“All leaders have to live with disappointment at some point or another. If I have to learn that lesson early, I won’t enjoy it, but I will do my best not to let you down.” 
― Joelle Charbonneau, The Testing

I’m over halfway through The Testing; They have finally gotten to the 4th Test (where they are thrown 700 miles outside of town and asked to find their way back) and suddenly I just couldn’t care less what happens.

I enjoyed the beginning… the farming colony, the family, and the first three tests (sort of SAT tests with violent shenanigans) but now that we are down to the two main characters out in the wild… ugh… they are so boring, I can barely stand it. Cia and Tomas. Gag. They have zero personality… they don’t flirt, they don’t joke, they don’t ponder serious things (or anything) or have mental hysterics about being locked in metal boxes or having their legs nearly blown off at fake-watering holes. And this story apparently goes on through three more books.

The society structure makes no sense – it doesn’t seem evil at all, in fact it seems to be benefiting most people… so the “Let’s gather the smartest kids together and kill off most of them” plotline defies reason. Some books start bad, while others wait to turn on you halfway through… oh well. I glanced over a few reviews to make sure I wasn’t just hitting a slow spot… giggled over this review “If you like constantly being told where you are, who is saying what, and the internal conflict of being in love with a lifeless pillow while trying not to get killed for no apparent reason, than this is the book for you” and thought… yeah… I think I’ve had enough.

Next! (unless one of you has read it and convinces me it gets better, that is… anyone? anyone?)

RATING: DNF