The Testing

The Testing, Book 1

By: Joelle Charbonneau

Narrated by: Casey Holloway

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

The opening volume in the New York Times bestselling Testing trilogy. In Cia's dystopian society, it's an honor to be chosen for The Testing. But it’s not enough to pass the Test. Cia will have to survive it.

It’s graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale, and the entire Five Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating. All Cia can think about—hope for—is whether she’ll be chosen for The Testing, a United Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest new graduates to become possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization.

When Cia is chosen, her father finally tells her about his own nightmarish half-memories of The Testing. Armed with his dire warnings (”Cia, trust no one”), she bravely heads off to Tosu City, far away from friends and family, perhaps forever. Danger, romance—and sheer terror—await.

“The Testing is a chilling and devious dystopian thriller that all fans of The Hunger Games will simply devour. Joelle Charbonneau writes with guts and nerve but also great compassion and heart. Highly recommended.”—Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Rot & Ruin and Flesh & Bone

The Testing trilogy is:

• The Testing
• Independent Study
• Graduation Day

©2013 Joelle Charbonneau (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

amazing

loved it!!! This book was really good I was tired of the same old story so glad I found this book! I can't wait to start book #2 to see what happens next!!!

Not too bad

First… the performer reads this to fast and her voice gets annoying. It is better if you set the speed to .9x

As for the story. It is basically The Hunger Games and Divergent mushed together. unlike the Hunger Games, the characters in The Testing are less interesting and not as complex.

However, the story kept me interested and I have enjoyed speculating about who the mysterious grey haired man is and what “The Testing” is really all about.

I’m not sure this book series will be one of my all time favorites, but it has been an enjoyable enough way to pass the time.

It’s was good but not original

This book is a mix of hunger games, maze runner, divergent and maybe a drop of its own. It wasn’t a bad book, but some part of it made me think come on this is way to close to these other story’s. But don’t let me ruin it for you just give it a try and still was a fun journey and I might continue it to the other books.

Amazing.

Such an awesome book. Finished it in two days. Obsessed. Everything you want out of a book.

Best book ever!

I don’t like reading but when my brother told me about this book I decided to read it, and I’m so glad I did. It has such a great story and you never know what is about to happen. I can’t wait to start book number 2

Fantastic

Wonderful YA dystopian book. Very entertaining start to finish. Excellent narration as well. Would highly recommend.

A decent hunger games knockoff with original ideas…sort of

A very good crossover of 3 popular media titans; picture the Hunger Games meets Fallout (the video game series) meets Divergent, plus some original inspiration on these three starting points. I’m enjoying the unique blend. Admittedly, I’m 8 chapters into the sequel and plan to continue with this series.

First off, I saw another review mention that this narrator speaks too quickly. I agree entirely, you’ll need to set the play speed to .9 if you want to appreciate the story fully. This seems to hold true for the sequel as well.

There is not as much nuisance to the characters as in The Hunger Games, but there are enough false-positive clues to keep you wondering who is really an ally and who is not. Sometimes I do get the sense that this really was a Hunger Games fan-fic converted into a new novel (re: Twilight fanfic became Fifty Shades), but if that’s the case there are more than enough unique scenarios to mark this as it’s own unique work, even if it is highly derivative.

All said and done, I’ve enjoyed this and plan to see the entire series through. I hope I don’t find myself disappointed. The start of book 2 has brought me some hope that this series could shine more as an original work, but I can’t say for sure yet. Take the leap with me if you enjoy this first book! :)

This is a pretty ok YA adventure. Narrator has weird pauses

The story was pretty good hunger games type. The narrator has a really weird speaking cadence and pronounces the same word differently from sentence to sentence. It gets distracting.

This narration is so much better!

I tried the other version on Hoopla and could not last more than 15 minutes. I then switched to this version and could not stop listening. The story is wonderfully written and this narrator brings life to the characters so nicely.
This book is a dystopian trilogy, reminds me a little of The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games but is a great read. It’s not super predictable but easy to follow. It does have some darker themes that aren’t necessarily appropriate for younger audiences but nothing sensual (nothing more than kissing). I recommend this book with this narrator so much!

Really Enjoyed!

Dystopian Novels are my jam! This one definitely fits the bill! I’m so excited to see how the story will play out in the next book! The narration was great! I think she did a good job giving the characters their own voice without over doing it. Really enjoyed the reading, Casey really brought Cia to life.