Independent Study Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00HFW50J2 | Format: EPUB
Independent Study Description
Seventeen-year-old Cia Vale survived?The Testing, as has Tomas, the?boy she loves, and they have both gained admission to the University. She has a?promising future as a leader of the United Commonwealth and no memory of her bloody testing experience, thanks to a government-sanctioned memory wipe.?Cia should be happy but? is plagued by doubts about the past and future.
Determined to find the truth, she embarks on a path of study?forbidden by the government delving ?into the Commonwealth's darkest secrets. What she finds is the brutal reality lurking behind the friendly faces of her classmates and the unbearable realization that leaders chosen to protect us can be our greatest enemy.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 9 hours and 46 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Recorded Books
- Audible.com Release Date: January 7, 2014
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00HFW50J2
This is a really good Second Book and keeps the heartbeat pumping as Cia and Will (who tried to kill her in book one) try to pass the dangerous Induction into their new training. Tomas is still in the story, but has a much more minor role since he is not assigned to the same specialty department as Cia. I missed Tomas whose role is even smaller in this book. I am all for strong female characters, but poor Tomas is outshined by Cia on all fronts. She just might be too much woman for him - or any guy, really.
Cia finds her brother Zeen's transit Communicator in her possession and remembers how to turn on the mechanism that has recorded her message to herself. She wanted to remind herself of the atrocities that happened during the testing including Will's violence and her suspicion about Tomas's part in Zandri's death since she knew her memories would be erased. At first she doesn't want to believe that what she recorded is true, but as she starts having nightmares that seem so real, she starts to remember.
"Thinking something is true doesn't make it so; Perception is almost as important as reality".
In her new department, Ian is her mentor and seems to be a good guy full of integrity and wanting to help her. Will is also in her group and while she is wary of him, she is happy to have someone she knows at her side. There are many new students from Tosu City that didn't have to go through the Testing who are given favorable treatment because they are locals. While they didn't have to go through the Testing, they are also not prepared that their "Induction" can be lethal and that failure means death or Redirection, as those in charge like to call it.
That was a short wait! I just finished The Testing a few months ago! That doesn’t happen to me often, but when it does I get overly excited.
Despite what other reviewers have said, I don’t think this series is “just another dystopia.” What makes The Testing and Independent Study so great is Cia. Her intelligence, her cunning, and especially her desire for truth.
So far, that has been enough to happily drive me through these books and what makes it set apart from The Hunger Games and Divergent. There is more political maneuvering and strategy than either of those books, and it gives Independent Study an added edginess and grittiness.
You know when you’re reading about Cia’s experiences at Tosu that there’s always more at stake – a fact she can never shake herself. Just when she thinks she’s safe and can trust again, something happens that rips the veil of protection and well-being even further away.
Independent Study was definitely a strong follow-up. I appreciated the change of scene, the distance from Tomas (oh he’s there, but more out of reach) and the shifting surprises that were well-timed and well-played.
I’m hoping the final book takes a different turn because a few elements were similar from the first book in Independent Study. And, although they were reimagined, hitting that note again would definitely be tiresome.
Having had my heart pummeled quite recently by Allegient, I can’t help but be wary of the third Testing book, Graduation Day.
Will all my faves die? Will there be a realistic yet hopeful conclusion? Or will chaos and loss win the day?!?!
The best part is, we don’t have to wait long to find out. Graduation Day is set to publish June 17. Of this year! Shocked? Me too!
Independent Study Preview
Link
Please Wait...