Recruitment

The Resistance Trilogy #1

by K.A. Riley

In the Valta, no matter what month you were born, everyone is assigned the same birthday. November 1st. It's the anniversary of the day when the government declared war on the Eastern Order.The day you turn seventeen, the Recruiters come to take you away. And no one ever hears from you again.It's October 31st. Today, Kress is sixteen years old.Tomorrow, she'll be taken.The good news? So will her best friend Cardyn, and Brohn, the handsome, enigmatic boy she's avoided all her life.The bad news?Recruitment isn't what any of them expected.Weeks of training await. Military and psychological tests, escape rooms, hand-to-hand combat. The Recruits are told they're the key to winning the war. But with each day that passes, things begin to make less sense.If only Kress had been able to bring her trained raven, Render, with her.If only none of them had ever had to come to this place.For fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent.

Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Audiobook

438 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 28, 2018

About the author

K. A. Riley is a writer of speculative and science fiction, dedicated to creating worlds just different enough from our own to be entertaining, intriguing and a little frightening all at once. For Riley, writing isn't a job. It's a laboratory where readers can wander into a land of ideas; it's a playground where they can scamper around, giggling, gasping, and freaking out to their hearts' content.

Riley is the top-secret pen-name of a NYT and USA Today best-selling author.

Reviews

[Ashley Aleshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice plot

I loved the plot.

Spoilers-

But most of the book was so incredibly slow for me. It felt like so much was missing and when they all are talking about how terrible it is at the “ training “ facility, I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes multiple times. I came into the book thinking it was gonna be a lot darker than that. Yeah some terrible things happened but nothing before that to be a shock factor. If anything it seemed... cheap. The last chapter or two really caught my attention and heart racing and the only reason why I’m going on to the next book because I have hope. This story has fantastic potential. Another thing is they kept saying how big of a heart kress has, how empathetic she is. I might have missed something but I didn’t see any of that until much later in the book. She kept to herself and hardly said anything to her conspiracy. She had to stop herself many times from only thinking about her pain and even then it felt superficial. I did end up finally seeing it but not when they kept pointing it out. Hoping for a ton of character and relationship development in the next book.

[Jeanny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was predictable & boring up until the last two maybe three chapters, if I’m generous. However, those two or three chapters set things up to be very interesting in the next book. Soooo I’m willing to give book 2 a try.
2 stars

[♦♣ queen of faerie ♠♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting plot


I really liked this, after not reading dystopian for a while it was nice to come across this book. I think after reading the incredible Marie Lu dystopian it's hard to find another book that matched to this, but this one was enjoyable.

It follows a typical start to the story, where seventeen-year-olds are recruited by the government to fight the war that ravaged their city, but obviously they find out that the government is not the government at all, but something else, blah, blah, a little predictable there but the actual ending is pretty original and I didn't see it coming.

The story develops nicely, lots of brain riddles and mysteries and clues for the characters and even the readers to figure out.



→ 4 stars

[Caron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

A little predictable but definitely a good read. Excellent characters. The plot kept moving and there were a couple of surprises. I think this is a little above young adult but still acceptable for them.

[Jaycy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75/5. "For fans of the Hunger Games and Divergent, yadda yadda yadda." A kinda poor imitation that combines a little of this with a little of that from dystopian novels in general. One of the problems I had with this book was this: many YA/dystopian novels don't *feel* like they're written solely for young adults in that adults can enjoy them too. This one felt like it was written solely for young adults in the writing, and in including pictures of symbols to help us understand, and in the plotlines. I rolled my eyes more than once (especially over how many times one certain thing was pointed out at the beginning) and I didn't feel any real depth from the characters at all nor any real tension until the very last moments. The "hidden menace" was *too* hidden. I almost stopped reading the book just because it wasn't interesting for me. I did finish it, however. This is the first in a planned series of 9 books (4 or 5 have been written already). Normally, I'd read at least the second, but ... in this case, I don't think I'm going to bother.

[Disney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m just going to start this by saying that I called the plot twist 25 pages in. And I’m so excited I did.

I’m not always great at writing reviews so here’s one of my “these are the notes I took” reviews.
•The saying “For now, at least” that is referred to a few times and makes for a wonderful quote.
•I honestly really love all of the puzzles and tests in this book. I’m not much of a military, fighting, war strategy kind of person so I love that the training covers training the mind too.
•I really enjoy that the “I’ll inevitably fall in love with my best friend” trope doesn’t happen in this story.
•It’s really interesting to think about how Trench and Granden change the longer the Recruits are there.

[Lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.3/5 ended up not being too bad of a story (aside from being very cliche and cringey) but holy horrible writing. ya terrible character development, felt like I was reading a wattpad story written by a middle schooler😵‍💫

[Amanda Blanche · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's giving dystopian divergent apocalyspe vibes.
Recruitment is the first in the trilogy that follows Kress and her group of fellow seventeens as they are taken from their war torn village and brought to a military training camp to prepare for the war. But all is not as it seems as threads start to unravel. I like how the author writes in all the personalities of the group, it's not just solely focused on Kress. We get to see the strength and weaknesses of each character. I would normally give this like a 3.75 because it was a bit slow for me, a lot of world and story building (to be expected). But the ending and the promise that the series shows is what makes it a 4. I think the second book
"Render" will be even better. Also Canadian author and it's on Kindle Unlimited. So major wins.

[Elizabeth✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️
At first, this book reminded me of the series “Divergent”, with the scoring and tests they are put through. They had a lot of similarities, but this book was still different (thankfully).

The beginning was a little slow, but after I kept reading a few chapters, I was hooked. I enjoyed this first book and I am excited to see how each character grows and how their abilities enhance!😍 And also excited to see the romance that happens between 2 characters as well😏

Also, I think I have decided that Amaranthine is my favorite 😂🙌🏿

[Courteney Driskill · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ The ending made me want to read more but the pacing, narration and some of the escape room games made me think the characters were 14 and not 17.

[Antonia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, I'm just to old for this book I think. I'm only 6% in but the idea of a guarded town of just kids made me roll me eyes. The beginning is. Huge info dump, that totally defies logic. Whole town is bombed but someone the school where the kids were hiding was fine? But no adults are left... yeah.. Especially when she says there was only 40 of them left. That's not a town, that's a classroom. Even still, I kept going until she called her raven's grouping a Conspiracy instead of a Murder and I realized I just wouldn't be able to put up this book long enough for anything to actually happen. I'm not able to suspend my belief on this.

[Christopher Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing you haven’t read before if you’re a YA Dystopian fan. Think Divergent + Shadow and Bone + I Am Number Four rolled together. If you enjoyed any of the above three, I’d recommend this one.

[books_by_bugs · Rating 4 out of 5]

✮⋆˙𝗠𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 ✮⋆˙ ⭐⭐⭐⭐.75
✮⋆˙ 𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁 ✮⋆˙ HELLO WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK WAS THAT ENDING. I was originally gonna rate it four stars because it was kinda boring but DUDEEEEEEEE. K.A RILEY CAN RIGHT A PLOT TWIST. LIKE OH MY GOODNESS. This was slower paced for a dystopian, but thats alright! t
✮⋆˙𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 ✮⋆˙
I LOVED THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF KRESS. AND BROHN. LIKE I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW GOOD THIS BOOK WAS CONSIDERING THE RATINGS. Rip to (SPOILER) and (SPOILER) we will love you THE VILLIAN? WHAT DO YOU MEAAAAAAAAAAAAAN MY GUY. AHHHH
✮⋆˙𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 ✮⋆˙
The slowburn was burning highkey. We love the unexpected couple fr. I'm so happy this is a trilogy because I don't think I would have LIVED if the second book wasnt released yet. LIKE AHHHHHH. I cannot wait to see what this couple goes through (yes, I mean even reading the trauma thats gonna rip my heart to shreds!)

[Marietta Standlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weak at times

The storyline is good and the characters well thought out and sympathetic but unfortunately there are many holes in the plot. Naive at times. Why would the government go through all this and not bug the rooms the kids are in to keep tabs on them. A hole in the fence. How convenient. A trainer just happening by and opening doors and secret stairways? And not noticing being followed? A little bit much. It needs a little bit of work to make it more believable. The writing itself is great though.

[demi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The puzzle was wrong

The books okay. Little tedious. It’s clearly for a very young age group as not much was happening kinda just felt like we were going through the motions with the characters. The puzzle in in the escape room was wrong which really annoyed me. The dots where in rows of 3 and when it was completed it’s managed to remake into rows of 4 otherwise it would have been completed using 4 lines. If your going to add things like this to the book make sure it’s correct! Stopped reading after that as it really frustrated me.

[Suki Rickey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 1

Book 1 had errors throughout and was a fun read. The characters and plot are new to me, but it was slow to start and was somewhat predictable. The characters where naive for living in a world where there is not much. I am not sure if I'll read book 2.

[Cheryl Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

I enjoyed this book! This book moved right along and kept me on the edge. Cant wait to read the next one.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad my bookie-friend recommended this trilogy to me. I just finished Recruitment, and I'm rushing into book 2 "Render". This story might be reminiscent of other dystopian series' we've read, but where it differs most is the relationships between the characters. It's refreshing to see teenagers recognize their differences and work through tough challenges with level heads and maturity. I loved it.

[Robinbythecatsandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

FANTASTIC Dystopian. 4.8888899 stars

If you love teens being taken by the government to be train to kill people in an army but only to find out shifty shennanigans are happening behind the scenes then this is for you!

[Sophia Soap · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the plot of the whole book and can't wait to read the next one. I feel like the author might have purposefully left out details on how they were trained. I loved how all the characters interacted with each other, and the whole Conspiracy thing.

[Jokasty Lapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me a lot of divergent. It wasn’t bad but parts lagged for me and took a while to really get to any sort of point . The puzzles made me laugh at times for how easy they were . It was a fast read and entertaining enough . I’m not sure if it made it want to read the rest of the series though . My favorite character ended up being Render and I don’t know if that’s a good thing haha

[Josie✨✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uhhhhhh it was fine. I feel like my sister might have overhyped the character development a little ….

The language was consistent but not terrible l

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is for the first 3 books in the Conspiracy Series, which is the Resistance Trilogy. The world-building was great and I really liked the plot-line. However, I feel like in all three books, nothing really happened, even though the story obviously progressed. Some of the characters were a little one-dimensional and that included the main character at times. I didn't really feel invested in the characters. The relationship between the MC and the love interest didn't really have any depth. I feel like there were certain scenes that could have been longer to add action or drama to the story, but the scenes were condensed down to like 5 pages and didn't have enough embellishments. The series is what it claims to be, which is a YA dystopian novel. It wasn't terrible but it could have a used a little something more.

[katy (taylor's version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars!
Very slow beginning but once it picked up I was hooked! Excited to read the next one and see what happens next.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was like reading Crime and Punishment. The crime was the book was published and the punishment was reading it.

The book was so drawn out and every trope you could image checked off a list. The fact that this is a trilogy seems like a joke. This entire book was just a set up for the rest of the story and it was sooo long and boring. Yuck.

[Callie Rae]

so just by reading the book’s description i have some questions: how are the kids born if everyone is taken away at the same age? do the parents return afterwards? do the kids raise themselves?
probably going to have to read the book to answer these. or might just post them on the question part of this book

im just really not into. i might pick it up later on but not right now.

[mel. ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so, I’m really not sure how I feel about this book? I’m pretty conflicted.

I did enjoy the book. I was looking for a quick, light dystopian read to help get me back into one of my favourite genres and reading for pleasure now that I’m on a break from a literature degree, and it did that. The plot was slow at some points, and I think there is definitely a couple Mary Sue characters in the mix with a couple of plot holes here and there at the beginning. But, nevertheless, the concept is interesting and I liked that for me there were a lot of connections to novels and even shows that I enjoy, so that was a nice semblance for me.

And I do actually want to read the second book at some point! I think, as in any first novel, there’s a lot that still needs to be uncovered and I have been sitting here thinking: oh my God??? What’s Brohn’s ability??? I need to know? But I have some other books to get into that I got free through prime reading and borrowed from my local library so I think it would be something I’d revisit in the future. But who knows? If the concept plays on my mind enough, I may go for it next.

I think if you’re a patient reader, then I would recommend this book, but if you’re someone who needs action from the get go, Recruitment may be a bit of a struggle.

[Sara Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great twists and suprises

Kress and her group of "Seventeens" are taken from their village to join the fight against the country's enemy called The Order. Through a series of tests and trainings, the group of eight begin to come into their own while learning their various strengths, abilities and leadership qualities. Ensuring that they stay put, the powers that be keep them in a compound with no way out. On the evening of their graduation, after learning where they will be used to join the war against The Order, Kess and her group find out that not only are things not at all what they seem but their very lives are in jeopardy. I look forward to the next book to see what's next for this now diminished group of friends.

[lilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate to say it, but I couldn't bring myself to finish this. I'm not super picky, so it might just be my current bad mood that's ruining it for me, but here are my thoughts:
- There was SO much telling in the exposition.
- This doesn't usually bother me, but Kress was kind of "I'm not like other girls". Her internal monologue about not liking company, refusing to admit she's pretty, wondering why boys were showing interest in her, etc. really annoyed me. If it was because she was insecure, that would've been different, but in her case, it was just utter oblivion and cluelessness, and it drove me insane.

[Aubrey Becs · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was an uninteresting book! For example, it seemed like the author just copied ideas from good books such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. For instance, at one point, the main character learns that the program she is in is actually for finding "special" gene mutations in teenagers, which is exactly what happens in Divergent. At first I thought that the main character's pet bird, Render, would have a more important role, but after reading this book he didn't seem as important as he should have been. You should read this book if you like Divergent or The Hunger Games. Then, we can talk about our opinions of this book.