brandes' interview at the Young Writer's Workshop, and I was intrigued by the blurb. Around January of 2020, I read the Slave trilogy, and then the Defier trilogy, and as I started getting into YA Christian dystopian, A Time to Die seemed the only reasonable book to read next.

I'll spare you the details and tell you that in the end, yes, I ended up buying A Time to Die on my own. And I. loved. it.

Blurb

(from Goodreads)

How would you live if you knew the day you'd die?

Three hundred sixty-four days, seven hours, and sixteen—no, fifteen—seconds left to live. Like everyone else on the east side of the Wall, Parvin Blackwater has a clock counting down the days until her death. At only seventeen, she has only one year left.

When the authorities find out she has been illegally sharing a clock with her twin brother, she is cast through the Wall—her people's death sentence. What she finds on the other side about the world, about God, and about herself changes Parvin forever and might just save her people. If she can get the word to them before her time runs out.

My Thoughts

I actually created a Google Doc for jotting down notes while I was reading A Time to Die, but. . . it failed. Badly. Just look.

Interesting characters.

And Parvin...she’s so like me, it’s crazy.

Wow...the emotional impact when she... *winces* O.o

So obviously, that isn't the same stuff reviews are made of.

In all seriousness, the beginning dragged. . . a bit. But maybe that's because I'm used to shorter stories. However, I do feel that the beginning time was essential to show how complacent Parvin was, and how much she had wasted her life. But once the inciting incident happened (which I believe was when Skelley Chase offered her the whole deal to go to the West), things started picking up pretty quickly.

And Parvin. . . as I said in my rambles above, I feel like we're very similar, so similar that it's almost eerie. Very opposed to showing weakness? Check. Sarcasm? Check. Determination? Check. Overthinking? Check. A kind of tough sense of humor? Check.

I loved the characters. Especially Jude and Willow. The way Nadine Brandes described Jude and his mannerism was done so well, I could literally imagine the tones in which he spoke to Parvin. And Willow. . . her childishness, combined with leadership and something veering on wisdom. . . it was very well-done.

On the flip side, I feel like a lot of the characters were unnecessarily cruel. This could be because I haven't read the rest of the series yet, but I wasn't quite sure of the motive behind Skelley Chase, or how he did everything. I also feel like there wasn't super great closure at the end of A Time to Die. . . but maybe that's just because I so badly wanted a happy ending for all of them. And Reid. . . he seemed too perfect to me, and that could be why I wasn't extremely affected when he (mouse over for spoilers) died.

Overall, I loved Nadine's writing style, and how she managed to pull everything off without so much gory description, romance, or any profanity. Not only that, but those thought-provoking themes woven in—of sacrifice, forgiveness, and living—were all so brilliantly handled, especially considering how similar I am to the main character. I closed A Time to Die wondering to myself how I want to live my life—knowing that we all, one day, will die in the end.

Genre

Undoubtedly Christian YA dystopian. God was woven into the story in an amazing way, and I love the scene where Parvin looked back on her life and saw how His hand was on it throughout time.

Warnings

So, I admit it. I went into this read expecting romance. But it actually didn't play a part until about 3/4 through the book. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

Attraction between two characters, violence, a couple of scenes where characters get their limbs amputated, and childbirth are all the content warnings I can think of!

Rating

I'd give this book 4.5/5 stars (very wow-worthy).

A Time to Die was beautiful and left me with my emotions scattered all over the floor, plus, I read this rather long (in my opinion) read in two sittings. That should say enough. ;)

P.S. Have you read A Time to Die? What were your thoughts on it? And if you haven't, do you think you would enjoy this book? What did you think of the review? Let me know in the comments below! And for those who are wondering what I'll be reading next, check out my spring-summer reading list!