Book Review: “A Time To Reap” (The Legend of Carter Gabel #1) by Jonas Lee

“A Time To Reap” (The Legend of Carter Gabel #1) by Jonas Lee (2014)

Genre: YA, Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-fi

Page Length: 250 pages (electronic edition)

Synopsis:

Pemberton Academy is not just a school, it’s a gathering place for the children of the future that are afflicted with Temporal Displacement and Telepathy; in short, time travelers and mind readers who have been diagnosed with this “disease.” The Academy is not all as it seems after an explosion nearly takes one of its classmates, but not before Carter Gabel rescues her by using an unknown symptom related to his described illness. An unsanctioned group called the Program begins taking notice as the two classmates exhibit stronger abilities when they are together. Carter’s sense of reality begins to unwind as he learns more about his estranged father’s involvement with it all.

Carter will have to overcome the past of his father leaving, the present of an unknown adversary hunting him down and a future that seems to change with each decision he makes. He will have to learn who to trust out of the people in his life if he wants to conquer the looming notion that the government may be hunting him down because of his developing abilities. (description from Goodreads)

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review

Review:

A Time to Reap is a nice start to the beginning of a thrilling sci-fi adventure! Our main character is Carter, a high schooler, who is trying to keep a hold on his special abilities. He can leap through time, and eventually he learns how to alter people’s memories, and fight his way out of danger. He saves his classmate, Mo, from a dangerous explosion and his life is thrown into chaos. He starts learning about the corrupted powerful organizations who say they are trustworthy, but really have underlying reasons for hunting and obtaining these “special” people.

The whole time-travelling/jumping aspect of the story is what makes this novel so interesting to read. You’re not only trying to follow the main story line that is set in the present, but also end up jumping into the past and you even dabble in the future. This aspect also reminded me of something that would come straight out of a Doctor Who episode and made me think of the movie Jumper, a film that follows a young man who can teleport and is chased by a secret society intent on killing him. Needless to say this story is pretty cool.

Though I did like Carter, sometimes I thought his character was a bit arrogant. This leads him to jump heedlessly into actions, without repercussions. Maybe its his age, or the fact that he is immediately tossed into a dangerous situation without notice? I contemplate this, and decide to give him some credit.

The only criticism I would have about this novel is that the story does throw a lot of information at the reader in such a short time during certain parts of the book. It’s not too much to handle, but it can get confusing at times.

Final Verdict:

An exciting start to the first novel in the series! I’m looking forward to reading the next book to see how the story will continue. Recommended to fans of the sci-fi genre. 4 out 5 stars!