Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The Testing



“The Testing” by, Joelle Charbonneau

                In a world broken and changed by war the new government has come up with a way to choose their next leaders. It’s called the testing and for the young students who are chosen to participate, getting a passing grade may be the only thing that saves their lives.

                I really enjoyed reading “The Testing”. Though I don’t think the premise is a unique one, the characters and setting were interesting and complex. (Plus I don’t think that every book has to be groundbreakingly different to be good.) My very favorite part of this book was the main character, a girl named Cia Vale. She is smart and strong and doesn’t flit about like a ninny. (Love strong female characters.)

Some facts and favorite things:

* Tosu City is where the testing takes place and students are chosen from many different colonies.

* Cia’s best friend is a girl named Daileen and I found her to be a very sweet character.

* I liked the fact that Magistrate Owens does her best to protect the children in her colony. I also liked that some of the Tosu City officials were secretly pulling for the kids as they tested.

* In this world they had the seven stages of war. There were four stages of destruction which was “human against human”, followed by three stages where the earth fought back against the humans. I thought this was very interesting and I hope that the next book tells us more about the war.

* Tomas is the love interest in this book and I found him to be sweet though not quite as smart as Cia. One of my favorite things about this love story was that Cia kept saving Tomas from danger. I thought it was a nice change from all the swooning girls in teen books.

* This story has massive, black and gray furry monsters. Tall as a man with leathery pink skin peeking out of the hair, these things scared me. They also have hooked claws and teeth. Creepy!

* Will is another very interesting and intense character. I might hate him, I’m not sure yet.

I liked how the book ended and It left me wanting more which is always a good thing. I think that “The Testing” will appeal to a wide range of readers.  



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