I was hesitant to first pick up The Testing because I didn’t really know what would be in it because dystopian novels can be about so many different things. But once I did, I didn’t regret it. This book reaches many ideas such as trust, loyalty, and survival which all are tested throughout the book. 

The Testing is a post-apocalyptic dystopian novel set in America where the country is trying to find the brightest students to try and rebuild what had been destroyed. These students are chosen from the few colonies around the country and sent to the capital city to participate in the testing. The students have to pass four tests to be able to make it through to the university. After being chosen to be part of the testing, Cia was excited to get an opportunity to prove herself and make it into the university like her father did. Very quickly she finds out that getting chosen to participate in the testing isn’t as good as she thought it would be. 

The plot of the book is really what made the book for me. Since the book is in a dystopian society there are many different ways that Charbonneau could have taken the book. Though the book started out a little slow because it had to set up the story, it quickly had many eventful moments that kept it entertaining. Many of these moments had a lot of suspense which made me want to keep reading because I never knew what was going to happen next. Also, the contrast between betrayal and loyalty made it hard to know which characters I would be able to trust. Overall the plot of the story made the book one of the most interesting that I have read. 

There are very few bad things about this book. But one of the most obvious is how simple many of the characters are. Many characters didn’t change very much throughout the book and were very easy to figure out. While many of the characters were simple, a few of them were complex. These characters really captured my attention throughout the book because they made me question what was happening during the many tests. Without these characters, the book would have lost a lot of the suspense it had. 

Overall The Testing is a suspense-filled book that will leave you guessing what will happen next. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys dystopian novels.