The Testing

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

June 2013

ISBN: 978-0-547-95910-8

Pages: 325

Dystopian futuristic Young Adult

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. That is what they say isn’t it? But when they may be one and the same how close is too close?

Much of the planet was left a charred wasteland with the Seven Stages War. The future is supposed to belong to the next generation’s chosen few. The ones who will rebuild it. First though the candidates must pass The Testing if they want to enter this elite group. It is their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career.

Cia Vale is chosen as a Testing candidate and is honored to be one. She is also eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and a future leader of the United Commonwealth. Her father’s advice on the eve of her departure hints at a darker side of her upcoming studies. Trust no one.

She can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance though, surely. Tomas seems to care more about her with each and every grueling and deadly day of The Testing. Cia must choose love without truth or life without trust if she is to survive.

This is a book that takes a genre and twists it into its very one genre. The characters are interesting and make for a story that will keep the reader guessing just who is who and who can Cia trust. The twists and turns the story takes will keep readers on their toes as they try to figure out what will happen next and just how it will turn out. It will also have readers eagerly reaching for the other two books in the trilogy so they can find out just where the books will ultimately end up and how they will get there. While this trilogy might sound like some other books this one truly does stand on its own and makes for an engrossing read.

I give this one 5 red roses

LRH