Broken Shards of Time

by Nyah Nichol

Wren Derecho is the lone survivor of a mysterious accident that took the lives of her parents. As Wren tries to navigate through the pain of grief and loss, she crosses paths with three other individuals and soon realizes that something beyond coincidence has intertwined their lives together. Each of their journeys are marked by immense tragedy, fate, a time machine, and a mysterious power source that seems to be alive . . . and not from this world. From the perspective of these four characters, you'll find the heartbeat of the story lies within the growth of love, trust and friendship developed from adventure, adversity and a common mission: to rescue their friend and save their city from an unseen yet familiar force. Wren and her team quickly discover that the hero of any story can easily become the villain. She's about to face her greatest enemy her future self.​

Genres: Time Travel, Science Fiction, Young Adult

220 pages, Paperback

Published October 7, 2020

Reviews

[Sophie Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll give this one a high/middle range 3, I really liked the overall plot of this book, it was intriguing and different to anything I have personally read before. I really liked the relationships between characters too
I think this book would have got a 4 star if it wasn't for the fact I was so confused nearly all the way through, apart from the last part
If time travel wasn't confusing enough the perspective and past/present switches had me confused too. I also would have liked to have a bit more of an epilogue, but that may just be personal preference. Overall I liked it, confusion aside and I would read the sequel, if there was ever one written.

[Steff Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

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"I don't think it's from this world."

Rating Broken Shards of Time by Nyah Nichol was probably one of the most difficult decisions, largely due to the author's age. Your average 14 year old definitely couldn't write a book like this. In fact, there aren't many kids of that age range who can. And it's fair to say that Nyah Nichol deserves some credit for having put this all together. That said, this book needs some serious editing. And I don't mean this in terms of anything grammatical as that was fine. To put it simply, Nichol has great plot ideas but does not know how to write the actual story.

A Brilliant Idea

This book needed a content editor. And someone to tell Nichol what pieces really needed a rewrite or to be removed entirely. In general, I can actually say that the overall premise was rather brilliant. A time travel story in which a young girl is pulled into the future in order to help save the world from the evil that she will eventually become is a fantastic idea for a novel. It's so good, in fact, that I find it thoroughly dejecting that this book is an example of how not to tell a story.

I wish that I didn't have to say so.

Piecing a Story Together

Nichol clearly knew what story she was planning to tell. You can see that fact in nearly every scene of the novel. In fact, she knew so much what story she was telling that she subjected her readers to a lot of excess nonsense. What I mean by this is that this book was mostly told in exposition. There were massive chunks of this book where all we are getting is background information in one form or another. A good portion of the time, a lot of this information was unnecessary. Even worse, some of it was unnecessary in the fact that it gave away almost everything about the novel's plot.

There was literally no guessing to be had regarding the events that were coming. You knew them all from the start. And if you didn't know right away, it was revealed very shortly. Nothing in this novel surprised me.

You know that old adage about writing, show, don't tell?

Yeah, that was a problem here. Nichol really didn't know how to show her readers this story. It was so bad that it honestly kind of felt as though she were forcing all this information into my brain like someone trying to force something down my throat. I was drowning in the excess of unnecessary explanation and summary. It was so distracting that you barely feel as though you are getting to know the characters. Instead, you feel like you're listening to a long-winded ramble of someone trying to explain a movie they watched and somehow they end up adding all this fluff of pointlessness that you spent more time listening to the description than it would have taken to watch the actual movie.

Speaking of Time

It was all over the place. And the funny thing about this is that Nichol's novel is a time travel story. Yet it was clear from the very moment time travel entered the plot that she had no idea how to pace out her story. If you're not paying very close attention, you get confused very easily. Even if you are paying attention, you're probably going to get confused. It came as no surprise to me that many of the reviews for this book feature a comment or two about how the time travel was confusing.

Nichol really didn't know how to bring that piece to life. A large part of the reason behind this is the fact that she just jumped around with time willy-nilly. Instead of the different perspectives of time actually coming in at reasonable moments, she just throws the time jumps in there. She does it even when it doesn't make sense for the story, throwing us into a situation where we experience a start to mid-point telling from one character and then jump all the way back to a start to mid-point for another character entirely.

Not to mention the fact that Nichol was in such a rush to tell the story she wanted that the beginning of both these characters' 'starts' is basically just jumping from one moment to the next with little continuity other than the fact that whatever came next could be assumed to have come after what was written before. But these giant jumps ahead in time that were not attributed to time travel itself were ridiculous.

A First Draft

Broken Shards of Time is what I would call a first draft that has only been through the copy-editing portion of the publication process. This book still needs major amounts of structural and developmental editing. I honestly feel like it really didn't get any of that. And while this is a comment to Nichol's writing itself, it's more of a comment to whoever was supposed to be doing the structural and developmental editing.

Nichol is young and therefore it makes sense that her story would lack a lot of writing elements that you expect of a more experienced writer. That said, I expect an editor to be more experienced as well. And I'd expect them to have spent a lot more time working with Nichol to really flesh out the narrative structure and ideal plot outline of the book. There needed to be a lot of edits to remove the issues with exposition. Many cuts needed to be made and a lot of the story needed to be reorganized.

This is good as a draft. But it needs a lot more work if it's going to live up to the potential of its premise.

I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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[Brinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I did enjoy this book, it just wasn't the type of book I usually enjoy. Sci-fi is definitely not my preferred genre, I find it confusing most of the time. This book just multiplied that confusion because of its multiple timelines and perspective switches. It looks to me like thats been a common issue among other reviewers, but this book was still enjoyable regardless.

This book focused on four different characters, Wren, Cass, Tolli, and Alex. Every one of them got their own perspective, and went over the events from the same timeline from their perspective. Its already easy to be confused by what character is the narrator at any given time, and that was worsened because every character had a very similar voice. I do have to admit that I was mentally checked out of this book at times, so some of that is on me.

Like I said earlier, the plot in this is fairly confusing. I did enjoy it though, and I felt like the ending set up nicely for an eventual sequel. I still have questions about the time traveling, and how what they did affects the present, but they aren't huge questions. I would recommend this book if you're a sci-fi lover, or a time travel fanatic, but it just wasn't right for me.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story needed a lot more content editing.

Brilliant idea, young girl has to time travel into the future to save the world from her evil future self, but the execution is an example of how not to tell a story.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is impressive considering the author’s young age. The plot is interesting, as is the structure. That said, it is in need of a very good editor. This young lady has a lot of promise as a writer but she needs development and encouragement. I look forward to seeing what she produces in 10 years!

[Kisti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Common Deer Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

*1,5 stars overall

Generally, I’m very intrigued by dystopian themes in SFF novels - and this was no different. As soon as I had read the synopsis I was already very taken. However, the progression of the beginning of the story was extremely quick - so much so that I was very confused and left with a feeling that necessary information was missing. The story ended up being a little choppy as well, due to the back and forth time skips. The novel also has different “parts” that were focused from each character’s perspective, inclusive of time skips for each, which also pulled me out of the story.
I did appreciate the ambition of including all the complex elements such as: training, testing, plot twists and secret governmental societies. There was quite a lot of showing vs telling in the way this story, the plot and the characters were presented.
Characters were not totally fleshed out well. As soon as we explored one character, we were onto the next chunk of getting to (try) to know a new character, as each part was from the POV of a different character. The time skips that went farther back in time, included memories for each of the characters - but were not helpful to the overall story and I found them to be much more confusing than character-building. As we got to know them, all the characters had a somber tone to them as they’d all experienced a tragedy or hardship of some sort, and that did give them a raw sort of relatability which I enjoyed.

The world-building was also lacking for me, I’m not sure if it was completely set in our world or a world akin to ours. There wasn’t much of a description of the surroundings, or atmosphere.

The writing was also not my preference, there was certainly some editing and cleaning up that was needed before publishing. The redundancies in the text kept taking me out of the story.

With experience and further fleshing out, this could be a very compelling story - I love the idea behind the premise!

[Julie Vandemoere · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe this book was written by a high schooler! I started writing at 13 but have never written something like this!
We follow four characters: Wren Derecho, Alex Donahue, Cassandra Viola and Trevor Tolli. This was probably my favorite part of the book, the characters and their dynamics. I had some difficulties with the chapters from the past as sometimes I felt like I was reading multiple books at a time. However, without these chapters the characters wouldn't have made as much sense so we definitely needed them for the story.
I loved the fact that there was little to no romance in the story and the focus was mainly on the friendship and trust between the characters. Funnily enough, the main character was my least favorite, however, she really seemed to value her family and friends and that was something to admire.
I admit that I was a bit confused at times because 1) I don"t read a lot of science-fiction and 2) I'm not a native English speaker but it wasn't so bad that I had to stop reading because I had no idea what was going on.
Overall, this was a nice story and if there were to be a sequel I would definitely read it! (I hope there is a sequel considering the ending haha)

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Common Dear Press publishers and #NetGalley for letting me have an ARC of #BrokenShardsOfTime by Nyah Nicol.

Wren Derecho is involved in a tragic accident that kills both of her parents. She is brutally injured and only experimental treatments with robotic engineering will save her life. She goes to live in a research facility with her brilliant Uncle who is researching time travel.
Some years later Wren is visited by agents from the future who tell her that she has become the post powerful person on the planet. She is dangerous and needs to be stopped. There is no-one on earth powerful enough to stop her but herself. Wren must travel into the future to stop herself from destroying everything.
I really liked the sound of this book from the moment I read the synopsis. It is set in our world but in the future and as such has a dystopian/futuristic feel.
The novel is aimed at teenagers/YA and I think it is pitched just right. The characters are very likeable and the plot is well written and easy to follow. This is definitely the kind of book that I would have picked and enjoyed as a teenager.
4 stars.

[Bash · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about Wren Derecho, a girl who will never be the same after a terrible car accident that ended up killing her parents and she was the only survivor of it. Then her uncle tells her that they found an orb that caused the accident. Now she has an obssesion with the orb and time travel making her think she could change what already happened, until a weird thing happen to her and it will change it all.

This was a very good sci-fi book well paced, and its main plot is time travel, I enjoyed it, I didn't loved it at all because it was a little confusing, sometimes I had to go back and read the chapter again because I ended up confused. I loved that sometimes this book tell us something that had happened in the past that we don't know but in the next chapter, it tell us that story.

I finished this book and I have some questions because I didn't get that final chapter and the epilogue, How did the orb end up in Alex hands in Wren present?. If this is gonna have a second part I really need that to be explained and very carefully.

so that was all about my review and Thanks Netgalley for giving me this book.

[ABookNook · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good addition to the world of SciFi literature. The plot builds on tropes we have all seen before. A band of people going to solve a problem after their lives have been intertwined. The element of time travel was an interesting aspect of the story. However, that was also the biggest flaw of this story. I feel like I could have connected with the story a lot more if I wasn't so confused the whole time. The unexplained time jumps and the jumps in the POV was quite confusing to read, most of the story I honestly didn't understand and had to use different things that different characters said to piece it together way after something has happened. Furthermore, the characters felt a little 2 dimensional to me, I wish they were better fleshed out and had more real bonds and relationships between each other. Because of how unique this plot was and how much potential this story has, I would like to see where this story goes in the future.

Thank you, NetGalley for a free copy of this ARC for my honest opinion in return.

- 3.5 stars -

[Louise Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style from this author made the story easy to read. I liked that time travel in this story was easily described as ice cream as this made it a simple term to understand how time travel in this book worked as many a times time travelling stories can be hard to grasp but this was the complete opposite. I loved that their was different views from each of the main characters that each told more to the story as it progressed to give the audience an understanding of what was happening as some characters saw more than others which made a lot sense. The only major downfall for me was that Part 1 and Part 5 were written very well, however i found Parts 2,3 and 4 to be very confusing at times due to the constant back and forth. I think it would have been so much easier if these parts for the characters were written in order of their timeline.

[Helena#bookdreamer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is an interesting YA sci fi novel about a young girl who loses her parents in a storm. She is then given robotic parts and spends her time trying to rebuild a time machine that stole her parents. Up to that point I was intrigued in what direction the story would take. We have a physically, strong heroine with a fragile mental state who holds incredible power. That power can either be her strength or her downfall.
While I enjoyed the various characters we meet along the way, I found it difficult to follow the constant change of view.

Overall, it is a promising sci-fi novel with action filled adventure but the story flow needs work.

[Pixie 🍜 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was kindly provided this arc by the publishers and netgalley in exchange of an honest opinion.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, it was interesting an exciting and then it just stopped. Part two began and suddenly we are going through another characters life up to this point. Fine, it was too long but I got through it. Part three will go back to wren, right? Nope.
Instead we are now going over Cass’ entire life story. I’m not sure why I care at this point as we get to halfway through and the plot is now just flashbacks and nothing else. Flashbacks are fine but it needs to have plot progression, and that wasn’t happening. The writing was fine but there’s a lot of logical inconsistencies about the characters.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book by an exceptional young author! I had a hard time putting down this book and read it in two sittings. I admit that at first it is a little confusing to figure out the different time periods that the characters jump between, but it really doesn't take long to catch on to it. I actually liked that the book was non-linear in time....it is a book about time travel after all! I also enjoyed the different perspectives of the different characters and their development and back stories that are revealed throughout the book. This is a book that can appeal to a wide age range from pre-teen to adult. I'm looking forward to reading more from Nyah Nichol in the future!

[Ap08 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is beyond her years in her writing ability. Broken Shards of Time is one of the best time travel sci-fi books I've ever read. I can definitely see this book becoming a classic. I love how it jumps back and forth across time so it feels like I'm right there traveling through time with all the characters. If you loved Back to the Future, Dark, A wrinkle in time you will love this book. I need to find out how to destroy this orb, please write more. Nyah is a multi-talented author, illustrator and student. I can't wait to see the places she will go.

[marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot of this book was decent it was just really confusing and kind of hard to read. The main character also has quite strange motivations.

[Jan Norton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my usual kind of read, but it was really a well written book for a high school student. It’s kind of a sci-fi kind of read with time travel

[Reagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

*this is just my opinion, and someone else might have a different experience with this book*
This book had a really interesting premise, but ended up being pretty confusing. It had a lot of elements of science fiction, including time travel and robotics. Unfortunately, I found it hard to follow, since it has at least 5 different time lines and 4 different point of views from characters. I think it would have made a really good book series, extending the explanation of the world. I spent most of the book trying to figure out what was going on, rather than enjoying the writing and plot. I recently learned that the author had this published when she was only 14, which is super impressive. I could never do something like that, and I have so much respect for her. I am really excited to see where she takes her career.

[Josephine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will be honest, the general idea for this plot was very intriguing. Although when I was reading it I got very lost. Not to mention the writing feels more directed towards middle grade than young adult. I have read several time travel books before but this one was just too confusing for me. I felt the author could have made it better by staying in chronological order verse skipping around throughout different POV's and different times. For example the author would go from Character A's POV when they were 18 to Character A's POV when they were 12 and back again to different ages and it wound up being quite confusing. Finding out that this is the author's first work at age 14 is very impressive and I can't wait to see where her writing career goes.

[Angie Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I was provided with an e-ARC from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The good: The premise was creative, and the story moved at a good pace. The title cards on the chapters were unique, and helped create a sense of urgency around the actions of the characters.

The less good: The exposition was a bit heavy handed, and repetitive. The authors voice felt very young, and at points the concepts felt convoluted as a result., I would try future books by the author; however, as I think elements of this were good.

[Nya · Rating 2 out of 5]

only for the loose ending