The Testing

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

The Testing is the first book in a planned trilogy, and it is another book in my favorite genre: science fiction/dystopian society.  The country has been torn about by seven stages of war, including battles against the Earth itself.  They have begun to rebuild, but the world is no longer full of bountiful resources.  To ensure the future of society, The Testing was created.  The top students across the nation are brought to the capital to go through a strenuous test to determine the people best suited to lead the country.  Cia Vale is one of the lucky few chosen, but she quickly discovers that failing the tests may result in her death.

This book is definitely going to draw comparisons to The Hunger Games.  In fact, one section of testing is purely surviving the conditions and your fellow candidates, making it feel like it could be the 76th annual Hunger Games.  The author walks a fine line of writing in a very popular genre with originality and coming across as another The Hunger Games wannabe.  I was able to enjoy the story, not because it was the most original thing I've read recently, but because it was good storytelling.  The more I think about it, the more similarities I see between Cia and Katniss, but the story itself was engaging and I know I'll finish out the series.  I'll recommend this one to my students, though I'd be interested to see if the boys enjoy this female protagonist the same way they have others in the genre.