The Testing

The Testing, Book 1

By: Joelle Charbonneau

Narrated by: Elizabeth Morton

The story in which a 16-year-old is chosen by her government to undergo The Testing, which decides if she gets to go to The University. The University is for the country’s best and brightest teens and puts the rebuilding and future leadership of the United Commowealth in their hands. During The Testing, extreme psychological and physical trials pit them against one another to determine which teens have what it takes to become a leader.

©2013 Joelle Charbonneau (P)2013 Recorded Books

Purely CRAZINESS!

What other book might you compare The Testing to and why?

It had moments similar to The Hunger Games and Divergent. Only cause they are put through trials and it's a twisted government.

Any additional comments?

Holy flippin’ crap! This book was downright craziness! I’m having the shakes right now thinking about everything that happened in this book, and I’m having severe separation anxiety because I want Independent Study (book 2) now! If I were put in “The Testing,” I don’t think I could control my temper one bit; I think I’d probably hemorrhage right then and there and start acting like a raving lunatic. In fact, while reading The Testing, in one moment I’d feel like I wanted to jump right through the pages and go on a frenzied rampage, and then in the next moment I’d feel the complete opposite and I wanted to curl up in a ball and have an internal freak out.

In the very beginning of the book I wasn’t fully invested in the story, and it took me a few tries to get drawn into the story, as I’d start and stop reading. Which is really weird because it wasn’t very far into the book before the story takes a turn that really sparked my interest and got my full attention. At that point, there is this one particular thing that happens that actually had me leaping from my seat in shock, and I was stuck.

I can’t really talk too much about the characters in The Testing because I have some really strong feelings about a lot of those characters. This is one of those books that had me changing my original feelings for some of the characters by the stuff that transpires by the end of the story. So, by talking about the characters, I’d be revealing major spoilers, and you know how much I hate to do that! In fact, my feelings for some of the characters were so strong that I’ve gotten into a few heated battles with some blogger friends, particularly Jaime from Two Chicks on Books.

This is a book I would totally recommend! And if you are struggling with the beginning, don’t let that hold you back because the story’s phenomenal!

Hunger Games and Divergent

Post-apocalyptic poor girl along with hometown honey qualify for 'the testing.' She's uncertain she can trust HTH. In scenes reminiscent of Hunger Games, our heroine battles through the testing's Mad Max landscape.

Best Dystopian

Of the current trending YA dystopian trilogies (Hunger Games, Divergent, Mazerunner, etc), this series was the best and most complete.

really enjoyed

Like other reviews have stated divergent, the giver and hunger games had a baby called the testing. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Love the story - hated the audiobook

This was a great book, but the audio reader's voice was too slow and monotone. She did not get excited during suspenseful parts. My students were unimpressed as well.

good book

this wasn't mind blowing, seat grabbing, super exiting book, but enjoyable..
story felt a lil illogical at parts and far fetched, not as exelerating as some books I read, but decent. performance was a meh ..

predictable

it seems like a blend of familiar stories. good narrator. story is not as good.

Fun Read, But Nothing Exciting

Its got the hunger games scenario, a romantic interest, dystopian government, and kid who are unrealistically too smart. All the elements to a typical YA dystopian read. It does these elements in decently fun and interesting ways, but the story is poorly written and on the nose. Nothing is left to the reader and the author explains everything to you rather than just showing you breaking the golden rule of writing “show don’t tell”.

I probably wouldnt have finished it because of the poor writing if a friend didn’t want me to read it but I found the second half of the book to be entertaining enough to push through the bad writing.

Interesting

Another Dystopian Adventure. Twists and turns, some predictable-some not. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next book.

The readers voice

Story was ok. Held my attention, light summer reading. Characters were not well developed, and the audio performer made all the male characters and romantic interests sound like Bart Simpson. It would have been better read straight.