A Time to Rise by Nadine Brandes
Christian YA Dystopian. 400 Pages. 5 Stars
Synopsis:
What more can you sacrifice than your life?
Parvin Blackwater is dead.
At least…that’s what the Council—and the world—thinks. But her sacrifice tore down part of the Wall long enough to stir up hope and rebellion in the people. Now she will rise again. Strong, free, and fearless.
Parvin and Solomon must uncover the mysterious clues that Jude left behind in order to destroy the projected Wall once and for all. Meanwhile, the Council schemes to new levels of technology in its attempts to keep the people contained. Can a one-handed Radical and a scarred ex-Enforcer really bring shalom to the world?
My Review:
So, I feel I should admit that I wasn’t as…upset at the Book 2 cliffhanger as most people seem to be. In fact, I think I was more upset at the end of the first book than the end of the second one. I actually felt the peace and calm that Parvin exuded at the end of Book 2. Such serenity led into Book 3 that I kind of guessed she’d be resurrected. Now, perhaps it would have been different if I didn’t know there was going to be a third book or if I couldn’t get my hands on it so quickly as I did. But the end of Book 2 felt more like a reassuring breath than an anxious unanswered question.
Though Parvin still wrestled with her faith at times, her overall growth made her feel like such a grounded character in the finale. She brought that same reassurance into this book and yet Nadine still managed to show us the bits we love from the first two.
I loved the Russian setting! It’s one of my favorite settings and so it was super fun to explore the other side of the world in this story–complete with dog sleds!! Eep! (I blame Balto for my obsession with huskies and dog sleds.) We saw a bit of Paris as well and it was so neat to see the cuisine and culture. Somehow Nadine makes this traveling adventure story feel so real and natural to her world. It was also cool to continue to explore new modes of transportation.
It was also really neat how we came full circle back to the corrupt government, uprising, and dystopian threads. I loved that Nadine wove those together with Parvin’s growth, arc, and faith journey. But seeing the cool dystopian plot line come to a full epic worldbuilt head and reach a satisfying conclusion was the best!
Nadine sets up this conclusion so well with the first two books. The broken world, broken relationships, and broken shalom are really so necessary to getting to a point of resolution. The healing and restoration is so much more satisfying when you’ve first walked through the awful, painful, broken parts of the story. There’s more meaning and depth to forgiveness, healing, and things made right when you first understand just how wrong and broken they were to begin with.
That hope for redemption and shalom, for this world to be made right, our relationships to be restored, and the way things were meant to be is the theme of my own heart. And experiencing it here in this story fed my soul. Thank you, Nadine <3
Solomon, my man. We all know I adore him. And dude! His father! I just want to hug that man and shake his hand! We need more fathers like that in our lives. Seeing their love for Jude and how their family was brought up, the relationships in the Hawke family just soothed my heart. Angelique was a treat too, and our boi Elm! I’d love to see Willow’s side of things in a bonus story or something. But I loved Elm’s dedication to Willow. It was so easy to forget they were kids, but their culture raised them up and matured them in a beautiful way. And Willow provided such a beautiful thread to tie into the themes and growth of the cast. I love that not everyone thought or acted the same way, but each had their own journey. Oh! Also Kaphtor was such a delight. (Also the loyalty of the Enforcers!! My heart!) Seeing change and growth and unity in these beloved characters makes this story all the stronger.
An utterly page-turning, satisfying, and lovely conclusion to a heart-churning story. If only it could keep going. But alas, now we are challenged to take this story out into the world and live it ourselves.
Content: No foul language, a sweet, heart-focused romance, and still some fantasy violence. This one doesn’t delve into as much of the horror of injustice and inhumanity as the second one did, but there’s still dystopian uprising, explosions, and threats galore. There are deep themes of obedience, courage, purpose, life, and death. So, though the book is clean, I’d recommend it for mid to late teens and up.
More:
Book 1 in the Out of Time trilogy is A Time to Die (5 Stars)
Book 2 is A Time to Speak (5 Stars)
These must be read in order! Check out the links above for more info!
On GraceBought
Check out my thoughts on the previous book:
A Time to Die and A Time to Speak