The United Commonwealth reviews the achievements of yearly graduates in all of its eighteen colonies. Top students are brought to Tosu City for testing to attend the University and become future leaders of the Commonwealth.
Question One: What makes an ideal testing candidate? Cia vale, of the Five Lakes Colony, is an exemplar of the Commonwealth’s ideal candidate: young, determined, and civic-minded, possessing extraordinary mechanical skills and impressive knowledge of the natural world.
Question Two: How does the Commonwealth decide who passes and fails? The Testing is designed to reward both warriors and peacemakers. Candidates who are unable (or unwilling) to do what is necessary to complete The Testing may be eliminated by their own actions, by the Test itself, or, in some cases, a rival candidate.
Question Three: Can candidates refuse their nomination? No. Participation by selected candidates is mandatory and continues until such time as they complete The Testing or are otherwise eliminated.
Question Four: Is the testing safe? The United Commonwealth is not at liberty to discuss specific deails relating to The Testing’s various components.
Question Five: Has anyone ever died while participating in The Testing? Progress comes at a price. The United Commonwealth cannot confirm or deny mortality statistics related to The Testing?
Do you have what it takes to survive The Testing?
4/5 stars. Dystopia, Young Adult, Entrance Exams
The Testing, the first in a series of three by Joelle Charbonneau, takes place in a future version of the United States where the world has gone M.A.D. – nuclear bombs and other contaminates have made the planet nearly unlivable, except in various colonies where people continue their struggle for survival, and Tosu City, the center of activity, politics, and home of the University of the Commonwealth, the only college that exists.
It is understandable everyone wants to get in, especially imagining the competitive nature of colleges and universities today. Maliencia Vale, Cia, is no different. She and her classmates have spent their entire lives with the one goal to get into the University, so on Cia’s graduation day from high school, tensions are high, but what wasn’t expected was the hesitation from her father after she was accepted along with a couple other people from her colony – including a boy named Tomas who would later become her closest friend. Her father warned her of his own experience after The Testing. Nightmares. Memories lost. Bad feelings about The Testing and the University. He warns her to be careful of the tests and the other students, telling her students might be desperate enough to get in the university that they might steep as low as to poison and sabotage others.
There are four tests, the first one being paper, like the SAT or something similar. Each takes four hours – math, history, english, and science. The second is hands on, where individuals get boxes and have to solve opening the box and whatever is inside. The staff tells the students to only answer what they know, because guessing has serious penalties – and I mean serious. Like you-will-not-come-back-from-this-if-you-are-wrong serious. The third test is a set of problems that need to be figured out between groups. The final test evaluates survival skills and resourcefulness by placing candidates in the wilderness with the goal to get back to Tosu City alive.
While reminiscent of basically every other dystopian out there, simply because of the genre, there are two things I really like about the main character, Cia. First off, she isn’t the strongest or the best. This is so refreshing to see in a dystopia. She’s at least the second in her class and she admits limitations. Her strengths have been carefully evaluated through the creation of her past. Her father works in agriculture. Thus, she has knowledge of different plants, their properties, and things like how pumps work, which she learned from her father and brother, Zeen, discussing irrigation. Cia isn’t just smart enough to figure it out. She has reasons for what she knows how to do. Her character is obviously very thoughtfully planned out. The second thing I like about her is, while she is strong, she has moments of realistic weakness. I am tired of the cookie cutter strong female dystopian leads. Cia needs something to rely on and while she can keep to herself and tries to handle whatever is bothering her by herself, she still struggles, which makes her human and much more realistic than many characters I have seen.
Another trope I see A LOT in books is where the guy falls in love with the girl but the girl denies it or acts like she doesn’t care until he finally wins her over, seemingly decades later. I will admit I am a sucker for this. I love when the guy does all those sweet things that win the girl over. However, I don’t think that is realistic on the guy’s part – most aren’t as dreamy as our favorite male characters – and I also don’t think most girls would hold out against the charm for as long as they do. So, while I wish there were more ‘near-kiss-experiences’ between Tomas and Cia, I do like that Cia admits she likes him before anything really happens between them. I also like that they have a past, so, while it feels a lot like insta-love from the beginning of the book to where they get together, they aren’t starting from square one. They are starting from we-went-to-school-together-and-danced-at-a-school-event-where-there-was-clearly-chemistry-but-we-were-too-involved-with-studying-to-do-anything-about-it.
While I don’t yet care much for Tomas, as he reminds me a bit of Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games and I was Team Gale, I really love Cia’s character. She is smart, serious, quiet, determined, and cautious. I probably like her so much because she reminds me a bit of myself (student who can’t stand failure?). I like that she notices things and tries to figure out if what she notices is unusual, or if she is expected to notice them. I like that others can read on her face that something is wrong, but she still holds it inside. I love that she curls up in front of fires and falls asleep. And that she takes a step back when others are louder and more confident than she is. <—Realistic, I’m telling you. This is a well planned character.
I also really like the concept of this series. It has a return of the merit system in full force and I will always applaud the return of the merit system, although I’m thinking more along the lines of scholarships to top students rather than the deaths of those who don’t reach the mark. This world seems like a very plausible future. The ones selected for The Testing and ultimately the University are the next leaders of the country. Only selecting the best and the brightest to lead us? Seems a realistic future. Eventually the program resorting to failure-is-not-an-option methods? I could totally see that happening.
One thing I would have liked more time spent on is the friendships Cia makes while she is at The Testing facility. She gets a big group of friends who supposedly talk and chat it up all the time at meals, and later we find that Cia really cares for them all, but we don’t get a great sense of all of these characters. Two, in particular, are mentioned in depth later as vital characters to the story. Zandri and Will. I wish I knew more about them before the final test so I could care more about them in the end, but time spent with them was also spent with Tomas. The creation of Tomas’s character stole the spotlight from Zandri and Will. Cia was well drawn, but I think all of the side characters, including Tomas, could have used some more thought and attention.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am excited to continue with the series. I loved Cia and the concept of this book, although I thought the side characters could have used some help.
When I get the reviews of the other books posted, I will link them below…
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