The Age of Miracles
Karen Thompson Walker
Random House
288 pages
Julia awakes on a summer day to what seems like a normal Saturday. It only takes a few minutes for everything to change dramatically. The news stations suddenly have breaking news to report: the days are getting longer. It’s only by a few minutes, but scientists are reporting that it’s indicative of the earth’s rotation slowing down.
As The Age of Miracles goes on, the situation quickly becomes more dire. As the days go on, the idea of a 24 hour day becomes a distant memory. The daylight hours stretch on for days, to be followed by long bouts of darkness. The government decides to go ahead and stick with “clock time”, meaning that people are expected to live by the 24 hour clock regardless of whether 3am falls in the middle of the day or noon is smack dab in the middle of the night. Conflict arises when some citizens decide to go by “real time”, meaning they sleep when the it is dark and stay awake during daytime hours.
There is a LOT of YA dystopian fiction out there. I think we can all agree on that. So it can be difficult for a debut author to step onto the scene and be successful. For that reason, I was kind of skeptical when I picked this one up. I was interested in the premise, so it was a matter of whether or not Walker could deliver. And guys, I am happy to say she did! The Age of Miracles was wonderful. I could not put it down!
There seemed to be a little something special about this book. It kept me rapt, which is typical for YA dystopian but there also seemed to be an additional weightiness to the text that I don’t always find with the genre. It almost seemed a little more realistic than what the genre typically offers.
I urge others to read this one ASAP. It’s a great beach read because it will keep your attention from page one! I will definitely keep an eye out in the future for more from this author.
About Karen Thompson Walker
KAREN THOMPSON WALKER holds an M.F.A. from Columbia University and is an editor of fiction and non-fiction at Simon & Schuster. The Age of Miracles is her first book.
For more information about Karen and The Age of Miracles, please visit the book’s website, www.TheAgeofMiracles.com, and Facebook page.
Karen Thompson Walker’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, June 4th: Layers of Thought
Wednesday, June 6th: Rhapsody in Books
Thursday, June 7th: A Chick Who Reads
Monday, June 11th: Reviews by Lola
Tuesday, June 12th: Book Chatter
Wednesday, June 13th: Alison’s Bookmarks
Thursday, June 14th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Monday, June 18th: Inklings Read
Tuesday, June 19th: Life in the Thumb
Wednesday, June 20th: Under My Apple Tree
Thursday, June 21st: Twisting the Lens
Monday, June 25th: Taming the Bookshelf
Tuesday, June 26th: Stephanie’s Written Word
Wednesday, June 27th: Jen’s Book Den & Literary Review
Thursday, June 28th: Conceptual Reception
Monday, July 2nd: Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
Tuesday, July 3rd: It’s a Crazy, Beautiful Life
Thursday, July 5th: The Brain Lair
Monday, July 9th: Great Imaginations
Tuesday, July 10th: Sweet Southern Home
Wednesday, July 11th: The Scarlet Letter
Thursday, July 12th: In the Next Room
Monday, July 16th: Regular Rumination
Tuesday, July 17th: She Treads Softly
Wednesday, July 18th: Book Addict Katie
Thursday, July 19th: Fiction State of Mind
Monday, July 23rd: Unabridged Chick
Tuesday, July 24th: Peeking Between the Pages
Wednesday, July 25th: Ashley Loves Books
Thursday, July 26th: Becky’s Book Reviews
Date TBD: Tuesday, June 5th: Book Drunkard
TBD: Chick Lit Reviews and News
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: book review, dystopian fiction, tlc book tours, YA fiction |
ReviewsbyLola's Blog 
I’ve read a lot of really great things about this book and a lot of really “meh” things, LOL… I can’t decide if I should read it or not!! I don’t think this book is actually classified as YA, is it?
In my book shop this book was with the adult titles. Is it really YA?
Ah, Jenny, above, is asking the same. Maybe this is an adult dystopia that will be enjoyed by YAs as well?
In any case, I do want to read this too!
I didn’t realize this was a YA book – glad u enjoyed it.
I’m still on the fence about this one, but I do love the cover.
I’m sooooo excited for this one!! Your review has me esp excited!!
I’ve heard mixed things about this one but you’ve made me excited to read it!
I’ve Been curious about this book but wasn’t sure about reading it. You make a very good point about how there’s a lot of YA dystopian fiction on the shelves now. As a fledgling reader of this genre, I don’t know which ones are really worth reading. Thanks to your terrific review and a few other great ones, this book is on my tbr list now! This book sounds riveting and a book that’s tough to stop reading once you start always grabs my interest.
Steph–just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking about you. An update post perhaps?? 😉
This one sounds great – I think I might even be able to get my son into it!
Thanks for being on the tour.
I am going to read this one soon – am a little hesitant because I am not usually a dystopian fan but have heard great things about this book and hope it will transcend the dystopia.
[…] June 6th: Rhapsody in BooksThursday, June 7th: A Chick Who ReadsMonday, June 11th: Reviews by LolaTuesday, June 12th: Book ChatterWednesday, June 13th: Alison’s BookmarksThursday, June […]
This one showed up on a lot of the summer reading lists I’ve been looking at. The reviews I’ve read have been mixed but there are enough rave reviews like yours to make me think I need to give this one a try.