The Testing Trilogy by Joelle Charbonneau

The Testing Trilogy

Author: Joelle Charbonneau

Publication: 2013-2014 HMH Books for Young Readers

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Reviews: 

The Testing

My review for this book can be found here. 

Independent Study

My review for this book can be found here. 

Graduation Day

My review for this book can be found here.

Overall

I was amazed at how fast this series was written. I mean, you have to assume that Joelle completely outlined out all three books before she started writing because of the balanced of writing time and detail. 

These books were an excellent example for what a dystopian book should be; detailed, deep, and well though out. 

The setting of these books were set up so well, that you believed that this happened/could happen. 

Future News

This is the end to the trilogy and so far there is no news on whether or not the author will be continuing with the story.

An Interview with the Author

• Did you plan out the series extensively before writing it? 

I wish!  I never know where a story is going before I start.  I only know who the main character is, what they are hoping to have happen and what the first big event is that will occur in the plot.  After that, I tend to improve my way through the story.  It's a scary way to write--and especially to write a trilogy where I knew the themes of each book, but not the plot-- but I find that I never lack for motivation to sit down and work each day because I am dying to find out what happens next. 

• What was you inspiration or original idea for the story?

I teach private voice lessons and a large number of my students are singers who are interested in pursuing musical theater or voice in college.  The college admittance process is incredibly stressful for any major, but even more so for theater and music major who have to audition for the program in addition to applying to the school.  The stress of taking the college admittance tests and going through the auditions gets more intense every year and I suddenly found myself wonderful what kind of process could be created that would be even worse for college bound students.  And The Testing was born.

• If you were put in Cia's position, do you think you could survive The Testing?

I doubt it, but I think I would give it a really good shot.  I might be able to make it through the first three rounds.  The fourth round would be a crap shoot and depend on how the other candidates around me approached that final tests.  I tend to look for the best in people.  That could totally get me in trouble if I had to go through The Testing.

• What was your favorite part to write?

THE END of each book:)  Actually, that isn't a lie.  I loved writing various characters, but really, for each book I adored writing the end because I was uncertain until the final moments as to what was going to happen and I was so excited to find out what turn the story was going to take.

• If you went to the University, what class would you be in?

Hmmm…I think I would probably end up in Education or Government.  Trust me when I say that no one wants me in biological or mechanical engineering since I tend to break things and my thumb isn't exactly green.

• Would you add anything to the books if you could? A specific scene? A character?

I always feel like I should say yes to this kind of question since there are always parts of the story that are never seen.  And yet, I don't think I will ever wake up one day sad that something is missing because the story is no longer mine to tell.  The story now belongs to the readers.

• Do you have a favorite book/series/author?

I have LOTS of them.  However, if you really pressed me to narrow it down I will say that my favorite series is The Belgariad series by David Eddings and the follow-up series the Mallorean.  If you want me to name the author that I grew up admiring and I still admire to this day I would have to say it's a tie between Stephen King and Lois Lowry.

• Do you plan on continuing Cia's journey in the future?

I can't say that I have plans to continue Cia's journey.  However, if I think of an idea for a new conflict in Cia's life, I would love an excuse to revisit the world of The United Commonwealth.

• Bonus Question: What Hogwarts house do you think Cia would be sorted into?

Cia would be Gryffindor all the way.  Loyalty is her finest trait and her biggest downfall. 

Thank you so much Joelle, and I cannot wait to see what you have for your fans in the future!

~Monty

5/8/14: The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan

The Kane Chronicles

Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

My Overall Rating: 5/5
Points for Prequel/Sequel Challenge: 13
*THERE WILL MOST LIKELY BE SPOILERS*

So I love Rick Riordan, and if you don't know that by now, now you do. His writing is so influential and light hearted and realistic. Besides the fact that he writes about fantasy worlds. 

I've been reading his books for five years now, and have yet to be disappointment. They pull you in. You get so attached to the story and the characters that you inhale the books (not literally, don't inhale books). It took me longer than expected to read these books just because I didn't have as much time as I would've liked to have to read them (finals week). But when I got to the last book, I busted through it in a day. 

The characters in his books, all his books, are very round, meaning they are realistic and have traits that you would find in real people. Carter is a kid who traveled around with his dad all his life and never got a formal education. Sadie lived with her grandparents, separate from Carter. They led totally different lives and hardly ever saw each other, but they still have this beautiful sibling relationship. When they come together to find their father and discover their family lineage and their Egyptian powers, we see them connect almost immediately. They care for each other. And I believe this is extremely realistic in for sibling relationships today. Usually, siblings stick together in situations where their parents are absent or they develop the ability to channel godly powers. Not that that is truly realistic, but I think you are getting what I'm saying. 

Another thing that really got me was, Rick Riordan is a soon to be fifty year old man with two sons. Yet his first person point of view from a fourteen year old girl is flawless. How? What? I'm not kidding you. I am a girl and the way Sadie thought most of the time, was what I would think in those situations. I am so utterly speechless by the fact that he can so effortlessly write different point of views from Greek teenage boys with different family issues and personal insecurities to Egyptian teenage girls who miss their parents and their crushes join together to become the same person. It is astounding and worth reading just for that aspect. 

I do have to admit that I was wary about reading these books. It took me two years to finally pick them up, but I am so glad that I did. His writing with Egyptian mythology is no different than Greek. It is sarcastic and funny and their is romance and conflict. And my favorite part... YOU LEARN AT THE SAME TIME! I honestly don't think I could ever know so much about Egyptian mythology without reading his books. 

The only thing I have to say against Tío Rick, and this is a selfish thing to complain about, is swearing. At first, in Percy Jackson, it was funny. The "Holy Hades!" and "Oh schist!" but now I don't really know. It is still funny, and I totally get that he writes middle grade books but I just feel like in certain situations (like battling great lords of chaos) I would use stronger wording than "Holy Horus." I know that this probably won't ever change, but I thought it was something to mention. 

The last subject on this matter I will go over is his endings. And this is a very sad topic because I hate endings. As soon as I started getting into the first book, I knew, oh I knew, that this was a finished trilogy. I did not like the idea of an ending. This also frightens the heck out of me for October 7th, 2014 (The Blood of Olympus). I was completely satisfied with the ending though. He, like J. K. Rowling, ends the books to a point where there is still magic. 

"As for you lot out there, listening to this recording— we’re never too busy for new initiates. If you have the blood of the pharaohs, what are you waiting for? Don’t let your magic go to waste. Brooklyn House is open for business."

And that was the last line of the book. He ends it so that the story never truly ends. And although I'm scared to leave Percy Jackson, a story that has shaped me and grown up with me, behind. I don't want the books to stop coming, but I know that with Rick Riordan, the story will never truly end. 

Other Notes:

As I mentioned above, Blood of Olympus, the final installment in the ten book Percy Jackson series, comes out October 7th of this year. The next crossover in the Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles Crossover series comes out as a single book on May 20th. It will be called The Staff of Serapis featuring Sadie Kane and Annabeth Chase. 

4/13/14: Fallen Quadriligy by Lauren Kate

     There are no words for how unbelievably happy I am that I finished this series. 

Let's start from the beginning. It was a bitter fall Thursday when I came across Fallen for $4.99 at Barnes and Nobles. With $150 of birthday giftcards and a warm Earl Grey tea in hand, I thought 'Hey, this is a bargain I shouldn't pass up,' so I bought it. 

Oh how naive I was.

I didn't read the book itself until a while after I bought it due to the five other books I had bought along with it, but when I finally did read it, I regretted it. 

The book was horrible and not worth my five dollars. Although the writing was extremely poetic and beautiful, the plot was stupid. The accuracy was also off. 

Luce and Daniel's relationship was completely cheesy and unresolved. I also was completely confused at was going on. To read more about what I thought of that first book all those months ago, click here. 

Torment was the exact same way for me; boring and useless. At least I figured out what Daniel and Cam were. The plot thickened with stupidity and was going absolutely no where. I didn't like Luce's character or her choice in relationship. 

Passion was so SO much better. I adored the fact that finally (FINALLY) Luce wanted to figure all this shit out. Why did she really even like Daniel in the first place? What were all her past lives about?

The historical fiction aspect, combined with time travel and fantasy caught my attention and I ate that book up (not literally of course). You can read my full review of that here. 

So I put off reading the last book. I knew it wasn't going to be good and I just didn't want a read a book I knew wasn't going to be good. 

But there was a gap on my bookshelf where my copy of Rapture had to fall to complete the set and I was determined to fill that ugly hole (as readers I am sure you all know that feeling). So I conquered it. 

It wasn't good. But it wasn't as bad as the first two. For the first part I wasn't to intrigued, and the whole apocalypse thing was a bit unnecessary. Then when Lucifer turned out to be Luce's ex, I was laughing out loud. This whole book was just a very cheesy and 'I'm trying to be a grand ending' kind of book. It actually reminded me of Mockingjay in a way.  

Either way, I am glad I finished the series. I am currently reading the novella Fallen in Love that goes with and am completely overjoyed to be reading about somebody else's relationship besides Luce and Daniel's. 

My overall rating for this series was probably 2.5. I hope Lauren Kate writes something good after this. I think she could go into to poetry, because I loved the writing. 

Other Notes

For completing this series I earned 17 points in the 2014 Prequel & Sequel Challenge. To see more about this challenge, look to my 2014 Challenges tab.