V S Nelson, Troubador Publishing, (224p) ISBN: 9781836280989. Middle Grade, read 30/03/25, Ebook ★★★★☆

The Girl Who Sold Time

I was humming and hawing when I saw this on NetGalley, my TBR from them has got a little big right now.

I’m so glad that I did.

This is about the Earth in the future where humanity has basically destroyed the world through it’s machinations and waste, the scientists had developed a space elevator and a space ring to work at saving the rest of humanity and the planet.

Meanwhile within the ever dwindling forest that is constantly mutation lives Violet and her companion Jackdaw, a robot programmed with the personality of a young boy as her protector, this is because her dad went up the space elevator to work on a solution there. Violet is adamant that she is going to save the forest and keeps inventing things hoping that the next one will be the one.

Violet is the only person who can handle the time marbles safely without too much confusion. Yes, time marbles, small marble-like objects that when placed in the mouth and swallowed freezes time for the person who consumed the marble.

DO NOT EAT MARBLES!

A brilliant science fiction adventure with lots of twists and turns, also takes an interesting exploration of time and how it interacts with other fields in physics, but at its core its about friendship and family in the face of difference and adversity.

The reveal is absolutely heartbreaking and the banter between Violet and Jackdaw so funny, stormed through this.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.