THE TESTING - book review (very minor spoilers possible!)

BEFORE I BEGIN I really tried not to spoil this book in this review, but tread carefully. I think any spoilers included are innocuous and don't really say anything not on the back of the book :)

What it's about:

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 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 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 𝘨𝘳𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺) 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘊𝘪𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦: 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵.

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Basically, the set-up of the book is she wants a chance to go to college and make a difference but it turns out her chance is really a giant sadistic death trap. 

I was really looking forward to this book. Brain games? Yes. Dystopia? Yes. Danger? Of course.

Did this book disappoint me?

Well, to put it shortly, yes, it did.

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I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked parts of it, but other parts of it I--I just hated. For organization, I'll split this up into three sections: plot, characters, and overall readability.

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PLOT - 3/5 ⭐

This story is nothing if not creative. It's very suspenseful and action-packed, but at times, lacking. By that I mean that it almost felt like a Hunger Games knock-off, which took it down to 4 stars. I then knocked it down to three due to lack of flow. Let me elaborate: the Testing is for the brightest in the bunch. While agility is important, brains take priority. But, the process itself--the one that takes up the majority of the book--focuses on agility and fighting more than wit and wisdom, which almost felt sloppy. Another reason it is at three stars is the (not-really-a-spoiler-because-it's-implied-on-the-back-of-the-book) romance between Cia and Tomas. They had almost NO chemistry besides the author's many attempts to nudgy-nudge-nudge them together. The last reason why the book is only at three stars is because many times during my read of this, I wanted the book to be over. It dragged on for too long.

HOWEVER, the reason it did NOT earn less than three stars is because of the suspense and the twisty ending. Throughout the book, I did find myself reading with bated breath. Especially towards the end. The end of the book was good enough that I may force myself to read the next ones.

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CHARACTER - 3/5 ⭐

Let me start with Cia. Her full name is Malencia Vale (yikes), but she goes by Cia.

Ah, Cia.

She was a little bit of a Mary Sue. I found myself frustrated with her--mostly because I felt she was being dumb and too trusting. The latter of those is a great character flaw, however, that she does face in the book. Overall, her character was pretty consistent, even if I didn't like her all the time. A major complaint I have is she was a bit helpless--she depended on Tomas too much for my taste--almost to where she didn't even feel like an independent person. It seemed like she was supposed to be a strong female character, but in execution, she was a little weak overall. I felt like she made some stupid choices, but what main character doesn't, really? (If they don't, are they even a main character?)

Moving on to Tomas, her handsome childhood friend (and love interest).

This guy.

To me, he came off like he was Mr. Perfect, which isn't my favorite character to read--especially when the main character is a female who hangs on every word he says and follows him around like a puppy. Through the whole thing, he always somehow knows exactly what to do, and Cia seems like she would follow this guy to the ends of the Earth. But, halfway through the book, I got this weird vibe from him--like he was up to no good. Was he? Well, I suppose you'll just have to read it to find out (or you can just look it up if you don't want to )

And, as I previously mentioned, the romantic subplot felt...ugh. I like a romantic subplot when it is done right, and this just... wasn't. I cringed every time the two shared a kiss. (I also maintain that this death maze wasn't really the best place for the two to kiss excessively, because when you're focusing on trying to stay alive, should you also be wasting time casually kissing? irresponsible)

This category only earns a three due to the lack of development and relationship between the characters. However, the most redeeming quality for this category is Cia's consistency in her hubris--handing out her trust like candy.

Lastly, side characters, though they had much less "screen time," were decently characterized. Some were murderous. Some weren't. Each of the side characters had their own stories, voices, and personalities.

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OVERALL READABILITY: 3/5 ⭐

This was...disappointing. I had built this book up to be amazing, but was met with what (to me) felt like a Maze Runner/Hunger Games hybrid. I came across one grammatical error, which was no more unpleasant than my other complaints. I despised the romance between Cia and Tomas because it felt completely forced and artificial, leading me to question Tomas' integrity (but I still don't know if that was intentional or not--I will maybe have to read the next ones and see). I walked into this book expecting a dystopia with a little bit of romance, but was ambushed with a 50/50 story of dystopia and romance. Characters felt weak at times, but I did admire how Charbonneau kept Cia's flaw of naivete consistent, because I, in my own writing, struggle to make my characters have one major flaw that continues to sabotage them.

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OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TESTING

1. The names in this book are...yikes. Malencia? Daileen? Tracelyn? what

2. But on the eve of her departure, her father hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies. Really, Dad? You're going to tell her now? 🙄 that is thoroughly unhelpful.

3. I really got a strange vibe from Tomas from the back of the book, and from the romance. Something seems artificial on his end.

4. The ending was actually really good and very suspenseful, where you know SOMETHING is about to happen and you just need it to happen. 

Still wasn't good enough to undo the rest of the book, but it was pretty good.

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That about wraps it up, folks. Have you read The Testing? What did you think? Do you want to read it? Comment below or on Instagram!