The wait is finally over, for those who like me got ARCs of this book anyway. For everyone else it is almost here! And I am so excited because this book belongs to such a good series/trilogy. Obviously this is my honest review of this amazing book.
What book am I talking about? A Time To Rise of course by the lovely Nadine Brandes. I am honored to take part in her book tour.
I don't want this post to be spoilery for those who have not read the first books so here is the synopsis of book one. You can find the synopsis for A Time To Rise on Goodreads.
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.
A Time To Rise was worth the wait, I was expecting this to be as amazing as the other two and it certainly lived up to my expectations. There were many elements of faith in the other books but even more in this one, and by this book in the series I had grown to expect that so it was lovely. It is really refreshing to read a book that is saturated in biblical faith. But it also all applied and was necessary to the story; it has a reason and purpose. It makes this novel so much better and unique. It is an inspiring read.
This story pulled my emotions every way. The characters are all so real Parvin, Tawny, Solomon, Willow and their struggles so relatable and I really liked how some of them changed so much through this series and yet are still the same … Skelley Chase… The theme of forgiveness was powerful too. And many of the side characters were quite intriguing people as well, with their own stories, that we never really heard in this book. (because that would be unnecessary) But it made for good characters.
There were quite a few surprising twists that I did not see coming, at all. I never even suspected there would be twists in those places. The story had me flicking through pages… e-book pages anyway as fast as I could read. A few bits had me laughing aloud.. and laughing/crying at other times.
Some horrible things happen, in the story. (Realism peoples) Some people do many horrible things; some good people make bad choices. But there are no gruesome detailed descriptions of the violence. So I really can’t say there was anything I did not like about this book, except for everything I loved of course!
I find most romance in books is painful to read, but in A Time To Rise (and the other two books, but particularly in this one where it is there a lot more) the romance is lovely and beautiful and a wonderful example of how a relationship like that should really be. It made for some heart wrenching moments.
The story is just beautiful and so full of faith and the ending satisfied me. I am just trying not to think about how it is now ended. But Nadine did a wonderful job in making the ending sound like a new beginning for the characters while still being a great series ending.
Look at that photo, I even have a signed copy of the first book! Well, a sticker that is signed and in the front cover, but that is just as good!
Now after reading that review you want to buy the book right? So here are some links to the previous books in the Out of Time Trilogy as well as A Time To Rise!
You can find A Time to Die the one it started with all these places:
As for A Time to Speak, possibly my favourite of the three:
And A Time To Rise the third and final book:
If you Pre-Order A Time To Rise you can sign up to get some cool swag -like mini character magnetic bookmarks and other out of time series bookmarks- on this post on Nadine's blog.
And there is going to be a Facebook Party to celebrate the release too, which you should totally join in on because Facebook parties are, in my experience anyway, always so fun. What could not be fun when there are book giveaways and author chats?
That American time then translates to 9am on Wednesday the 19th, if you are in the same time zone as me (Australian Eastern Time Zone UTC+10:00) And then again I just realised there is that horrible thing called daylight saving so that could make it 8am, or 10am, my poor little brain is so confused now, but we will work it out some time before then.
And in case you do not know Nadine here is a little introduction.
I am an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. I never received my Hogwarts letter, but rest assured I’m no Muggle (and would have been in Ravenclaw House, thank you very much.) This Harry Potter super-nerd has been known to eat an entire package of Oreos (family-size) by herself, and watches Fiddler on the Roof at least once a year. I write about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. My dystopian trilogy (The Out of Time Series) challenged me to pursue shalom, which is now my favorite word (followed closely by bumbershoot.) When I’m not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, me and my
knight-in-shining armor (nickname: “hubby”)
are out pursuing adventures.
Nadine Stuff: (which you should check out because she is a most lovely person)
Our family bakes a loaf of bread almost every day (in the bread maker). Occasionally if there is some event coming up or we are having people over we will bake two or three more. Among our church friends and family The Farrelly’s Bread is quite famous, and everyone goes back for more. We eat some of our bread every day; we dribble honey or jam over a nice soft slice with chewy crusts or wrap sausages or steaks in it, toast it and eat it with vegemite and butter, or as a toasted squash sandwich, or whatever we feel like that day. I think that the bible, the word of God, is just like The Farrelly’s Bread. We eat our bread every day, it sustains us. So also we should ‘eat’ the word of God every day. Our bread we eat each day gives us energy to continue on. So also does the word of God.
