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The Testing (The Testing, #1)

Joelle Charbonneau

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Nov 27, 2017 Alex Rupsee rated it it was ok

Nowadays every dystopian novel is classed as a 'child' of the Hunger Games. Hunger Games inspired this, Hunger Games meets that, it's just everywhere! And Charbonneau tries so incredibly hard to keep that legacy going in The Testing.

When I first picked up the book, I quickly fell in love with it. Charbonneau pushes you into a post-apocalyptic world of the main character, Cia Vale. She shows you the separate colonies people live in, the secretive government, and the rarity of higher education. C Nowadays every dystopian novel is classed as a 'child' of the Hunger Games. Hunger Games inspired this, Hunger Games meets that, it's just everywhere! And Charbonneau tries so incredibly hard to keep that legacy going in The Testing.

When I first picked up the book, I quickly fell in love with it. Charbonneau pushes you into a post-apocalyptic world of the main character, Cia Vale. She shows you the separate colonies people live in, the secretive government, and the rarity of higher education. Cia, a young woman who has just graduated from her school, has to endure what Charbonneau turns into an unrealistic phase of her life.

After the first few chapters, things just get hectic.

Charbonneau has some nice details and orders events pretty well, but the events themselves are just too crazy. First, there's the romance between Cia and a boy at her government's University, Tomas. Any romance reader will spot the same putdown I did: it is far from actuality. Romance seems forced so much to the point that Cia and Tomas seem to agree with everything together. It develops too quickly for me. Speaking of development, The Testing goes from a complex teen-in-school story to an all-out Hunger Games replica. The highly academic 'University' goes from high academics to an all-out survival mixed battle arena. Charbonneau just crams any Hunger Games styled element she can in the second half of the novel. Wilderness, teamwork, battles, survival, it's just too much (perfect for the sequel though).

Personally, I've read many dystopian books. I love imagining future-styled worlds and working through the complexity of new policies. I'm not that much into romance books (which may be why I didn't like Cia and Tomas' phase much), but I'll go for any science-fiction novels. As a dystopian-based book, though, it didn't fit the books I've read. Each book had a fun but not confusing style. However, this book gets so jumbled that I cannot give you a detailed synopsis if I tried!

In my opinion, this would make a great movie though. The action isn't that exciting, but with a couple of movie effects and sounds, it wouldn't be that bad. If the events don't match the speed of the book, this may be the first book I read with a better movie.

Anyways, for the book, enjoy the beginning but don't expect much more later on.

Rated 2 of 5 stars. Remember, 1.5 stars rounds to 2 stars. ...more

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