The Culling

The Culling Trilogy, Book 1

By: Ramona Finn

Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski

Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

In a solar system where The Authority decides who lives and who dies, only one of their own executioners can stop them.

Glade Io is a trained killer. Marked at a young age as an individual with violent tendencies, she was taken from her family and groomed to be a Datapoint—a biotech-enabled analyst who carries out the Culling. She is designed to identify and destroy any potential humans that threaten the colonies: those marked as lawbreakers, unproductive or sick. But when she’s kidnapped by rogue colonists known as the Ferrymen, everything Glade thinks she knows about the colonies, and The Authority that runs them, collapses into doubt.

Pulled between two opposing sides, and with her family’s lives hanging in the balance, Glade is unsure of who to trust—and time is running out.

©2017 Relay Publishing (P)2018 Relay Publishing

Excellent start to a sure to be great trilogy!

This author and narrator are both new to me.

The description of the book was an immediate draw and interest to me. I love the idea of a alternate world where we live and survive by different rules brought on by circumstances outside of our control. In this book it was brought on my the Earth no longer being inhabitable.

The story was well thought out and well written. I didn't feel as though there were any outstanding and unbelievable occurrences that happened that the author didn't make me believe was inside the realm of possibility. I am truly looking forward to getting my hands on the next book.

I thought the narrator was excellent. A lot of times a narrator can make or break a story. However, this particular narrator was truly talented. She played each character well and the emotion and tone was spot on.

Overall this is an audiobook and book I would recommend.

Gripping Start to the Trilogy!

This is book one in the trilogy. This book starts just as a culling takes place, and six year old Glade watches her father struck down and then his body is dragged away.
The Colonies are on the different planets, and are controlled by The Authority who are rule all the planets. They are responsible for the culling of all citizens showing violent or murderous tendencies.
The Culling take place every ten years.
They used datapoints, humans with tech integrated so they can read brainwaves, so they can kill anyone with dangerous and murderous thoughts.
Even though Glade’s father was taken in the last culling, Glade had no doubt the Authority was only trying to create a better life for everyone. Glade is now a Datapoint and will be responsible for the next Culling.
All is well until Glade is kidnapped by the Ferryman, and the she spends time with the leader. Everyone shows her kindness, but Glade is still firm in her believe in the Authority.
This is a gripping story keeps you listening, with superb narration. I listened to this in one go, as I didn’t want to stop. I ended listening through the night. I know this is geared to young Adults, as Glade is only 16years old. This oldie really enjoyed it, and I’m getting ready to listen to book two The Authority.
 
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Ramona Finn. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Great character development

In a galaxy controlled by the Authority, for which Glade Io is one of the people in charge of executing violent and rogue citizens remotely with the help of technology and the power of her mind, things are not what they seem. Was Glade's father really violent and was his death 'fair'? Amidst all these doubts, Glade is kidnapped by Ferrymen, people from a rogue planet that believe in very different things than the Authority.

This was a good dystopian story, with a good world building and some original things. I found the role of Data Points quite interesting, and I liked the idea of a database supporting their decisions. Although the story is good by itself, what I really enjoyed was the character development. Ramona Finn writes good scifi but part of that is thanks to fully fleshed characters, with actions that it is easy to connect to, and great dialogs and interactions. 

As I have said, despite being a dystopian book, this is a strong character driven story. The are important things at stake here, but there is also a clear love triangle that at times seems to matter more to the story than the real conflict. I think this is mainly due to this book being aimed at a young adult public, and it did not bother me, but I could have done without it.

At times, the book reminded me of 'Ender's Game', and I almost expected some of the tricks that were used there to appear here too, but I am glad Ramona Finn has decided to stay far from that. 

Although I really liked this book, there are a couple of things that I would like to mention. I missed some more world building and knowing more about how the society and the Authority worked. I know this was hidden mostly because the story is told from Glade's point of view, but I missed some more information from her side. Also, I wanted to know more about the quarters where she lived in, since it seemed very easy to sneak in unseen.

What I absolutely loved was Stacey Glemboski's narration. She is one of my favorite narrators, able to transport me to distant worlds and make me believe that I am listening to a whole bunch of different characters. She has an ample voice range, but she can also transmit the characters emotions multiplied by ten, bringing them to life in a way that you feel you are listening to real people.

I am curious about where this story is going so I am looking forward to the rest of the series. I think this would delight anyone into science-fiction.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Ramona Finn. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Young adult science fiction at its best

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Ramona Finn. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

The Culling is about a terrible future not just for Earth but for the entire solar system. The Authority has taken over and it is their practice to rid the solar system of those who have violent tendencies through what they call culling. They have teenagers called Datapoints who have been synced to their database and they are trained to do the actual culling.

Glade Io is special and the Authority expects more out of her than anyone else. Unfortunately, she's beginning to question some things. She doesn't understand why she's not allowed to get into the Database to see how things work. This and her independence tend to get her into trouble and she knows that she could die if she's not careful.

Glade's character is well-developed and I could feel the conflict within her especially when she was told her sisters would become Datapoints. The rest of the characters are interesting, some evil, some fun. 

The narrator does a good job at timing as well as differentiating between the different characters.

The Culling is definitely a book you don't want to miss if you like young adult fiction. The way it ends though will make you want to read the second book right away!

I have mixed feelings...

I'm not really sure how to feel about this book. I've read a lot of dystopian books over the last 2 years and they're starting to feel very similar. However the book is well written and the characters are really interesting. The concept of the Culling is horrific and even worse that they train teenagers to carry it out.

Glade is a great lead character and an interesting contradiction, chosen for her sociopath tendencies and trained to be unfeeling she does still care, a lot in some cases.

Overall it's left me with a desire to know what's going to happen next.

The narration is excellent, great character voices and the delivery is emotive and dynamic.

I received a free copy of this book from the author and/or narrator and/or publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

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good book well told

i really liked this book as much as the others of this genre of story

"We Don't Have to Be Enemies"

I received this audiobook free from the author and I am willingly reviewing it.

I wanted to listen to this book because I had heard some of the narrator's work before and the story looked very interesting. I was not disappointed. The idea of culling out individuals and using technologically enhanced datapoints to do the work hooked me into the story. The character development was top-notch. We get to see both sides - the so-called good guys and bad guys. I like how the author changes POV between Glade and Kupier. The narrator does an excellent job letting you know not only which character is speaking, but which POV your viewing. She even changes her delivery slightly depending on which main character's POV you're in. Very glad I took the time to listen, and I will definitely want to hear the next book.

Dystopian at its best

What if you lived in a world sort of like hunger games, but people were culled by the government by a program used by teenagers to get rid of any who murder or are rebels to said government. You are trained to do this and never questioned until a rebel force takes you and tells you things you never heard of. Glade is brought to think the government culling program is perfect and to be trained to do it was an honor until things suddenly change. Haven’t read a dystopian in awhile and the character building, setting, problems, and etc was awesome.

Wonderful

I really enjoyed this audiobook the characters were fun to follow and the narrator did a great job thank you for putting this story on audio boom and for giving me a chance to hear this book by giving me a code

Much better than I thought!!

Glade Io is a Datapoint. She has been groomed by The Authority to carry out the Culling. It's her job to cull anyone showing violent or murderous tendencies. She wholeheartedly believes that she is making their world a better place to live in, but that all changes when she is kidnapped by a rebel group known as the Ferryman. While in captivity, she learns that what she believes to be true, may not be, and that The Authority is different than she was led to believe.

I have the kindle copy of this since it came out but never got the time to read it, and to be honest, I was getting a little fed up with the tropes in the dystopian genre. But when it came to audio, I jumped at the chance to listen. Well, this book was awesome!! It was so much better than I thought and I flew through it.

I really liked the idea of the plot. The Earth is uninhabitable, or so the Authority will have you believe, so everyone lives on different planets in the solar system. The Authority rules all and has a firm grip over everyone. Every few years, they use the Datapoints to Cull the population. With the use of their biotech, they are able to determine who will show violent or murderous tendencies and they then cull them. The plot held a steady pace and kept my attention throughout.

I really liked Glade Io. She was brave and wasn't like the rest of the Datapoints. Even though she was brainwashed since she was young, she didn't enjoy her job and did wonder about it. The only reason she kept doing it was because she wanted to save her sisters from the life she has to live. Once she gets kidnapped and meets Kupier, she starts to question everything and is determined to get to the truth.

In all, this was a great read. I mean, it does follow the usual pattern of girl realising the bosses are evil, girl also finding out she is special and the only one able to either stop them or help them destroy the world, and there is always a boy!! Even with this formula, I still ended up loving it. The world building and character development was awesome and I can not wait to read the next one!!

Stacey Glemboski read this really well. She portrayed Glade perfectly and her tones and cadences brought the story to life. She was easy to listen to and I loved her performance. I will have to check out more by her.

I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.