Review by John Chon, grade 9

Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau

summary:  In the second installment of The Testing, by Joelle Charbonneau, Malencia Vale, known as Cia by her friends, is a freshman in college. She is struggling with the class she was placed in, Government, which is not her prefered Engineering. A senior who is assigned to help her through her first weeks tells her that the teachers have set her up to fail. She, apparently, had her memory wiped after the first part of the testing to get into the college. Cia finds out quickly that she had to traverse a wasteland and beat out other competitors to win. Some of her friends killed and were killed. Cia joins a revolution, but something isn’t right. The leader keeps delaying over and over again. All the while, she interns with the president who is pushing to also reform the testing system. Will she succeed?


        This book was a refreshing read. It had lots of interesting parts where each and every character interacted. I loved how the main character acted real, like a person who you would know. I also liked the plot twists and the horror that human nature is exposed to be. 5 stars


Find this book in our catalog: Independent Study

Call number: YA FIC Charbonneau, J

310 pages