Review: The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

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

The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career.

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

But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust. 

(Goodreads description)

I have to say that I liked this book a lot more than I was expecting to, because I had heard so many people say that they didn’t really like it. This book has been compared to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins so many times, which is the main reason people give for not liking it. But I really don’t think it is as extreme as everyone makes it out to be. Yes, there were times where I could see the similarities, but not just with The Hunger Games. In fact, I could draw similarities between this book and Divergent by Veronica Roth, Legend by Marie Lu and Matched by Ally Condie. I feel that the more dystopian series that I read, the more I will be able to pick out the similar overall themes between them, but I still try to read each book for what it is without making comparisons to other books. Each series is different and unique, with its own original characters, world and plot structure.

While this seems like an interesting dystopian world to me, I feel that the world building definitely could have been more extensive. We aren’t really given too much information on the world, how it came to be this way, or on the government itself. Only that everyone is so focused on being chosen as a candidate for the Testing in order to attend the university. It also seemed like the true portrayal of the government didn’t really show until later on in the book, and it was a gradual process. We discover, as the main character does, how truly callous and dangerous the government really is.

The romance aspect also surprised me a little at first because to me, it just seemed to come from nowhere, but I really liked their relationship and how it grew. But the romance is minimal and didn’t take away from the action, which I appreciated.

I loved the character of Cia in this book (though the name itself, not so much). She was strong, determined, resourceful, had an analytical mind and definitely had that survival instinct. I really liked the way we were able to see the thinking process that went on in her mind before she came to a decision.

I also really liked Tomas, who came from the same colony as Cia and was her ally during the Testing. I still have my suspicions about him, as he is definitely hiding some secrets, but I really liked how he and Cia worked together and kept each other going.

There were quite a few characters that I did not like, but that is probably inevitable as they are expected to compete with each other to reach their ultimate goal. The one character I did single out was Will. I withheld judgement on him at the start, but as the book went on, I disliked him more and more, and as it turns out, with good reason!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The suspense was built up really well and kept me turning the pages. There were quite a few plot twists thrown in and some that definitely took me by surprise. I gave it a 4.5/5 rating and while other people may not agree with me on how this book compares to other dystopian series, I would still definitely recommend it to those who enjoy the dystopian genre.