A (mostly) Spoiler-Free Review of A Time to Rise by Nadine Brandes.

So I received ATTR in the mail on Friday evening. (Two weeks before its release date, but who's complaining? Definitely not me.) I finished half of it before I had to give in to sleep (sigh) because of a particularly bad headache. But I finished it Saturday, less than 24 hours after I started it. #noshame

So I'm going to write a little review! I've never written an actual review before, so this is going to be...interesting.

PROS:

*Jude flashback(ish) scenes. (For those of you that don't know, Jude is pretty much my favourite book character ever). Those scenes made me so happy but sad at the same time. (I may have gotten teary eyed..)

*Solomon. I'll be honest with you, I despised him in ATTS. I think * SPOILERS * Jude's death was too fresh on my mind * END SPOILERS *, and I may have (accidentally) imagined Sol looking like a ugly Westley (from the Princess Bride). But I like him much better now, and don't imagine him like an ugly Westley. :)

*Russia. I have this really weird obsession with Russia. I don't know much about it (yet) but it intrigues me. (Mostly because in one of the novels I'm writing is set in Russia, and the main character is Russian) Yeah, I don't fully get it either. But anyways. That part of the book made me happy.

*The Ending. The ending was happy. I am so not used to happy endings in books, so this was a nice surprise. And the last line made me so happy (those who have read it know what I'm talking about).

*Skelley Chase. I love how his storyline ended SO MUCH. That is all.

*The Cover. Again, I'll be honest with you, I wasn't to crazy about it when it was first revealed. But it is so much prettier in person.

CONS:

*Parvin (kind of). I felt like she was kind of wimpy in this book. After all she's been through, I guess I'd imagine her more...brave, maybe. I'm not sure how to word it, and it may be just me feeling that way. But anyways, yeah.

*Solomon. (yes, he was on the pros list too. Shhhh.) As I said I definitely grew to like him more, but he seemed way too perfect. I mean, I get that he loves Parvin and wants to save the world and all, he just seems too flawless. Again, that may be just me.

*Erfinder Hawke. He annoyed me to no end and the way he treated Sol made me sad.

Overall, I really liked this book. It was a great end to an amazing trilogy. 4.5/5 stars.

You can buy the first book in the series here.

E.C.