 | Title: The Pledge
Sexual Content: Kissing Rating:
Okay – A few good points, but with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want. |
Description
In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she's spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It's there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she's never heard before . . . and her secret is almost exposed.
Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can't be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country's only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime.
Review
There is always a gamble when beloved authors start new series in different genres. There are going to be differences. Sometimes those differences prove just how talented an author is, other times they reveal hitherto unknown weaknesses. I’m sorry to say that the latter is true in THE PLEDGE.
The worldbuilding is excellent and unique in the sea of other dystopian novels that have flooded book stores of late. There is oppression, injustice, and powerful villains that make readers seethe to read about. The most fascinating aspect of this world is that language is the barrier that divides people. The classes all have there own distinct language and, on pain of death, are forbidden to speak or understand languages of those above them. As you can imagine, there is gross abuse of this system.
But the overall writing is not as impressive as it should have been (not nearly as impressive as in THE BODY FINDER). The character relationships are also very rushed. I didn’t even realize that there was a love triangle here until Charlie made some ‘why am I thinking about [name] all the time’ statement. The main romance with Max felt equally fast. I didn’t for a second buy how quickly they were consumed with each other. Considering the war, murder, and destruction going on around them, romance really should have been the last thing on their mind.
I also noticed a lot of logical inconsistences. Too many things happened without a plausible reason, or worse, plans were made with glaringly obvious weaknesses that were of course exploited by the enemy. Honestly, it just made all the main characters look stupid or at the very least painfully naïve. Not really the qualifications that leaders in a revolution need to possess. I really wanted to like this book since I’m such of fan of Derting’s The Body Finder series, but THE PLEDGE just isn’t as good as it’s promising premise.
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There was a love triangle? I totally missed that. I agree that everything was really rushed on this one, which made me sad, but in general I liked this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm inclined to agree with ya on this one.
ReplyDeleteHuh, I actually really loved it, and thought it was just as good as the Body Finder series, if not even better.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny. I saw a lot of 4 or 5 star reviews praising a number of things about the book, but then bemoaning some of the exact things that I mention in my review...yet they still gave it a high rating. Not sure if that is just due to author loyalty or not.
ReplyDelete