Goodreads synopsis: 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.
My rating: 3 stars.
Content warnings: PG-13. Some violence and blood.
Thoughts: This was a reread of this book, so my thoughts may be slightly colored by that, and I do think that without knowing where the rest of the series goes, I might have rated this book a bit higher. That's the context of this.
It is a solid book, with a really interesting premise, some fantastic characters, and a generally sturdy plot. It's mostly well written, there are a few aspects that bugged me in some way, but overall I enjoyed reading it even a second time. I would honestly say this book is a good book, and suggest it to people who might be interested in a fascinating dystopian world.
What I can't do, unfortunately, is recommend the books that follow, and that sours my enjoyment and appreciation for this book just a bit.
(spoilers for the entire Out of Time series)
It became obvious to me in rereading this that Brandes did plan for Parvin to end up with Jude's brother the whole time. But the way she tried to set that up, and the way she (Parvin or Brandes, I can't honestly tell) treated Jude throughout the story made me so much more bitter about Parvin as a character, the direction the stories took in general, and the "romance" of the books in particular. I don't know why it was a good idea, but it bothers me quite a lot, and I can't get over how nasty, cruel, and downright creepy the whole thing becomes in the end.
Additionally, it makes me sad how this book had such a solid, tight plot throughout, only to have... very little plot in the next two books. Ten chapters of this book cover more ground plot wise than the next two books combined, at least in what's shown on page. It's sad to me, and really disappointing because Brandes is a very talented author, but it just doesn't show in the next two books.
Overall I do still have a lot of appreciation for A Time to Die, but the frustration I have with Speak and Rise makes me unable to hold it quite as highly as I otherwise might have.
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